Dr Apollo Tutesigensi

Profile

Background

At undergraduate level, I read for a degree in Civil Engineering from Makerere University in Uganda. While working in the Ugandan construction industry, I participated in design and documentation of highway schemes and managing building projects in the construction and operation phases. I was also involved in providing consultancy services to clients on project feasibility studies, project procurement and project finance.

At postgraduate level, I read for an MSc (Eng) in International Construction Management and Engineering on a Commonwealth Scholarship and undertook doctoral research in construction management in the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds with Scholarships from the Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme and University of Leeds. My MSc (Eng) dissertation was on quality assurance in the construction industry in developing countries and my doctoral research was on management of the identification phase of building projects. This doctoral research constituted some of the early work on management of the front end of projects.

My career as an academic in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) started at Makerere University in the last few years of the 20^th century. Since 2000, I have worked primarily in two HEIs in UK: University of Portsmouth and University of Leeds. This career in HEIs is built on the high standard and breadth of my education in civil engineering and construction project management. It is also based on a strong pedagogic knowledge and skills acquired through reading for an MA in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and continuing professional development as a Fellow of AdvanceHE.

Teaching

I have had the privilege of designing and delivering twelve undergraduate modules, designing and delivering thirteen taught postgraduate modules, supervising more than one hundred undergraduate student dissertations and supervising more than one hundred taught postgraduate student dissertations. Some of my former dissertation students produced excellent research which we have published in proceedings of refereed international conferences and highly rated international journals - here are some examples:

Otim MA, Tutesigensi A and Mutikanga HE (2025). Dispute emergence mechanisms for a large infrastructure construction project using inductive thematic analysis. Journal of Management in Engineering. [access here].

Kyalisiima C, Tutesigensi A, Kayondo M and Mutikanga HE (2024). Competence as a key factor in causal mechanisms of construction disputes. Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction: 16(4). [access here].

Tutesigensi A, Kibwami N and Matege SB (2021). The status of value management practice on construction projects in Uganda and strategies for improvement. Journal of Construction in Developing Countries, 26(2), 251-267. [access here].

Cokeham M and Tutesigensi A (2013). An investigation of construction accidents in Rwanda: Perspectives from Kigali. Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers: Management, Procurement and Law, 166(4), 179-187. [access here].

Tutesigensi, A and Phung, BN (2011). Vietnamese construction workers' attitude to health and safety. Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers: Management, Procurement and Law, 164(1), 41-47. [access here].

Leadership

I have designed and managed undergraduate programmes in civil engineering, construction engineering management, civil engineering with construction management and civil engineering with project management. I have also designed and led a taught postgraduate programme in construction management. Furthermore, I have worked with external HEIs as external examiner of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at three different HEIs in UK and as member (and on occasion, Chair) of periodic quality reviews and programme validation events in several HEIs in UK. Moreover, I have led various initiatives at School and Faculty levels in roles such as Faculty Learning and Teaching Coordinator, School Study Abroad Coordinator and School Industrial Placement Lead. Internationally, I partnered with Makerere University to deliver projects to enhance engineering education in sub-Saharan Africa with funding from the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering and was a Visiting Professor at Trier University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and Technical University of Ostrava (Czech Republic) as part of the Erasmus+.

Research

My main area of research interest is sustainable construction. My interest in, and contribution to, sustainable construction research (and practice) is longstanding.

In 2007, I co-authored a paper entitled ‘A framework for appraising construction projects using carbon footprint’. [access here]. The paper was described by colleagues as ‘ground-breaking’ and subsequently received Honourable Mention in the Parsons Brinkerhoff 2009 Professional Publication of the Year Awards. Some of the ideas in the paper are similar to what was eventually implemented in the Institution of Civil Engineers CESMM3 Carbon and Price Book 2011 published in 2010 as the pioneering database dealing with quantification of carbon dioxide emissions from construction activities.

