Dr Svetlana Besklubova

Research interests

In the age of smart infrastructure, every road tells a story through its data. This vision drives Svetlana’s research in developing innovative Digital Twin (DT) technologies for sustainable road infrastructure, with a focus on UK practices. She is focusing on developing information systems that integrate Foundation Data Models, Reference Data Libraries, and cloud architectures for highway assets. By combining civil engineering principles with cutting-edge IoT sensors and AI-driven analytics, she is exploring solutions for robust data security, future-proof system architecture, and intelligent data curation. Her research aims to transform complex infrastructure data into actionable intelligence, advancing the field of sustainable asset management. 

Research Project

Digital Roads of the Future (DRF) initiative to develop a connected physical and digital road infrastructure system that is sustainable. For more information, see https://drf.eng.cam.ac.uk/research. The current project is to derive RRL2 handcrafted road asset condition forecasting & forensics maintenance processes, followed by automatically deriving stepwise optimal maintenance processes from Digital Twins for human use and subsequent robotic maintenance tasks for AMP use.

Lana works within the Digital Twins theme on Digital Roads:  

Biography

Dr. Svetlana (Lana) Besklubova is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge's Department of Engineering. She earned her PhD from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2020, complemented by a research exchange at the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering. Prior to joining Cambridge, she held a position as a Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Hong Kong's Department of Data and Systems Engineering, where she contributed significantly to research in smart construction and digital technologies. 

Throughout her career, she has demonstrated exceptional leadership in research, successfully securing and managing multiple research grants in Hong Kong, including managing of projects valued at over 3 million Hong Kong Dollars through initiatives such as the Innovation and Technology Fund. 

Her academic impact extends to teaching and mentorship, having supervised over 45 MSc students and guided PhD researchers across multiple leading institutions. As a dedicated mentor, she has developed diverse research directions for students while establishing valuable partnerships between academia and industry to support their research projects. Her expertise spans construction digitalization, 3D printing technologies, and carbon neutrality initiatives, with publications in high-impact journals including Automation in Construction, Sustainable Production and Consumption, and the Journal of Environmental Management. Dr. Besklubova serves in key organizational roles for major international conferences, including Scientific Committee Member for SASBE2025 (France), Area Chair for ISARC 2025, and Conference Organizing Committee Member for NSFC-RGC 2025 symposium on Digital Twins in Hong Kong. 

Dr. Besklubova's scholarly excellence has been recognized through multiple awards, including consecutive "Best Paper" awards at the DILSCM conferences (2023, 2024) and the "Best Presenter" Award at the Twenty-ninth KKHTCNN Symposium on Civil Engineering (2016). She serves as an Editorial Review Board member for Smart and Sustainable Built Environment Journal and reviews for several prestigious journals in her field. 

Looking ahead, Dr. Besklubova continues to push the boundaries of digital innovation in construction, focusing on developing sustainable solutions that bridge the gap between theoretical research and practical implementation in the built environment sector. "The future of construction technology must balance innovation with environmental responsibility. Our goal isn't just to build differently, but to build better."