Call for research projects for digitisation of construction and BIM

Through what we do at Graphein we are committed to providing high quality services, delivered promptly and efficiently. To do this, we have a team of experienced engineers and technicians and state-of-the-art equipment. Furthermore, we are a supporter of open BIM standards, which ensures that the data and models we deliver are compatible with a variety of software and platforms.

To keep pace with innovation and incorporate the latest market trends, we invite proposals from individual researchers and teams of researchers to develop new methods for modelling information for digital twins. These methods should be computationally efficient and be able to be used to represent a wide range of data and information.
The aim of this call is to explore the potential of merging digital technologies used in building asset scanning with Building Information Modelling (BIM) concepts in the context of developing digital twins that meet today’s needs.

Project proposals will have the following overall objectives:

• Identifying BIM use cases and information needs for digital twins of existing buildings.
• To train professionals in the field of information modelling for digital twins and an emerging discipline with great potential for application in various domains
• Transfer of knowledge and technology to the research community and industry. by publishing research results in prestigious journals and conferences and could be transferred to the research community and industry for use in the development of new products and services.
• Strengthening the university-industry partnership and developing a long-term university-industry collaborative R&D relationship

The specific objectives of the project aim at a better understanding of the BIM implementation needs, correlated with the level of maturity of the processes in construction companies.

• Better understanding of the benefits of openBIM for modelling existing buildings.
• Better understanding of the changes required to implement the BIM way of working.
• Better understanding of interoperability requirements in the BIM context.
• Definition of the steps to implement BIM processes in the company.
• Dissemination of the project results by creating a pilot that exemplifies the results of the research (e.g. a course presenting the basic concepts of openBIM, a scientific article, etc.).

The project proposal will have the following structure and content:

1. Section A (maximum one team member page) in which the main scientific publications supporting the research capability of the targeted person in the project area will be mentioned.
2. Section B (maximum 4 pages, without references), which will contain the following subsections:
   1. B1. Scientific Relevance. The choice of the topic will be motivated by the framing of the problem in the current scientific context with the following points: i) the importance of the topic from a scientific and technological point of view; ii) the elements of difficulty of the problem; iii) the analysis of the current situation in the market related to the topic of the project.
   2. B2. Objectives and activities in the project. In this section will be presented: i) the objectives of the project and the activities associated with them; ii) the elements of novelty and originality that the implementation of the project brings, compared to the current state of the art.
   3. B3. Results and future impact. This section will highlight the expected results, such as new or improved methods and aspects related to the expected impact of the project in the current scientific context; the potential impact of the project in the field of rehabilitation and/or conservation of heritage buildings.
   4. B4. Methodology. In this section the following will be highlighted: i) the research methods and tools, with reference to new approaches in the field, and how they will be integrated; ii) the work plan in which the proposed activities are detailed in time, describing the organisation and planning of the project in relation to the proposed objectives; iii) the role of each member of the research team in the project. The possible risks of the research and how these will be mitigated will also be mentioned. Describe the results and activities for dissemination and transfer of results.
   5. B5. Resources and budget. This section will detail the necessary resources existing in the university. Indicate the source of funding for costs not covered by the project budget.
   6. B6. References (maximum one page).

Competition calendar

Project proposals shall be sent electronically to the e-mail address office@graphein.ro with the title “Digital Twins Research Project Proposal” and shall contain all the information in the Annexes of this call.

Proposals will be evaluated internally according to the criteria presented in chapter 7.

The winner will be notified by email no later than 27.11.2023

For the current call, the Project Director (PD) must:

• Be associated with an accredited university in Romania and hold a PhD in engineering or equivalent;
• have knowledge related to digitisation of buildings (ex. 3D scanning, point cloud retrieval, knowledge of structural modelling digital modelling processes, etc.);
• Have knowledge of coordinating engineering activities and 3D modelling of buildings (preferably historic buildings), justified by previous projects;
• ensure that the project proposal complies with the provisions of Law 206/2004 on good conduct in scientific research, technological development and innovation;
• ensure that it will not exceed the budget made available.

Proposals will be evaluated on 2 criteria totalling 100 points, as follows:

1. Project proposal 70p
   1. Correlation of the project theme with the call 20p
   2. Objectives, methodology and activities 20p
   3. Feasibility of the proposed plan 10p
   4. Risks and contingency plan 10p
   5. Results transfer and dissemination plan 10p
2. Project manager 30p
   1. Projects related to the subject of the call 20p
   2. Visibility (total articles, citations) 10p

Each sub-point will be evaluated with a score according to the table below:

1. Project proposal
   1. Annex A (maximum one page)
      Outline the most important contributions of the project leader in his/her field of research (e.g. discoveries or results that have significantly led to improved knowledge in the field, demonstrable through publications and patents). Projects of which the project leader has been part that are relevant to this call will also be presented. The total number of citations will be consolidated with the Hirsch index according to the Web of Science Core Collection and SCOPUS/Google Scholar.
   2. Annex B (maximum 6 pages)
      1. B.1 Relevance of the project
         Please justify the scientific rationale of the project topic and its relation to the call.
      2. Objectives and activities
         Outline the approach of the project in principle, outlining the overall and specific objectives, linked to the call.
      3. Results and impact
         Outline the expected impact on the scientific, social, economic and/or cultural environment of the project and/or the application directions to be explored within the project plus the concrete elements of the strategy for dissemination and transfer of results.
      4. Methodology
         Both the existing resources in the host institution relevant to the conduct of the project and the proposed working strategy, together with the potential scientific, technical and administrative risks and the approaches by which these risks would be addressed, will be presented.
      5. Resources and budget*
         The following aspects will be presented: i) the distribution of the budget by type of expenditure and by project year; ii) the minimum number of hours/month that the Project Manager will devote to the project. The types of expenses on which the budget is broken down are: staff costs, logistical costs, travelling costs and indirect (overheads) costs.

         No.	Category	Amount
         1	Staff expenditure (including taxes)
         2	Logistical expenditure (e.g. equipment, etc.)
         3	Travelling expenses (e.g. on-site conferences, presentations)
         4	Indirect costs (max20% of direct costs)
         	Total project (1+2+3+4)

         *The total budget of this call is 75 000,00 lei (VAT included).

         The eligible costs under this project are the following:

         • Staff costs (including related taxes)
         • Logistics costs (equipment, consumables, etc.)
         • Travel expenses (travelling on site, travelling to conferences, etc.)
         • Indirect costs (max. 25% of the total direct costs)
      6. B.6. References