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School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, University Funded PhD
Studentship, 2017 Entry
Important note: all applications for the projects described below must be accompanied
by a research proposal, which should be approximately 1000-2000 words. Proposals
should (1) identify the proposed research supervisor from the list shown below, and (2)
give details of your proposed research project. The proposal should be clearly aligned
to one of the PhD topics listed below:
1. Professor Amin Al-Habaibeh - The development of an intelligent building for
improved energy performance and health and well-being
2. Dr Ana Souto The role of Architecture in Urban Regeneration
3. Professor Michael White An Analysis of Policy Mechanisms to Address Fuel Poverty
and Climate Change
4. Dr Anton Ianakiev Zero Energy Homes (Buildings) a sustainable Passivhaus
class deep retrofitting in existing buildings
5. Dr Patrizia Riganti - Developing operational tools for the implementation of the
Historic Urban Landscape approach in the UK and India
Please see the project descriptions below.

1. Professor Amin Al-Habaibeh - The development of an intelligent building for

improved energy performance and health and well-being
For informal discussion regarding the project, please contact: amin.alhabaibeh@ntu.ac.uk
The Climate Change Act has committed the UK government to reduce 80% of its carbon
footprint by the year 2050. Research has shown that 40% of carbon emission is emitted
from buildings. It is also predicted that by 2050 over 70% of the current buildings will still
be occupied. Therefore, in order to meet the government targets, it is necessary to identify
means of carbon reduction by retrofitting (improved internal/external building fabric),
additional energy saving measures and understanding occupants behaviour patterns in
relationship to thermal comfort and financial implications. Apart from the building fabric
which is an important factor in the energy efficiency of buildings, the energy performance
of a building and the comfort of a residence is also significantly affected by the users
behaviour such as the setting of room thermostats and opening/closing windows. Some
new innovative products are introduced to residential home users to provide an optimum
heating control learned from the users behaviour.
Building fabric; heating system; occupancy behaviour; comfort; health and life style; fuel
poverty and government policy are the main factors affecting house energy efficiency.
Building fabric and heating systems are interrelated and they can easily retrofit to improve
energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint. However, there are other factors
influenced by the occupant. For example, occupancy behaviour, comfort, health and life
style are factors which cannot be voluntary influenced but need to be compulsory
influenced. Fuel poverty is related to the economy which indirectly related to government
policies.
The motivation to increase energy efficiency in buildings is driving the use of smart
technologies to improve energy savings and occupants comfort. This is also linked to
health and well-being issues. The complexity of building use, weather conditions and the
dynamics of the occupants create a very complex scenario for energy performance. This
project will integrate environmental sensors, occupancy sensors and building management
data to understand and attempt to optimize the performance of buildings. This will be done
via a combined modelling and experimental work that involves long term monitoring.
This project aims to highlight three main important intimate relationships between:
external ambient temperature and building fabrics, occupancy behavioural patterns in
relationship with the internal/external ambient temperature, and using contemporary
energy efficiency measures to reduce energy consumption. Investigation will be conducted
using a Wireless Sensor Network to record utility readings, ambient and surface
temperature of space and building fabric, occupancy behavioural patterns in relationship
to the entry door and windows interaction. In addition, thermal imaging will be conducted
to understand temperature and building fabric. The information gathered from thermal
imaging is correlated with sensory data.
This is a multi-disciplinary project across the university.
Entry Criteria
UK 1st Class/2:1 Bachelors degree (or UK equivalent according to NARIC), in Energy
Management, Science, Design or Engineering (or similar), or 2:2 with UK Masters degree
with minimum of merit or a UK Masters.

2. Dr Ana Souto The role of Architecture in Urban Regeneration

For informal discussion regarding the project, please contact: ana.souto@ntu.ac.uk
This project aims at furthering the debate about architecture as material culture and
symbol of local identity, and the role of architecture in urban regeneration. By mapping
the built environment and its landscape, the project will open up a discussion about the
different meanings of its traces, its landmarks, by acknowledging the perception of current
locals, as well as those expressed by outsiders. The views of different stakeholders will be
different, but mapping these perceptions will also aid creation of new connections between
the built environment and its users (both current and potential ones), and how these
perceptions can be used as a central element in urban regeneration.
The project will observe the city not only as a conglomerate of buildings, but as a place of
collective relations, historical layers, flows, movements, emotions, political and social
activity. Therefore, mapping its identity through a variety of research methods (such as
interviews, questionnaires, mapping by colour-coding, collecting oral testimonies, etc.) will
enable the project to synchronise history, bringing to life forgotten memories and creating
new ones, and thus inspiring people to shape their futures. The danger of regeneration is
to remove and erase the memories of a particular locality; to project a blank slate to start
anew, both from a built environment point of view, as well as socially. However,
architecture will become a stronger part of a community identity as it is also connected to
its history, carrying memories of the community.
Involving the public as part of the process will be at the core of the project, including a
number of public engagement experiments, so people can explore how to reinforce the
connections between themselves and the built environment. Ultimately, the main outcome
of the project will be to map the different layers of a city (preferably Nottingham) and
generate public value through the creation of new memories and stories with places,
supporting their potential through the use of architecture and design. By doing so, urban
regeneration will aim at preserving the history and heritage of a place, when possible by
highlighting new uses for existing buildings; or by producing new meanings and
associations with new structures.
Working alongside Nottingham City Council (Nottingham Heritage Strategy) as well as
public institutions, SMEs and local communities, will support the development of the
project, and produce inspirational approaches to enhance the value of architecture at the
core of urban regeneration; unlocking both its potential as architecture, together with its
value as material form of values of identity and belonging.
Entry Criteria
UK 1st Class/2:1 Bachelors degree (or UK equivalent according to NARIC), or 2:2 with
UK Masters degree with minimum of merit or a UK Masters, in Architecture, History and
Art History subject areas.

