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Li Liu

Li Liu photo

BE, MBA (AIT), M.Tax (USYD), PhD (AGSM)
Senior Lecturer
PEM Student Advisor


School of Civil Engineering, Room 340
Phone: +61 2 9351 2123
Fax: +61 2 9351 3343
Email: L.Liu@staff.usyd.edu.au



Research interests & current/recent research projects

Dr. Liu has one decade of working experience in systems engineering, project management, business research, management consulting and managing an E-com company. His research interests include enterprise-level project management, IT/IS project management, programme/portfolio management, project/programme governance, the strategic value adding of project management, the effects of organizational learning, control, sponsorship, project review and PMOs on project performance. His current research projects include:

He currently supervises a number of PhD and Master’s research students, and is actively looking for qualified candidates to undertake research in areas related to the above projects. Please contact him directly if you are interested in pursuing a research degree under Dr. Liu’s supervision.

He teaches at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The courses he taught include Project Appraisal, Managing Project-Oriented Organization, Project Portfolio and Programme Management, Strategic Project Management, Project Formulation, IT project management and Business Information Systems.

His consulting assignments include advising on establishing project management system for a communication equipment supplier in china, and training a number of delegations from china. He is the advisor for Project Engineering and Management (Civil) students and is on the School’s committees of IT and T&L, respectively. Dr Liu reviewed submissions to a number of conferences, Journals (including Journal of Information Technology) and ARC discovery grant.

He has published more than 30 peer-reviewed full papers in international Journals, INSEAD Cases, PMI Book and a number of international conferences, including IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, ASCE’s Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Journal of Digital Information, PMI Research Conference and International Conference for Information Systems. His article titled “The effects of organizational control on project performance in construction and it services companies” has received “Highly Recommended Paper” reward from Australasian Conference for Information Systems 2003.

Selected publications

  • Liu, L. (Forthcoming) How do strategic uncertainty and project sponsorship relate to project performance? A study of Australian project managers. Management Research News.
  • Liu, L and P. Yetton, (2007) "The Contingent Effects on Project Performance of Conducting Project Reviews and Deploying Project Management Offices". IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 54 (4): 789-799.
  • Liu, L. and Zhu, K.(2007) "A Stage-By-Stage Factor Control Framework for Cost Estimation of Construction Projects". ASCE’s Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 133, No. 1, pp. 91-95.
  • Kong, X., L. Liu and D. Lowe (2007) "A Web System Trace Model and Its Application to Web Design", Journal of Digital Information, 8 (1).
  • Kong, X., Liu, L. & Lowe, D. (2005) "Separation of Concerns: a Web Application Architecture Framework", Journal of Digital Information, Volume 6, Issue 2, Article No. 332, 2005-04-05.
  • X. Kong, L. Liu and D. Lowe (2004) "Critical Feature Method - A Lightweight Web Maintenance Methodology for SMEs", Journal of Digital Information, 5(2): Article No. 278, 2004-08-10.
  • Sauer, C., Liu, L. and Johnston K. (2001) "Where Project Managers are Kings–How the construction industry’s focus on organizing and managing project management at the enterprise level can help the IT industry improve its project performance" Project Management Journal, Vol. 43, 12, pp. 1 - 18.
  • Liu, Li and Turcq, D. (1994) "The Second Stage Expressway System (SES) in Bangkok". Case reference No.395-098-1, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, Cedex, France.
  • Napier, Z. and Liu, L. "The predictive validity & performance drivers of risk-based estimating -case studies of Australian water infrastructure projects". Proceedings of Project Management Institute Research Conference 2008, Warsaw, Poland, 13-16 July 2008.

Teaching and Learning

Teaching Duties

  • CIVL3812 Project Appraisal
  • CIVL4807 Project Formulation
  • PMGP5877 Management of Project-Oriented Organisations
  • PMGP5879 Implementing Strategy, Project Portfolio and Programme Management

Learning and Teaching Projects

  • To update

School & University Service

  • Project Engineering & Management (PEM) student advisor
  • School of Civil Engineering Learning and Teaching Committee, Member
  • School of Civil Engineering IT Committee, Member

Professional Service and Memberships

  • Served as a reviewer for various international conferences including ACIS’03 and ICWE’05.
  • Reviewer for ARC discovery applications.