Civil and infrastructure engineering

Civil and infrastructure engineers plan, design, construct, supervise, manage and maintain the essential infrastructure of our modern community.

Civil engineers affect everything we see around us. From rail, road, airport or port infrastructure, the buildings we live and work in, to the bridges that connect us, civil engineering has a big impact on the world around us.

Civil engineers strive to improve buildings, construction and infrastructure, trying to make it more sustainable, more efficient, more structurally sound or healthier and safer.

Our graduates go into rewarding careers working for road authorities, construction companies, consultancies, mining companies or government institutions.

RMIT’s civil engineering programs are actively engaged with industry and responsive to its trends and demands, putting RMIT at the forefront of infrastructure engineering education.

Our students learn from industry professionals via internships, placements or industry projects with industry partners such as VicRoads, Brimbank City Council, Metro Trains Melbourne, BMD Construction, and Multiplex.

RMIT University is ranked in the top 100 universities in the world for civil engineering (QS World Ranking by Subject 2021).

Professor Kevin Zhang — Associate Dean, Civil and Infrastructure Engineering

What is civil and infrastructure engineering?

Civil engineering is concerned with the planning, design, construction, management and maintenance of essential infrastructure like bridges, dams and roads.

Civil engineers plan, design, construct and maintain roads, bridges, water supply schemes, sewerage systems, transportation systems, harbours, airports, railways, factories and large buildings.

They look at ways to extend the life of existing structures through fault identification and establishing proactive maintenance schedules.

Join a diverse community of engineers

Eve wanted to be an engineer ever since she was growing up as a kid in Warsaw, Poland, and moved to Melbourne to study civil engineering at RMIT. The real-world experience in her degree helped her to land an undergraduate position as a structural engineer at global consulting engineering firm.

Claudia Valle – Using civil engineering to solve problems

We can all have good ideas, even great ones. But what sets success apart from failure is knowing how to break down a problem and how to turn this idea into something real.

Our courses

Keep the world moving. Study civil engineering.

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Research

Our research focuses on delivering materials, structures, design and construction technologies for civil infrastructures.

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Beyond the classroom

Capstone project: Digital twins

A group of four final year undergraduate engineering students worked under Dr Mojtaba Mahmoodian’s supervision on the development of digital twins for intelligent maintenance of infrastructure. The students installed wireless sensors on a port infrastructure in Queensland and used Internet of Things, Finite Element Modelling, Artificial Intelligence and 3D visualisation technology to optimise maintenance works.

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Meet our people

Meet Dr Ricky Chan

Ricky is a senior lecturer in civil engineering and a five-time winner of the Student Choice Teaching Award. With years of experience in structural design of high-rise buildings and bridges, he is passionate about combining theories with real-world engineering and bringing them into the classroom. 

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Civil and infrastructure contacts

Civil and infrastructure engineering academic and research staff in the School of Engineering.

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Scholarships

BMD Group Scholarship

Yearly scholarship awarded to a third year civil and infrastructure engineering student; worth $10,000 over two years and may include a six-week work experience placement.

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News

Bird's eye view of the coffee concrete footpath being laid along a busy road in Pakenham. Credit: Pete Glenane, HiVis Pictures

Coffee waste helps make lower carbon concrete

28 Nov 2025

RMIT researchers are advancing new ways to cut the carbon footprint of infrastructure by turning everyday organic waste into useful construction materials.

New wastewater tech tackles fatbergs at the source

21 Aug 2025

A new wastewater treatment system developed by RMIT University researchers could help prevent fatbergs – solid masses of fat, oil and grease (FOG) that clog sewers and cost water utilities globally billions to remove each year.

Coffee concrete wins national research award

25 Feb 2025

RMIT University’s coffee concrete innovators have won an award at Universities Australia’s Shaping Australia Awards in the Problem Solver category, after tallying the most votes from the public.

Dr Biplob Pramanik shows the difference between a concrete block coated with his team’s anti-fatberg invention (left) compared to a block without any coating after undergoing an experiment that mimicked a sewer environment under extreme conditions to speed up the fatberg formation process. The white coloured blobs on the uncoated block are a mixture of fat, oil and grease (FOG) that have been deposited on the block. Credit: Will Wright, RMIT University

Anti-fatberg invention could help unclog city sewers

13 Nov 2024

Engineers from RMIT University have invented a protective coating for concrete pipes that could help drastically reduce the formation of fatbergs in sewers.

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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