Alice Moncaster is an academic at the Open University and holds a Visiting Fellowship at the University of Cambridge.  Her research focuses on the interpretation and implementation of sustainability in the design and construction of a low carbon built environment.

She holds a first degree in engineering from the University of Cambridge, a masters from Bristol University, and an interdisciplinary PhD combining the social sciences with construction management from UEA.

The first half of her career was spent working for major construction and consultancy companies, including on water, sewerage and road infrastructure projects, then later specialising in building structures before briefly managing her own consultancy.

Leaving industry for a mid-career PhD at UEA, she was simultaneously offered a research post at the University of Cambridge, where she stayed for 9 years, becoming a lecturer at the Centre for Sustainable Development, before moving to the OU.

Academic leadership has included positions as Director of the postgraduate professional masters course ‘Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment’ (IDBE), Head of the research group ‘Cambridge University Built Environment Sustainability’ (CUBES), and Director of Studies in Engineering and Fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge.

Now as a Senior Lecturer at the Open University, and Visiting Academic Fellow at Cambridge, Alice has additionally focused on gender and inclusivity in engineering and construction, and on issues of social and environmental justice. She has also developed expertise in distance teaching. The Open University serves some of the most disadvantaged in society, including those who left secondary education with few qualifications, those for whom face to face degrees are financially unattainable, and many who would find a standard degree difficult due to disability.

Alice retains excellent connections with the construction industry, and is regularly consulted by industry and policy from across the world.