Professor Greg Foliente | Visiting Professor

Biography

Prof Greg Foliente is an Enterprise Professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Melbourne, and President and Board Chair for the non-profit International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE). A scholar of global standing, he is a recipient of the prestigious James Croes Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the SWST George Marra Award of Excellence, amongst others. He is included in Stanford University’s world ranking of top 2% scientists based on his published work in Scopus – and, in the fields of Civil Engineering and Building and Construction, he is in the top 1% amongst researchers worldwide. He has written more than 200 papers and 200 technical reports, co-authored/co-edited 4 books, 2 monographs and a number of conference proceedings. He currently serves on the Journal Editorial Board of Discover Cities and Buildings and, previously, on other international archival journals.

Greg develops and applies a systems approach to improve the safety, sustainability and resilience of the built and urban environments, including infrastructure, freight transport and logistics and energy systems at multiple scales. He integrates domain knowledge in design, engineering, mathematical and computer modelling, risk science and emerging digital and geospatial technologies (STEM) with the social, public health and environmental science disciplines. He fosters innovation and entrepreneurship as a Venture Partner with the US-based Shadow Ventures, plays a leading role in the International Energy Agency (IEA) EBC Annex 89 (Ways to Implement Net-zero Whole Life Carbon Buildings), coordinates the Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) conference series and co-chairs the premier World SBE 2024 (WSBE24) Conference. He is a consultant to UN agencies, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, and has represented Australia in official high-tier international technical missions. He has advised and worked with leaders at all levels in academe/research, government and NGOs, and industry on various topics across the full life cycle of knowledge development from academic research and training, to applied R&D and their real-world applications.

Greg received his PhD and 2 MSc degrees at Virginia Tech in the US, and executive leadership and management training at the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the MIT Sloan Executive Education. He previously worked at the University of California in Berkeley and the Australian national science agency, the CSIRO, and has been a visiting professor in leading universities in Europe and Asia. Since 2023, he is an awardee of the Philippine government’s Balik Scientist Program (Returning Scientist, BSP) and hosted as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the De La Salle University in Manila. (Visit also: https://www.linkedin.com/in/foliente/)

Greg visited LKYCIC in November 2022 and February 2024 as a Visiting Professor.

Education

• PhD, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), USA (1993)
• Master of Science (Civil/Structural Engineering), Virginia Tech, USA (1993)
• Master of Science (Wood Mechanics & Engineering), Virginia Tech, USA (1989)
• Bachelor of Science (Civil Engineering), Mapua Institute of Technology, Manila, Philippines (1984)

Publications (Selected only)