3. Professor Michael White An Analysis of Policy Mechanisms to Address Fuel

Poverty and Climate Change
For informal discussion regarding the project, please contact: michael.white@ntu.ac.uk
Fuel poverty is often characterized as being driven by three main factors; incomes, prices,
and energy efficiency. These vary between and within regions, by housing tenure and
household type with poorer households facing higher costs than typical households.
Approximately 7 million people and 3 million homes in England have been affected.
This research seeks to evaluate the relative contribution of different factors to fuel poverty
setting this debate within the wider context of policy targets to reduce Greenhouse Gas
(GHG) Emissions. The fourth report to the IPCC notes that buildings offer the largest share
of cost-effective opportunities for GHG mitigation and that achieving a lower carbon future
will require very significant efforts to enhance programmes and policies for energy
efficiency in buildings and low carbon energy sources well beyond what is happening
currently. The UK government has set legally binding targets to reduce emissions by 80%
by 2050 and residential buildings contribute a significant proportion of all emissions.
Energy inefficiency of the existing housing stock raises the risk of fuel poverty while the
continued existence of fuel poverty potentially acts as a barrier to achieving a low carbon
future. The age of the housing stock and different construction methods have also
impacted on energy efficiency and fuel poverty. Addressing these issues effectively
requires an interdisciplinary approach.
Hence this PhD topic would consider the role played by incomes, prices, and energy
efficiency, and in addition consider what policy mechanisms need to be explored or created
in order to improve the quality of the housing stock so that all households can inhabit
warm homes. A comparative analysis at international level and then disaggregating to
national, regional and local level would be required. The research opens up an opportunity
to develop specific case studies with local level housing interventions and an analysis of
fuel poverty across social and private rented as well as owner-occupied tenure types to
evaluate potential benefits and suggest policy improvements.
Entry Criteria
UK 1st Class/2:1 Bachelors degree (or UK equivalent according to NARIC), or 2:2 with UK
Masters degree with minimum of merit or a UK Masters, in economics, business economics,
real estate, finance, public policy or other related cognate discipline.

4. Dr Anton Ianakiev Zero Energy Homes (Buildings) a sustainable Passivhaus

class deep retrofitting in existing buildings
For informal discussion regarding the project, please contact: anton.ianakiev@ntu.ac.uk
As part of an EU Horizon 2020 project is the development of deep retrofitting of residential
in Sneinton, Nottingham to a near Passivhaus or EnerPHit standard. This type of technical
intervention is extremely expensive with a value near the value of the houses to be
retrofitted and therefore not economically sustainable.
This project will research the development of Zero Energy Buildings a new Passivhaus
class economically sustainable deep retrofitting approach. According to the Passivhaus
Institute (PHI, 2015), a conventional heating system would no longer be essential for a
Passivhaus after the heating demand has been drastically reduced. While the Passivhaus
concept focuses all its efforts on reducing this demand to a very low point, the design of
nearly Zero Energy Buildings looks for a balanced combination between passive and active
measures. By integrating Renewable Energy Sources (RES), the energy demand of
buildings can be met by local energy microgeneration. To some extent, low energy
buildings or nearly Zero Energy Buildings can be viewed as self-sufficient approaches for
buildings which are independent from external non-renewable sources.
There are a considerable number of standards regarding low energy buildings and in some
cases relating to the scale of the district. Most of these standards were compiled from the
perspective of new buildings. When it comes to the retrofit of existing buildings or districts,
the number of applicable standards reduces drastically. Among the applicable standards,
the majority only deals with certain retrofitting aspects. EnerPHit standard adapts the
respective requirements and parameters for the retrofit of existing building to a near
Passivhaus standard. However, the scale of district is still one missing element in the
Passivhaus and EnerPhit standards. When districts are considered as a unique energy
entity, in which energy flows are considered as a whole from and to the boundary of
building groups, a wider spectrum of possible energy conservation measures can be
applied. Therefore, it is more feasible to compressively apply multiple sustainable
technologies to achieve augmented energy efficiencies.
For this research a base case evaluation a small district of 9 dwellings will be conducted
on the basis of current building conditions, including the building envelop, thermal bridges,
window ratio, infiltration and ventilation, and energy systems. The feasible retrofit
potentials to improve each of these identified aspects will be analysed by making reference
to existing technologies and case study practice. In addition to the improvement on
building envelop details, on-site energy renewable microgeneration will be taken into
account to examine the potentials in meeting domestic energy demand to different extent.
Retrofitting scenarios will be considered from meeting the basic requirement of 2010 UK
building regulation to achieving a Zero Energy House based on EnerPHit retrofit. To
quantify the comparison among the identified retrofit scenarios, software simulations
(Design Builder and PHPP) will be used to calculate the associated energy and monetary
savings. The simulation results will assist in justifying the financial investment and return
models. After the recommended interventions are implemented and comprehensive
monitoring programme will be implemented to analyse the performance of the Zero Energy
Building intervention.
Entry Criteria
UK 1st Class/2:1 (or UK equivalent according to NARIC) BEng. Hons. Civil Engineering or
BEng Hons. Mechanical Engineering.

