Dr Robby Soetanto

My current research focuses on advancing the third generation of innovation policy framework in flood risk management for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). I have been Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on research projects (valued at over £2.8m), funded by governments (EPSRC, NERC, EU, HEA, British Council, UKRI, Newton Fund, GCRF, UKRI, British Academy, Environment Agency) and private companies (Lloyds TSB and Hewlett Packard). I led the award-winning BIM-Hub initiative (http://bim-hub.lboro.ac.uk/), received Premier Award of the CIOB’s International Innovation and Research Awards 2014, and won 4 international best journal paper awards.

Current research activity

• British Academy Global Innovation Fellow, Blue-Green Infrastructure diffusion in low-income communities (September 2025-August 2026)
• Co-Investigator, Resilience building research for schools in flood-prone areas (March-October 2025, Trent RFCC Innovation Subgroup, Local Levy, Environment Agency)
• Co-investigator/PhD supervisor, Effective community leadership in flood-affected areas: Understanding and enhancing the role of flood wardens in Leicestershire and Rutland (April 2026 – March 2029, Collaboratory Research Hub, https://collaboratoryresearchhub.ac.uk/ Research England Development Fund)

Recently completed research projects

• Co-Investigator, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for Equitable Climate Resilience: Scoping Study (November 2022 – February 2023, UKRI via NERC)
• Principal Investigator, ‘DECONT’ – Digital Enablers for CONstruction Transformation: a new paradigm for rethinking construction (July 2019 – 31 March 2020, UKRI via TCN+, UCL) 
• Co-Investigator, ‘FloodFinJava’ - Financial planning for natural disasters: the case of flooding risk in Central Java (January 2018 – 31 January 2020, NERC, DFID, ESRC)
• Principal Investigator, ‘BuGIS’ - Enhancing urban flood resilience for 1 million people through Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) in Semarang, Indonesia, Newton Fund - Institutional Links project (April 2017 – March 2019, British Council & MenRisTekDikti) https://bugis.lboro.ac.uk/ 
• Principal Investigator and Coordinator - British Council Researcher Links (UK-Indonesia) - Towards sustainable building and infrastructure in Indonesia (October 2013 – March 2014), and founder of UK-Indonesia Researcher Network (UKIREN, https://ukiren.lboro.ac.uk/)
• Principal Investigator, ‘BIM-Hub’ – A learning hub for international problem-based learning (July 2013 – March 2015, The Higher Education Academy) https://bim-hub.lboro.ac.uk/ 
• Co-investigator in Build Your English (BYE) project (March 2012 – February 2014, EU Long-life Learning Programme)
• Principal Investigator – Hewlett Packard Catalyst Initiative project (January 2011 – December 2012) 
• Co-investigator in CREW (Community Resilience to Extreme Weather events) research programme (February 2008 – November 2011, EPSRC)

• Obike, O., Soetanto, R, Sohail, M. (2025) A risk management model for integrating resilience into renewable energy projects. Construction Management and Economics https://doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2025.2477695
• Murguia, D., Soetanto, R., Szczygiel, M., Goodier, C.I., Kavuri, A. (2024) Construction 4.0 implementation for performance improvement: an innovation management perspective Construction Innovation. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/CI-08-2023-0184/full/html
• Soetanto, R., Hermawan, F., Drosou, N., Bosher, L., Hatmoko, J.U.D. (2022) Perceptions of social responsibility for community resilience to flooding: a comparison between communities in Indonesia and the UK. Water, 14, 433 https://doi.org/10.3390/w14030433
• Murguia, D., Demian, P. and Soetanto, R. (2021) Systemic BIM adoption: A multilevel perspective. ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 147(4) DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0002017  
• Soetanto, R., Hermawan, F., Milne, A., Hatmoko, J.U.D., As’ad, S., He, C. (2020) Developing sustainable arrangements for ‘proactive’ disaster risk financing in Java, Indonesia. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment DOI: 10.1108/IJDRBE-01-2020-0006 (this paper won Outstanding Paper in the 2021 Emerald Literati Awards)
• Drosou, N., Soetanto, R., Hermawan, F., Chmutina, K., Bosher, L. and Hatmoko, J.U.D. (2019) Key factors influencing wider adoption of blue-green infrastructure in developing cities. Water, 11(6), 1234 https://doi.org/10.3390/w11061234

Undergraduate

• CVB115 Construction Project Delivery
• CVB110 Planning, Estimating and Cost Management
• CVB103 Management of Design and Construction
• CVC125 Integrative Project
• Research Dissertation modules

Postgraduate

• CVP325 Sustainability in the Built Environment
• CVP326 Management of Construction Processes and Techniques
• CVP322 Principles of Design and Construction

My research on improving flood and community resilience through locally appropriate, innovative, mitigation and adaptation strategies has evolved over 20 years.