• Veeroja, P., Foliente, G., McCrea, R., Badland, H., Pettit, C. and Day, J. (2024). ‘How neighbourhood social and built environments influence social interactions: Differences between life stages’. Chapter 9 in R.W. Marans, R.J. Stimson, N. J. Webster (Eds.) Handbook of Quality of Life Research: Place and Space Perspectives. Edward Elgar Publishing Inc, Northampton, MA, USA (in press).
• Veeroja, P., Foliente, G., McCrea, R., Badland, H. and Pettit, C. (2024). “The role of social and built environments – including third places – in older adults’ social interactions.” Urban Policy & Research (in press).
• Allan, M., Rajabifard, A. and Foliente, G. (2024). “Urban regeneration and placemaking: A Digital Twin enhanced performance-based framework for Melbourne’s Greenline Project?” Australian Planner (in press).
• De Wolf, C., Carter, K., Assi, L., Adesina, A., Ottosen, L.M., Quesada-Román, A., Vrcelj, Z. and Foliente, G. (2023). “Coordinating stakeholders along the construction value chain towards sustainability." One Earth 6(11): 1417-1420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.10.025
• Charani Shandiz, S., Rismanchi, B., Foliente, G. and Aye, L. (2023). “A model for energy master planning and resilience assessment of net-zero emissions community.” Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure. https://doi.org/10.1080/23789689.2023.2175133
• Sunio, V., Lorenzo, S.A., Ilao, J., Jose, J.A., Lagria, R.F., Minguito, G., Paclijan, G.B., Tejada, R., Castro, R., Ocampo, M.C., Lozano, L., Ching, M.R., Mindoro, J., Ligot, E. and Foliente, G. (2023). "Towards a roadmap to realize the Physical Internet vision in the Philippines: Preliminary results from stakeholders’ consultation." Procs. 29th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines. https://ncts.upd.edu.ph/tssp/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/TSSP2023-07-Sunio.pdf
• Ouellet-Plamondon, C.M., Ramseier, L., Balouktsi, M., Delem, L., Foliente, G. et al. (2023). “Carbon footprint assessment of a wood multi-residential building considering biogenic carbon." Journal of Cleaner Production. Volume 404: 136834. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.136834
• Foliente, G. (2022). “Editorial: Towards a systems view of infrastructure: A critical need, a massive gap.” Infrastructure Asset Management 9(3): 112-113. https://doi.org/10.1680/jinam.2022.9.3.112
• Hsu, A., Logan, K., Qadir, M., Booysen, M.J., Montero, A.M., Tong, K.K., Broadbent, G., Wiedmann, T., Woon, V.K.S., Good, C., Colding, J., Foliente, G., Kılkış, S. (2022). "Opportunities and barriers to net-zero cities." One Earth 5(7): 739-744. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.06.013
• Zhang, T., Qu,Y., Liu, Y., Yan, G. and Foliente, G. (2022). “Spatiotemporal response of Ecosystem Service Values to land use change in Xiamen, China.” Sustainability 14(19):12532. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912532
• Soufeiani, L., Nguyen, K.T.Q., White, N., Foliente, G. and Aye, L. (2022). “Fire safety performance of 3D GFRP nanocomposite as a cladding material.” Fire Safety Journal 133: 103670. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2022.103670
• Rojas Arevalo, A., de Haan, F., Candy, S., Foliente, G. and Aye, L. (2022). "Exploring policy mixes for low-carbon and just energy transitions systems: An Australian case." 2022 Annual Meeting of the Society for Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty: Transformative Recovery and Forging Anew, 9-11 November 2022. Mexico City, Mexico.
• Rajabifard, A., Foliente, G. and Paez, D. (Eds.) (2021). COVID-19 Pandemic, Geospatial Information and Community Resilience. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Abingdon, UK (ISBN 9780367775315). https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003181590
• Seo, S. and Foliente, G. (2021). “Carbon footprint reduction through residential building stock retrofit: A Metro Melbourne suburb case study." Energies 14: 6550. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14206550
• Guo, C., Thompson, R., Foliente, G. and Peng, X. (2021). “Reinforcement learning enabled dynamic bidding strategy for instant delivery trading.” Computers & Industrial Engineering 160: 107596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2021.107596
• Li, S., Foliente, G., Seo, S., Rismanchi, B. and Aye, L. (2021). “Multi-scale life cycle energy analysis of residential buildings in Victoria, Australia – a typology perspective.” Building and Environment 195: 107723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.107723
• Guo, C., Thompson, R., Foliente, G. and Kong, X.T.R. (2021). “An auction-enabled collaborative routing mechanism for omnichannel on-demand logistics through transshipment.” Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review 146: 102206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2020.102206
• Charani Shandiz, S., Rismanchi, B. and Foliente, G. (2021). "Energy master planning for zero emission communities: state of the art and research challenges." Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews 137: 110600. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2020.110600
• Soufeiani, L., Foliente, G., Nguyen, K.T.Q. and San Nicolas, R. (2020). “Corrosion protection of steel elements in façade systems – a review.” Journal of Building Engineering 32: 101759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2020.101759
• Charani Shandiz, S., Foliente, G., Rismanchi, B., Wachtel, A. and Jeffers R.F. (2020). “Resilience framework and metrics in energy master planning for communities.” Energy 203: 117856.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.117856
• Thilakarathna, P.S.M., Seo, S., Kristombu Baduge, K.S., Lee, H., Mendis, P. and Foliente, G. (2020). "Embodied carbon analysis and benchmarking emissions of high and very-high strength concrete using machine learning algorithms". Journal of Cleaner Production 262: 121281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121281