5. Dr Patrizia Riganti - Developing operational tools for the implementation of

the Historic Urban Landscape approach in the UK and India
For informal discussion regarding the project, please contact: patrizia.riganti@ntu.ac.uk
The proposed project addresses the debate on the current UN Agenda for Sustainable
Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It aims to progress
knowledge in the field of conservation, protection and valorisation of cultural heritage by
operationalising the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) as recommended by UNESCO and the
current international debate. (See UNESCO Recommendation on HUL, 2011; Declaration
of the Council of the European Union, 2014; UN Resolution for Culture and Sustainable
Development, 2014; UNESCO Global Report on Culture and Sustainable Urban
Development, 2015; ICOMOS Concept Note for the UN post-2015 Agenda and Habitat III
2015; UN Resolution Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
development, 2015).
The project aims to contribute to the UN SDG 11: Make cities and human settlements
inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, with particular reference to Target 11.4:
Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the worlds cultural and natural
heritage.
The conservation of tangible and intangible heritage is a prerequisite for urban sustainable
development. Most of the worlds population (54%) is concentrated in urban areas and
this percentage should rise to 66% by 2050, with 90% of such increase concentrated in
Asia and Africa (UN, World Urbanization Prospects 2014). This constant upward trend in
urbanization, in particular when coupled with the uncontrolled growth of cities, brings an
excessive pressure on the fragile cultural heritage of cities, and may escalate to
irreversible damage and ultimate loss. Historic cities in both developed and developing
countries possess assets of both cultural and economic value, with strong potential for
sustainable growth. Urban heritage and urban landscape are cultural capital assets,
resources for sustainable human development, economic growth and job creation,
therefore integrated conservation is not only a need but a necessary investment. In recent
years, the international debate has focused around these issues. The UNESCO and
ICOMOS debate around the crucial role played by culture and culture heritage on
sustainable development has impacted on the UN resolution on the 2030 Agenda on SD.
Currently, the debate is focusing on the approaches, tools and indicators to be developed
to assess and monitor progress on Target 11.4. UNESCO is supporting the exploration
and implementation of the HUL approach in different contexts. The Historic Urban
Landscape (HUL) is currently only a theoretical approach and the international scientific
community has been asked to respond to the research question on how to operationalise
the HUL approach at local levels.
This PhD project aims to fill this important knowledge gap by developing practical means
to achieve sustainable, resilient and inclusive development in cities, using historic/cultural
landscape/heritage as an asset. We will focus on the European context (particularly UK
and Italy) and will compare this situation to the Indian context, where threats to the
conservation of cultural heritage are exacerbated by rapid urbanization. We will consider
how innovative methodologies can help the development of tools to address the identified
challenges, starting from the situation of Indian cities and benchmarking it with UK and
European cities. This PhD project is strictly linked with the activities planned within the
ESRC funded network SMARTIES, led by Prof Michele Clarke, University of Nottingham, for
which Dr Patrizia Riganti is the NTU Principal Investigator. The PhD project will support
the research stream on heritage conservation and planning that Dr Riganti is leading within
the SMARTIES Network.

The project will identify the most appropriate tools to map, manage and protect cultural
assets; the most appropriate methodologies to assess the economic value of cultural
heritage goods (i.e. how to quantify the value of heritage to inform decision making). We
aim to develop practical means/tools/guidelines to achieve sustainable, resilient and
inclusive human development in both Indian, UK and European cities, using cultural
heritage as an asset.
In particular, the project will:
1) Provide a synthesis and a critical assessment of how the UNESCO Historic Urban
Landscape approach has been debated and applied in different urban contexts
2) Identify the most appropriate economic valuation methods and financial mechanisms
that could be used within the HUL framework to foster citizens' wellbeing and sustainable
economic growth;
3) Carry out a state preferences study in a selected city to test the above framework;
4) Provide public authorities with the formulation of concrete measures/guidelines to
manage and protect cultural assets threaten by rapid and unplanned urbanization;
The project will draft the background of Operational Guidelines for urban planning in the
Historic Urban Landscape context.
Entry Criteria
UK 1st Class/2:1 Bachelors degree (or UK equivalent according to NARIC), or 2:2 with UK
Masters degree with minimum of merit or a UK Masters, in a Built environment related
discipline (e.g. Architecture/heritage conservation and management/planning/real
estate/economics).