Whyte has a BA from Cambridge in 1994, and completed her PhD at Loughborough University in 2000.
Research and career
Whyte was a senior research fellow in the Tanaka Business School at Imperial College London. In parallel, she also worked at SPRU, University of Sussex, with Professor David Gann from 2000-2007 on research projects including work on design quality indicators. She joined the University of Reading in 2007, and in 2010, founded a Design Innovation Research Centre, with £1m funding by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. She has also an Advanced Institute of Management Fellowship. Whyte joined the Department of Civil Engineering at Imperial College London in 2016 to lead the Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation, which is developing the next generation of systems engineering tools and methods for infrastructure. She sits on the UK's Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund 'Transforming Construction' advisory board, leads a strategic theme in the Alan Turing Institute/Lloyds Register Foundation's 'Data Centric Engineering Programme', and in 2018 gave evidence to the Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology on offsite manufacturing for construction. She co-curates the World Economic Forum 'Engineering and Construction' transformation map. She also sits on the Institution of Civil Engineers' Digital Transformation Panel, and on the Advisory Board for the 'Research Bridgehead' for the Centre for Digital Built Britain. She was previously a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects Research and Innovation Group.
Publications
Whyte has written more than 40 journal papers, publishing in journals including Research Policy, International Journal of Project Management, Organization Studies, Design Studies, and Automation in Construction. In 2018, she published Virtual Reality and the Built Environment with Dragana Nikolić.
Selected articles
Tee, R. Davies, A., and Whyte, J., Modular designs and integrating practices: Managing collaboration through coordination and cooperation, Research Policy], online before print. Comi, A., Whyte, J. Future Making and Visual Artefacts: An Ethnographic Study of a Design Project]. Organization Studies, 39, pp. 1055–1083. Brookes, N., Sage, D., Dainty, A., Locatelli, G., Whyte, J. An island of constancy in a sea of change: Rethinking project temporalities with long-term megaprojects]. International Journal of Project Management, 35, pp. 1213–1224. Lobo, S., Whyte, J. Aligning and Reconciling: Building project capabilities for digital delivery], Research Policy, 46, pp. 93–107. Whyte, J., Stasis, A., Lindkvist, C. Managing change in the delivery of complex projects: Configuration management, asset information and 'big data.'] International Journal of Project Management, 34, pp. 339–351. Jaradat, S., Whyte, J., Luck, R. Professionalism in digitally mediated project work]. Building Research and Information, 41, pp. 51–59 Larsen, G.D., Whyte, J. Safe construction through design: perspectives from the site team] Construction Management and Economics, 31, pp. 675–690. Whyte, J. Beyond the computer: Changing medium from digital to physical], Information and Organization. 23 41-57. Whyte, J. Industrial applications of virtual reality in architecture and construction], Electronic Journal of Information Technology in Construction, 8, pp. 43–50. Anumba, C.J.; Bouchlaghem, N.M.; Whyte, J.; Duke, Al Perspectives on an integrated construction project model], International Journal of Cooperative Information Systems 9 283-313. Whyte, J., Bouchlaghem, N., Thorpe, A., Mccaffer, R. A survey of CAD and virtual reality within the house building industry. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management], 6, pp. 371–379
