Dr. Aparna Samaraweera is a teaching and research academic in the field of Construction Management attached to the UniSA STEM. She is a graduate in BSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying and holds a PhD in Construction Management. Additionally, she holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Data Science, a passed finalist of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA-UK) and a Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education.
Her research interests lie in the field of sociology of the built environment, focusing on cultural dynamics within various construction contexts such as construction project management, technology adoption in construction, cross-cultural project team management, post-disaster reconstruction, and waste management to name a few. Through this research, she aims to understand the behavioural patterns of construction industry participants across different scenarios to predict and enhance their professional habits.
Her recent research focuses on advancing gender equity and enhancing the well-being of female workers in the Australian construction industry. Her research delves into the cultural and structural barriers that hinder women's participation and progression within this traditionally male-dominated field. In 2023, Dr. Samaraweera was awarded the International Women's Day Scholarship of National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) Australia to conduct research to identify and address workplace cultural barriers preventing females entering and thriving in the Australian construction industry. Further, she co-supervises the PhD project developing ‘a Strategic Framework for Early Intervention to Mitigate and Prevent Mental Distress and Suicide Among Female Construction Workers’ funded by UniSA and MATES in Construction, which is timely and important to the sector. Please refer the section: "Research Degree Supervision" below to have an overview of other ongoing PhD projects. Dr Samaraweera supervises PhD students in the construction management discipline and has several Australian construction industry collaborations with her research projects.
Before transitioning to academia, Dr. Samaraweera gained substantial experience in the Sri Lankan construction industry as a Quantity Surveyor. She worked with both construction and consultancy organizations, engaging in projects across the private and public sectors. Her most noticeable contribution to the Sri Lankan construction industry includes serving as a resource person to the validation of the curricula and competency standards for the quantity surveying profession in Sri Lanka, organized by the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority, Sri Lanka. This construction industry experience has massively shaped her research and teaching efforts in her career.