For advancing the science to manage the world’s most complex infrastructure programs

Founder and Director, Megaproject Delivery Centre at the University College London | London, United Kingdom

There are projects, and then there are megaprojects, which are transformational, cost into the billions, and have large and lasting impacts on society. Dr. Juliano Denicol, the founder of the Megaproject Delivery Centre at University College London (UCL) and the Founding Director of the UCL MBA Major Infrastructure Delivery, is pushing the boundaries of science to deliver the world’s most complex projects. “The Megaproject Delivery Centre develops research to change the way we think about the delivery of major infrastructure projects, not only advancing strategies and metrics to improve project performance, but also emphasizing the societal benefits of infrastructure development,” Juliano says.

The Centre’s growing group of talented researchers build upon rigorous methodologies to make clear managerial recommendations on scientific findings to policy makers and senior leaders. Such recommendations often drive projects that are crucial to providing people around the world with essential needs ranging from basic infrastructure to safe drinking water.

“More efficient management of major infrastructure projects could save governments hundreds of billions of dollars, enable early access to infrastructure assets, and unlock more investment in other social benefits to the population,” Juliano says. “Research on megaproject management needs to contribute to some of the most alarming transformations of our times, at scale (e.g., climate change, digital revolution). Industrial partners are actively looking for science to move their practices and business forward, academic advice informed by scientific work. We need to start a movement toward the proposition of solutions.”

Juliano’s research has attracted global media coverage and significant partnerships with leading world organizations, including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and AECOM, a firm ranked by Fortune as the world’s most admired company in the construction industry. His work has also won numerous awards, including the prestigious “Young Researcher Award” from the Project Management Institute in 2023.

It’s no surprise that a man with an award-winning focus on megaprojects works by the principle to “push the limits of the system and don’t settle for good enough—the impossible is a matter of perspective and context.”

For others in project management he recommends setting a high goal. “Spend the time to build a strategy and maintain the conviction on your vision. The full journey is uncertain and requires flexibility and adaptability to maximize the opportunities.” He advises to “be careful to keep the clarity and stability on the vision and outcomes.”

Juliano says the key is to be obsessed with learning, improving and moving forward, and to “constantly ask the why questions, centered on how to improve and develop.”

He reminds ambitious project managers to pick and choose how to focus their efforts with an exhortation to learn how to filter “all the noise around you” and remember that “it’s impossible to pursue all opportunities at the same time.”