Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA)
RESPIRE: Passive, Responsive, Variable Porosity Building Skins
Project lead: Ben Bridgens (Professor in Regenerative Architectural, School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, Newcastle University, UK)
Funding authority: The Leverhulme Trust
Duration: 2.7 years (November 2021–May 2024)
Objectives:
The goal is to create a new generation of low-cost, low-environmental-impact, responsive building skins that moderate internal temperature and humidity by varying their porosity. The transformative approach of the Respire project would improve internal air quality and eliminate the need for energy-intensive, high-maintenance mechanical ventilation systems, enabling fully passive, zero-energy buildings.
Buildings require heating and/or cooling, along with fresh air, to prevent dampness and maintain a healthy internal environment, resulting in significant energy input and associated carbon emissions. The current best practice is to provide high levels of insulation and airtightness. However, this approach requires mechanical ventilation and control systems to work effectively. Providing suitable ventilation without these systems would reduce the cost, complexity, and emissions of building construction, operation, and maintenance. It would also increase occupant comfort and internal air quality by reducing carbon dioxide levels and pathogens, including the coronavirus.
The project proposes to use moisture-responsive materials in combination with insulation to produce building skins that allow variable levels of ventilation, depending on the humidity of the environment inside and outside the building. For example, if the inside of the building is humid, pores will open in the skin, increasing airflow. Alternatively, if the outside of the building is moist, pores will close, keeping the internal environment dry. With careful placement of these skins around a building, comfortable internal conditions can be maintained, with no ongoing carbon emissions.
Respire will take advantage of the natural moisture-responsiveness of some abundant organic materials. Wood, hydrogel (made from seaweed), wool, and flax fibres all swell and shrink in response to varying levels of moisture, and these can be used to produce novel breathing-building skins at a low cost and with an environmental impact.
Responsibilities:
- Reviewing the state of the art of passive building skins, systems, and materials.
- Growing Mycelium materials in the wet lab (Class 1).
- Measuring Mycelium material properties for dynamic (building) simulation.
Principal Investigator (PI)
Funding: EPSRC Supergen
Duration: 1 year 6 months (September 2019- March 2021)
Objectives:
To explore the potential of electricity import from India, Nepal and Bhutan from renewable sources for the decarbonisation of Bangladesh’s rapidly accelerating electricity sector.
Responsibilities:
- Investigating the present scenario for energy supply and demand sectors and policies in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan, as well as in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC);
- Exploring the renewable electricity generation potentials of the selected countries;
- Developing energy supply, demand and emissions forecasting models for Nepal (NP 2050) and Bhutan (BTN 2050);
- Developing the collaborative energy and emissions model (BINBEC 2050) for Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan;
- Investigating the electricity export-import feasibility among the collaborating countries and
- Examining the potential for decarbonisation in energy systems in Bangladesh through collaboration with India, Nepal, and Bhutan.
Researcher Co-Investigator (RCoI)
Project lead: Dr Andrew Peacock (Senior research fellow, EGIS, HWU, UK)
Funding: Energy Catalyst 7: Early Stage. InnovateUK
Duration: 1 year 6 months (April 2020- September 2021)
Objectives: To quantify the flexibility available and value that can be derived from dispatchable air conditioning systems in the Indian residential sector. This information will be used to investigate business model opportunities for technology solutions capable of delivering the proscribed level of flexibility.
Responsibilities:
- Developing Raspberry-pi based control system for monitoring electricity consumption, indoor temperature and humidity, as well as the controlling the air condition unit in the selected households;
- Analyzing the monitored electricity consumption, indoor temperature and RH data;
- Developing the dynamic building physics models of the monitored households.
Project lead: Professor Toby Peters (Professor in Cold Economy, University of Birmingham, UK)
Funding: UKRI GCRF/NF Agile response call 2020
Duration: 1 year 6 months (August 2020- February 2022)
Objectives: Universal vaccine access is an existing major challenge in low-income countries, mainly due to the lack of robust cold-chains, resulting in loss of potency for +25% of vaccines. Mass vaccination for COVID-19 globally will require a new fast-track approach to assess, re-engineer and build upon available cold-chain logistics assets and systems, to deliver the vaccines at scale and speed never before considered. We aim to evaluate the capacity and preparedness of the cold-chain framework of Bangladesh as a case study country for mass scale COVID-19 vaccination and assist the policymakers in defining optimised, sustainable interventions and lasting legacy opportunities.
Responsibilities:
- Developing an energy system model for the vaccine cold chain of Bangladesh;
- Analyzing the effect of expanding vaccine cold chain of Bangladesh on energy demand and emissions.
Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA)
2018-2021
Project lead: Dr David P Jenkins (Associate Professor, ISBD, EGIS, HWU, UK)
Funding authority: Newton-Bhabha Fund, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), UK and Department of Science and Technology (DST), India.