• Seo, S., Foliente, G. and Ren, Z. (2018). "Energy and GHG reductions considering embodied impacts of retrofitting existing dwelling stock in Greater Melbourne," Journal of Cleaner Production 170: 1288-1304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.206
• Hasan, S., Wang, X., Khoo, Y. B., and Foliente, G. (2017). “Accessibility and socio-economic development of human settlements”, PLoS ONE 12(6): e0179620. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179620
• Marino, R., Foliente, G. and Pettit, C. (2017). “Metropolitan Melbourne residential transport: A VKT regression model to estimate energy consumption and GHG emissions”. Procs. Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM2017), 11-14 July 2017, Adelaide, Australia.
• Hasan, S. and Foliente, G. (2015). “Modelling infrastructure system interdependencies and socio-economic impacts of failure in extreme events: Emerging R&D challenges”, Natural Hazards, 78(3): 2143–2168. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-1814-7
• Luetzkendorf, T., Foliente, G., Balouktsi, M. and Houlihan Wiberg, A. (2015). “Net-zero buildings – incorporating embodied impacts”, Building Research & Information 43(1): 62-81. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2014.935575
• Motlagh, O., Foliente, G. and Grozev, G. (2015). ‘Knowledge-mining the Australian Smart Grid Smart City data: A statistical-neural approach to demand-response analysis’. Chapter 10 in Planning Support Systems and Smart Cities, Springer, London/New York. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18368-8_10
• Higgins, A., McNamara, C. and Foliente, G. (2014). “Modelling future uptake of solar photo-voltaics and water heaters under different government incentives”, Technological Forecasting and Social Change 83: 142–155. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2013.07.006
• Wang, T., Foliente, G., Song, X., Xue, J. and Fang, D. (2014). “Implications and future direction of greenhouse gas emission mitigation policies in the building sector of China”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 31: 520-530. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.12.023
• Foliente, G. and Wang, C.H. eds., (2013). Proceedings of sustainability and the city - a science frontier symposium. [e-book] Highett, Vic: CSIRO. https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/download?pid=csiro:EP1310655&dsid=DS2
• Ren, Z., Foliente, G., Chen, D., Ambrose, M. and Paevere, P. (2013). “A model for predicting household end-use energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in Australia", International Journal of Sustainable Building Technology & Urban Development 4(3): 210-228. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2093761X.2013.801801
• Higgins, A. and Foliente, G. (2013). “Evaluating intervention options to achieve environmental benefits in the residential sector”, Sustainability Science 8(1): 25–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11625-012-0160-x
• Foliente, G. and Seo, S. (2012). “Modeling building stock energy and carbon emission scenarios.” Sustainable and Smart Built Environment 1(2): 118 – 138. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/20466091211260578
• Higgins, A, Foliente, G. and McNamara, C. (2011). “Modelling intervention options to reduce GHG emissions in housing stock — A diffusion approach”, Technological Forecasting and Social Change 78(4): 621-634. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2010.12.003
• Fava, J., Draucker, L., Foliente, G., Suh, S., King, H., Lee, J-J, Ramjeawon, T. and Tan, R. (2011). ‘Adaptive Approaches,’ Chapter 5 in Global Guidance Principles for Life Cycle Assessment Databases, G. Sonnemann and B. Vignon, Eds. UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, United Nations Environment Programme, Paris, France (ISBN 978-92-807-3174-3).
• Foliente, G., et al. (2010). Smart Grid R&D Roadmap for Australia. SGA Research Working Group Report, Smart Grid Australia, Surrey Hills, Vic, Australia. http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/2.1.4721.7286
• Wang, X. and Foliente, G. (2008). “Identifying bridge structural condition development trends via categorical inspection condition rating with case studies”, Structure and Infrastructure Engineering 4(6): 449-466. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15732470600924656
• Foliente, G., Rodger, A., Blutstein, H. and Wang, X. (2007). “Urban sustainability transition – A ‘tipping point’ approach”, Procs. State of Australian Cities Conference SOAC2007, Adelaide, 28-30 November 2007. https://bit.ly/3ukB5j2
• Foliente, G., Kearns, A., Maheepala, S., Bai, X. and Barnett G. (2007). “Beyond triple-bottom-line: Sustainable Cities RD&D at CSIRO”, Procs. State of Australian Cities Conference SOAC2007, Adelaide, 28-30 November 2007. https://bit.ly/47a3hmX
• Wang, X., Foliente, G., Su, Z. and Ye, L. (2006). ‘Multilevel decision fusion in a distributed active sensor network for structural damage detection,’ International Journal of Structural Health Monitoring 5(1): 45-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1475921706057981
• Foliente, G.C., Huovila, P., Spekkink, D., Ang, G. and Bakens, W. (2005). Performance Based Building R&D Roadmap. EUR 21988, Rotterdam, the Netherlands: CIBdf — International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction-Development Foundation (ISBN 90-6363-048-4). http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/2.1.3148.8643

 Online seminar presentation

• Foliente, G. (2024). Sustainability and the city in a world of extremities and uncertainties. Seminar presentation, 2024 DLSU-IALU Sustainability Lectures Series, 31 January 2024. YouTube video recording at https://bit.ly/49kJcL6