In this episode of How We Build..., host Nevena Vajdic speaks with Percy Lam and Felicia Anderson, two professionals who returned to academia for their PhDs after years in industry. They reflect on how practical experience shapes research, and share their ideas about the future of civil engineering. From gaming-inspired thinking to the hybrid professionals, this conversation explores how engineers can evolve to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

Percy Lam is currently a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, investigating the application of artificial intelligence and computer vision to construct and maintain digital twins for road conditions. Percy completed his undergraduate studies in Civil Engineering at Cambridge. Starting his career in geotechnical engineering in Hong Kong, he went on to obtain his professional qualifications and became a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. His current pursuit of PhD includes research on data preparation through automating image annotation and generating synthetic data, and using prepared data to build detectors for on- and off-pavement road defects.This episode was orginally recorded in June 2025.

Music: "C-Funk" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

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