Professor Cheryl Desha is the Industry Engagement Director for the School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University (Brisbane, Australia). She is also Theme Leader for the “Digital Earth and Resilient Infrastructure” research agenda, Cities Research Institute (CRI).
Cheryl’s career goal is to help empower society with the language, knowledge and skills needed to thrive in the face of 21st Century challenges and opportunities. This draws on her research efforts into building capacity for resilient and liveable cities, spanning research and PhD supervision in scenario planning, resilient infrastructure, biomimicry (innovation inspired by nature), biophilic urbanism (nature-loving cities), lean and green thinking, decoupling and sustainable business practice.
Cheryl’s engagement role within the School Executive builds on fifteen years of academic practice and several years of industry-led curriculum development, establishing the Civil Engineering program on Griffith University’s Brisbane (Nathan) campus. It has also enabled her University contribution as the User Coordinator – Academic for Griffith’s newest 6-storey AUD$70 million building ‘N79: Engineering Technology and Aviation’.