Professor Sondoss El Sawah

Professor Sondoss El Sawah

Professor
UNSW Canberra
School of Systems & Computing

Most of the contemporary persistent issues that we (as individuals, organizations and societies) grapple with (e.g. climate change, risks to national security, resource degradation) are caused by our limited capacity to foresee the delayed and cumulative impacts (e.g. socio-economic, security, environmental) of our decisions and policies. To deal with these challenges, we need to liberate ourselves from conventional ways of thinking focused around narrowly defined sub-problems leading to sh...

Phone
+61 2 5114 5143
E-mail
s.elsawah@adfa.edu.au

I have attracted research grants from Australia and overseas, including:

  • 2020, Chief-investigator, research grant from the Department of Defence (Defence People Group) on the use of a system-of-systems approach for reviewing and re-designing the joint training systems.
  • 2020-2024, Chief-investigator, ARC Discovery Project (AUD 580,000), Machine-education methodologies and algorithms for designing trusted multi-skilled evolutionary learners.
  • 2017-2019, Co-investigator, research grants (AUD 642,178) from the Commonwealth Government to support the development of model-based decision making frameworks to inform the management of strategic Navy assets (e.g. the Future Submarine Program).
  • 2017, Co-investigator, research grant (USD 25,000) from the US National Science Foundation devoted to synthesize knowledge on the state-of-art and challenges in socio-ecological models for actionable science
  • 2016, Co-investigator, research grant (USD 60,000) from the US National Science Foundation devoted to develop practical guidelines on core modelling practices in integrated water management projects.
  • 2013, Co-investigator, a research grant (AUD 90,000) from the local Government to develop a modelling framework to support water conservation efforts at the Condamine region, one of the most iconic and yet water-stressed regions in QLD. 
  • 2011,  Co-investigator, Category 1 research grant (AUD 475,578) by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, from a combined funding source provided by the Government (Commonwealth and State) and industry, to develop a systems modeling framework for assessing climate change impacts on water resource systems, and flow on effects on ecological responses

 

  • Best Paper Award by the International Conference of Management Science and Industrial Engineering (2019)
  • The Early Career Research Award by the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (2018)
  • Best Paper Award by the International Council on Systems Engineering (2017)
  • The Australian Society of Operations Research Rising Star Award (2016).
  • Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand (biannual) Early Career Research Excellence award (2015).
  • Peter Cullen Trust fellowship award for leadership in bridging science-policy gap (outstanding fellow of the year; 2014)
  • Best Reviewer’s Award from the international Journal of Environmental Modelling and Software (2012)
  • The Australian Water Association (AWA) Award for best postgraduate water research (2010)

  • Leading a research project on the development of model-based decision support framework to inform sustainable asset management. The framework has been applied and used in projects related to decision support for strategic national assets such as the Future Submarine Program and design of future navy capabilities.

My Research Supervision

I am a principle/joint supervisor for:

  • A PhD candidate, the use of integrated modeling for investigating water-energy-food nexus (2019-)
  • A PhD candidate, the design and use of serious gaming to support active learning (2019-)
  • A PhD candidate, the use of system dynamic models to understand the role of trust in human-machine interactions (2017-)
  • A PhD candidate, the development of multi-method systems thinking and action research methodology for organizational learning (2017-)
  • A PhD candidate, joint supervision with ANU, the use of integrated modeling to inform the development of water management plans (2017-)

My Teaching

I am currently the coordinator of the Masters of Systems Engineering. I teach the following courses at the post-graduate level

  • Systems thinking and modeling (2015-)
  • Simulation Application (2015-)

In addition, I have delivered 30+ professional development courses on the use of systems thinking in complex problem solving to many Government and industrial agencies (e.g. Royal Australian Force)