We are delighted to welcome Dr. Kristen MacAskill to the course team. Dr MacAskill was recently appointed as a Lecturer in Engineering, Environment and Sustainable Development at the Department of Engineering.
This follows 2.5 years as Course Director for the Construction Engineering Master's programme, a part-time programme also hosted by the Department. She originally trained as a civil engineer and completed a Master's in Engineering Management at Canterbury University, New Zealand. She also obtained an MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development and a PhD from Cambridge. Before returning to a role in academia, Kristen worked for several years as a consulting engineer in both the water and transport sectors. Her experience covers various areas of infrastructure development, including: strategic level options assessment, post-earthquake damage assessment, infrastructure design, project management and sustainability assessment. She is currently a lead member of the Technical Advisory Group for the Resilience Shift – an international programme funded by Lloyd's Register Foundation and hosted by Arup, with the goal of facilitating a shift towards resilience in critical infrastructure sectors.
Kristen believes there is huge value in what professional-oriented masters programmes can offer; particularly through cohort-based learning, through the use of specifically designed case study material and through developing participants' critical thinking and communication skills.
"Nearly a decade ago I moved to Cambridge to complete the MPhil ESD, it was a life-changing experience. It's an exciting move to be joining the team to help deliver the programme."