The Jarislowsky/SNC-Lavalin Research Chair in the Management of International Projects was created in January 2010, in collaboration with the Jarislowsky Foundation and SNC-Lavalin Inc. The Chair’s mandate is to research the best methods for planning and controlling highly complex international projects. It focuses specifically on the design of methods and tools for planning and monitoring engineering projects implemented abroad.
International project planning, which includes the assignment of human and material resources as well as the scheduling and monitoring of project activities, is highly complex on several fronts, due to the size of the projects, the level of uncertainty and the considerable logistics requirements involved. These factors make traditional project planning approaches inadequate for undertaking international projects. With the increasing number of projects being carried out abroad, Canadian businesses are badly in need of dedicated processes, techniques and tools for international project planning and control, as indicated by our partners.
Research on this topic is based on the application of various techniques such as operations research, simulations and the development of decision-making tools, and relies on the exchange of knowledge and skills from both industry and academia.