Initially, as a Lloyds TSB Research Fellow, I developed time-saving remediation strategies that adopted new materials and techniques to reduce costs and re-homing times for flood damaged property (Proverbs, Soetanto 2004). Having seen the financial and personal cost of flooding, I found ways to improve individual’s roles in enhancing flood resilience within social systems, as Co-Investigator on the fifteen-institution EPSRC CREW programme (2008-11). Enlightened by these insights into a human-centred approach–which I have pursued ever since–I sought to address the life-threatening flood risks in my birth country, Indonesia, securing funding from the British Council Newton Fund and Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Ristekdikti), Indonesia.

Working with local communities in Semarang, Indonesia, I shaped policymakers’ awareness of BGI’s role in urban environments as part of the ‘BuGIS’ Institutional Links project (2017–19, https://bugis.lboro.ac.uk/). BuGIS also revealed the lack of flood insurance for low-income communities, leading me to work with economists, computer scientists, geographers and insurance experts on the ‘FloodFinJava’ project (GCRF, 2018–20), resulting in policymakers understanding the complementarity of private insurance and government flood protection work, and an Outstanding Paper at the 2021 Emerald Literati Awards.

Subsequently, I was engaged by NERC to shape its Nature-based Solutions research agenda (2022–23) and appointed as a ‘World Class Professor’, funded by the Ristekdikti (2017–18). I am Visiting Professor at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and Universitas Diponegoro (UnDip) (2025-26).

Beyond academia, I am a member of the Environment Agency’s Trent Regional Flood and Coastal Committee’s Innovation Subgroup. I led the award-winning BIM-Hub initiative (http://bim-hub.lboro.ac.uk/), received Premier Award of the CIOB’s International Innovation and Research Awards 2014, and won 4 international best journal paper awards. I supervised 15 PhDs to completion, and am External Examiner for 14 PhDs from universities in Ghana, Malaysia, South Africa, the UK.

I was keynote speakers for several international conferences. I led the Construction Engineering Management Programme for 6 years (2019-2025), contributing to maintaining its top three position in the last ten years in the Complete University Guide.

Professional affiliations

• Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Awards

• ABCE Extra Miles Award 2022 for bringing about positive change in the School through any aspect of their job, including collegiality and all aspects of equality, diversity and inclusion
• Outstanding Paper at the 2021 Emerald Literati Awards
• ABCE Award 2020 for Research Excellence (highly commended)
• The CIOB International Innovation and Research Award 2014 – Premier Award in the Innovation in Education and Training category
• Emerald Outstanding Reviewer Awards 2014 (Structural Survey)
• Emerald Outstanding Paper Awards 2009 (highly commended paper)
• The RICS Building Surveying Faculty Postgraduate Prize for the best paper presented at COBRA 2002 Conference
• Scholastic awards for all my degrees (BEng, MEng, PhD)

External activities

• Visiting Professor at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and Universitas Diponegoro (UnDip), Indonesia (2025-26)
• World Class Professor at Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Indonesia (2017-18)
• Visiting Professor, Ryerson University, Canada (2010, 2012)
• Executive Committee Member (Publications Officer) of Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM) (2009 – 2024)
• External Examiner for 14 PhDs from universities in Ghana, Malaysia, South Africa, the UK
• Programme External Examiner for University of Salford (2015-17), Kingston University (2016-20), University of Reading (2018-2022)
• Member of Review Panel, Newton Fund Researcher and Institutional Links, British Council (2015 – 2020)
• Member of Innovation Sub-group of Environmental Agency’s Trent Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFCC) (May 2023 – present)
• Reviewer for proposals submitted to International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) (2024 – present)
• Reviewer for proposals submitted Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) Fellowship Programme (2025)
• Reviewer for proposal to the Vienna Science and Technology Fund, Environmental Systems Research (2020)
• Member of Judging Panel, Constructing Excellence East Midlands Awards (2021-2024)
• Proposal Reviewer for ESRC-DFID (2013), UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) (2014)
• Keynote speaker in several international conferences