Duration: 3 years 3 months (July 2018- October 2021)
Objectives: CEDRI is a consortium of expertise in sustainable buildings, power electronics, and demand modelling and energy behaviours across Heriot-Watt University, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, IIT Bombay and the Tiruchirappalli National Institute of Technology (NITT). The project will— through the application of demand synthesis models to Indian case studies— propose clear guidance for demand reduction/management in households to ensure the future-resilient provision of electricity to Indian communities. The project sees neglect of supply limitations as being a critical risk that might hamper the demand reduction strategies for the future.
Responsibilities:
- Database development and maintenance by monitoring electricity consumption in 30 households in Auroville, India.
- Quantitative analysis of the energy database to understand the drivers and characteristics that determine energy demand profile in residential buildings in India, and the mechanisms by which to reduce it. We utilized Python, R, SPSS and MS Excel for the analysis.
- Building physics modelling and simulation of the monitored buildings to test the energy reduction hypothesis for policy model. We used DesignBuilder and EnergyPlus for the dynamic building physics modelling and simulations.
- Large scale modelling by developing residential sector demand model (Excel-based model).
- Internal collaboration with other university researchers from IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay and NIIT, and industrial partners — Auroville Foundation, Enzen Global Solutions Private Ltd. — to validate the model assumptions with the feedback from the stakeholders in various development stages of the model.
- External collaboration with third-party research organizations — Prayas, Environmental Design Solutions (EDS), Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) — to get access to their database of smart household monitoring.
- Leadership through co-organizing ISBD seminar series for 2019-2020 session, where I was in charge of managing the speakers and logistics. Also, participated in Solar Decathlon at Heriot-watt University for brainstorming and formulating concepts for the HWU project for the Solar Decathlon Middle East 2020.
- Interpersonal proficiency by working with a multi-disciplinary team consisting of building physicists, architects, urban planners, environmental scientists, engineers, economist and others.
- Written and verbal communication through model report development in different stages; participation and presentation in workshops and conferences.
- Transforming farming value-chains in sub-Saharan Africa through social and economically inclusive sustainable energy solutions (TRANSFARM)
Project lead: Dr Olufolahan Osunmuyiwa (Research associate, EGIS, HWU, UK)
Funding: Scottish Funding Council (SFC). SFC GCRF Institutional Sponsorship 2019-20
Duration: 5 months (November 2019- March 2020)
Objectives: To analyze the technological scoping to appraise sustainable energy solutions (SES) options available in Nigeria’s agricultural space and determine their social, economic and technical viability, and design a case study based needs assessment.
Responsibilities:
- Reviewing the literature for needs assessment and technological scoping to appraise sustainable energy solutions (SES) options available in Nigeria’s agricultural space
- Analyzing the needs assessment and technological scoping to appraise sustainable energy solutions (SES) options available in Nigeria’s agricultural space.
- Rapid Assessment Methodology for Vaccine Cold-Chain for Mass Immunisation
Project lead: Dr Bing Xu
Funding agency: Scottish Funding Council (SFC). SFC GCRF Institutional Sponsorship 2020.
Duration: May-July 2020
Objectives: To develop an assessment methodology for the vaccine cold chain for Rwanda.
Responsibilities:
- Reviewing the literature on vaccine cold chain for mass immunisation for Rwanda.
- Cooling for all
Project lead: Professor Toby Peters (Professor in Cold Economy, University of Birmingham; Senior Research Fellow, Transformational Innovation for Sustainability Heriot-Watt University; Visiting Professor, Global Innovation Centre, Kyushu University)
Funding: Global Challenges Research Fund 2018 Small Grants
Duration: 1 Year (April 2019 – April 2020)
Objectives: To develop a cooling need assessment methodology for India.
Responsibilities:
- Reviewing the literature for cooling needs
assessment (CNA), India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC)
and sustainable development goals (SDG); - Analyzing the SDGs and INDCs to find the
cooling related aspects and link to the cooling needs assessment framework; - Identifying the variables related to
cooling needs assessments for different sectors in India; and - Verifying the CNA related variables and
the necessary data with the stakeholder.
- Power Forward Challenge: funding for UK / Canada joint challenge on smart energy systems innovation
Project co-I: Dr David P Jenkins
Funding: Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (Government funding for innovation in smart energy systems and technologies)
Duration: 3 months
Objectives: To review the residential building energy performance certificate (EPC) systems of the UK and Canada to analyze and compare the key inputs required for extended heating analysis and current inputs in UK/Canada methodologies.
Responsibilities:
- Reviewing the EPC systems around the world such as England & Wales, Scotland, EU, Australia, Canada, USA and China.