In 2016, I was privileged to win a research grant from EPSRC (Grant Number EP/P010237/1) as principal investigator. With the funding, I organised a two-day workshop to introduce the idea of zero-carbon construction sites to researchers, industry and government and encourage planning for diffusion of the idea as a means of facilitating a step-change in reduction of carbon emissions in the construction industry. [access workshop report and other details here]. Outcomes from this workshop have shaped thinking about reducing carbon emissions from construction sites ever since.

Over the years, my PhD students and I have made further significant contribution to sustainable construction body of knowledge by way of several key publications including:

Wesonga R, Tutesigensi A and Moodley K (2025). Advancing net zero carbon construction: a techno-economic and environmental analysis of onsite microgrids and prosumer energy adoption. Applied Energy. [access here].

Kibwami N and Tutesigensi A (2018). Managing embodied carbon in Africa through a carbon trading scheme. In: Pomponi F, De Wolf C and Moncaster A (Eds). Embodied Carbon in Buildings - Measurement, Management, and Mitigation. Springer, 367-392. [access here].

Kibwami N and Tutesigensi A (2016) Enhancing sustainable construction in the building sector in Uganda. Habitat International, 57, 64-73. [ access here].

Kibwami N and Tutesigensi A (2016). Integrating clean development mechanism into the development approval process of buildings: A case of urban housing in Uganda. Habitat International, 53, 331-341. [access here].

I have the pleasure of contributing to research via membership of UKRI Peer Review College and acting as a reviewer for several international journals. I have been an active member of the Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM) since 2000 and was privileged to be Vice Chair (2020-2022) and Chair (2022-2024) of ARCOM. I am particularly proud of operational and strategic changes I effectively brought about in ARCOM for they will continue to shape ARCOM for the foreseeable future. During my ARCOM tenure, I organized the 38^th and 39^th Annual ARCOM Conferences and co-edited the respective conference proceedings:

Tutesigensi A and Neilson CJ (Eds) (2023). Proceedings of the 39^th Annual ARCOM Conference, 4-6 September 2023, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management. [access here].

Tutesigensi A and Neilson CJ (Eds) (2022). Proceedings of the 38^th Annual ARCOM Conference, 5-7 September 2022, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management. [access here].

I have supervised ten students to successful completion and award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). I have also examined (as internal and external examiner) ten PhD candidates in six HEIs in UK and one HEI each in the West Indies and Kenya. I also had several years as member of Faculty Ethics Committee.

Over the next few years, I plan to intensify my research into sustainable construction. I welcome students and collaborators to research this crucial and timely area with me.

Responsibilities

• Industrial Placement Lead - School of Civil Engineering

Research interests

My general area of research interest is sustainable construction. I study political, economic, sociocultural, technological, environmental and legal spects of sustainable construction.

Two specific areas of my current focus are:

• rethinking construction sites or compounds as prosumers of renewable energy for net zero or zero carbon; and
• procurement of infrastructure projects using NEC4 contracts.

Qualifications

• PhD, Construction Project Management, University of Leeds, 1999.
• MSc (Eng) (Distinction), International Construction Management and Engineering, University of Leeds,
• MA, Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of Portsmouth, 2004.
• PgC, Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of Portsmouth, 2001.
• BSc(Eng)(Hons) (First Class), Civil Engineering, Makerere University, 1993.

Professional memberships

• Fellow, Higher Education Academy (AdvanceHE)

Student education

I am involved in teaching and running tutorials on several modules, supervising taught postgraduate dissertation students, supervising undergraduate dissertation students as well as acting as personal tutor to undergraduate and taught postgraduate students. I am also involved in supervising PhD students as either main or second supervisor.

Research groups and institutes

• Cities, Infrastructure and Energy

Current postgraduate researchers

• Racheal Wesonga
• Mohammed Al Barrami

Projects

<li><a href="//phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/298-engineering-education-for-competence-and-commitment">Engineering education for competence and commitment</a></li> <li><a href="//phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/306-management-of-health,-safety-and-wellbeing-in-the-construction-industry">Management of health, safety and wellbeing in the construction industry</a></li>