Dr. Helen Lingard

Dr. Helen Lingard currently holds a Distinguished Professorship in construction work health and safety at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Helen started her post-doctoral career working on-site in large scale civil engineering infrastructure projects (including the Hong Kong International Airport and Tsing Ma Bridge). Since moving to Australia, Helen has worked with clients in the mining, telecommunications and construction sectors to develop, implement and evaluate initiatives to improve workers’ safety, health and wellbeing. Helen’s research has been funded by a wide variety of private and public sector organisations, industry associations and trade unions. In 2009 Helen was an inaugural recipient of a prestigious Australian Research Council Future Fellowship and her recent book, titled ‘Work Health and Wellbeing in the Construction Industry,’ was published by Routledge in 2023. Since 2018, Helen has been academic lead and member of the Culture in Construction Taskforce, comprising the Australian Constructors Association and the Governments of New South Wales and Victoria. The Taskforce was established to address three key issues affecting the productivity of the Australian construction industry: gender diversity; health and wellbeing; and time for life. Helen leads the Construction Work Health and Safety Research @ RMIT group and is Executive Director of the newly formed RMIT Safety and Health Innovation Network (SHINe).