- Qualitative analysis of the EPC methodology to understand the variables, and methods that determine energy performance in residential buildings in the UK and Canada.
- Writing a report on the methodological differences and similarities of EPC systems of the UK and Canada, to explore the scope of the novel heating assessment method.
Research Assistant
2014-2018
BRE Trust Centre for Sustainable Engineering,
School of Engineering,
Cardiff University,
Wales, UK
Project lead: Professor Monjur Mourshed (Professor, BRE Trust Centre for Sustainable Engineering School of Engineering, Cardiff University, UK)
Funding authority: Wales government, UK
Objectives: We are developing the 2050 energy and emissions pathways model for Wales on behalf of the Welsh Government. Setting appropriate carbon budgets for the entire country and quantify policies as part of the Low Carbon Transition Plan with the pathways tool. The tool will also inform policies to reduce carbon emissions in line with The Environment (Wales) Act 2016, which sets a long-term statutory emission reduction target of at least 80% in 2050 compared to 1990 baseline.
Responsibilities:
- Database development and maintenance on the demand (Building, transport, agriculture, and industry) and the supply sectors (Hydrocarbon, nuclear, renewable and waste) for Wales.
- Quantitative analysis of the sectoral database assisted us to understand the drivers that determine energy demand and supply in Wales and the mechanisms by which to reduce it. We utilized SPSS and MS Excel for the analysis.
- Large scale modelling by developing sector-specific models for both demand and supply sectors, as well as the entire baseline and first version of 2050.Wales model (Excel-based model). Moreover, model versions development and maintenance was done by me (Baseline version based on the UK2050 model; Version 1.0, 2.0 and 2.1)
- Collaboration with government departments and other university researchers to validate the model assumptions with the feedback from the stakeholders in various development stages of the model.
- Leadership through training the MSc students, researchers on the long horizon modelling and assisting them in developing their models.
- Interpersonal proficiency by working with a multi-disciplinary team consisting of building physicists, architects, urban planners, environmental scientists, civil engineers, agriculturist, economist and others. Moreover, I have participated and presented in different Walsh government working group meetings for discussion and feedback on a different level of scenarios and assumptions of both demand (Building, agriculture, industry) and supply sectors (Energy and waste).
- Written and verbal communication through model report development in different stages; participation and presentation in stockholder workshops with different Walsh government departments to develop the model.
- Assisted in the supervision of two MSc students in developing their model and the final dissertation.
Project lead: Professor Monjur Mourshed (Professor, BRE institute of sustainable engineering, School of Engineering, Cardiff University, UK)
Funding authority: 1. School of Engineering, Cardiff University, UK; 2. Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), UK
Duration: April 2014 – March 2016
Responsibilities:
- Database development and maintenance of the demand sector (rural, urban, non-domestic, industry and agriculture) for Bangladesh.
- Quantitative analysis of the sectoral database assisted us to understand the drivers that determine energy demand in Bangladesh and the mechanisms by which to reduce it. We utilized SPSS and MS Excel for the analysis. I worked with version control, data verification and model testing.
- Large scale modelling by developing sector-specific models for demand sectors, as well as the cost modelling of the entire BD 2050 model (Excel-based model).
- Interpersonal proficiency by working with a multi-disciplinary team consisting of architects, urban planners, civil engineers and others.
- Written communication through updating model report (one-pagers) of the BD2050 model for the final stage. Also, developing the lectures on long-horizon modelling and BD2050 for the online course. Moreover, I developed info-graphs for social media and maintaining social media platforms
- Organizing stakeholder workshops.
- Publication and dissemination activities involved publication and presentation of research findings at conferences and journals.
Research Assistant
Department of Architecture,
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
2011
- Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction Strategies (EVRS) for Unplanned
Urban Areas –in the Context of Old Dhaka City
Project lead: Dr Nasreen Hossain (Professor, Department of Architecture, BUET)
Duration: January-March, 2011
Responsibilities:
- Field survey of road width, land use and
nodal movement for selected roads in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh. - Database development and maintenance of road
width, land use and nodal movement for Old Dhaka, Bangladesh. - Quantitative analysis of connectivity
simulation with Space Syntax. - Leadership through being the survey
leader, and training and managing 10 undergraduate students for collecting data
and distributing tasks. - Written communication through developing
the final research reports.
- Promoting
the Green Architecture Concept in Bangladesh and Supporting the Textile and RMG
Sector in Bangladesh towards Implementing Green Strategies in their Building
Design
Project lead: Dr Zebun Nasreen Ahmed (Professor, Department of Architecture, BUET)
Funder: GTZ Progress
Duration: July-August, 2011
Responsibilities:
- Questionnaire survey of the ready-made garments (RMG) work environments by interviewing 25 RMG workers.
- Material survey of the materials used for RMG buildings.