The International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI) has elected Professor Jennifer Schooling OBE as a Distinguished Fellow, its highest honorary award, recognising her outstanding contributions to smart infrastructure, digital twins, infrastructure resilience and the digital transformation of the built environment.
In addition to her role as Professor of Digital Innovation and Smart Places at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), Professor Schooling is co-director of the DARe Research Hub, which focuses on sustainable and climate-resilient transport infrastructure.
The IETI is an international organisation dedicated to advancing research and collaboration in science, engineering and technology. Its network of more than 700 academics, university leaders and senior researchers includes Nobel Prize, Turing Award and Fields Medal laureates.
The IETI said Professor Schooling’s work has “demonstrated how digital technologies can improve infrastructure planning, construction, operation, maintenance, resilience, and sustainability, while supporting more informed decisions by governments, asset owners, engineers, and urban authorities”.
They also recognised how she has “helped bridge the gap between academic research and large-scale engineering practice” and “contributed to the development of safer, more efficient, lower-carbon, and more resilient cities and infrastructure systems”.
Before joining ARU in 2024, Professor Schooling was Director of the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Darwin College.
Professor Schooling received an OBE in 2019 for services to engineering and digital construction. She is also a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and last year was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Professor Schooling said: “I am honoured to receive this recognition from the IETI. As infrastructure comes under growing pressure from challenges such as climate change, global collaboration between researchers is becoming more important than ever. Therefore, receiving this international fellowship and joining the IETI network feels incredibly timely.”
IETI Fellows awards were presented this year to 36 scientists, engineers, scholars and higher education leaders, including four Nobel Laureates, from 21 countries.
