School of the Built Environment
Applications are invited for a PhD studentship funded by the EPSRC in the following research area:
Modelling of energy use in buildings, utilising future weather data predictions
Project to start: 4th August 2008
Project background:
This project is part of a large consortium of universities (Manchester, Sheffield, Bath, Northumbria and Napier) developing next generation tools and techniques to enable architects and engineers responsible for the built environment to mitigate and adapt to the worst effects of climate change. A central aspect of the work will be developing building-relevant climate change data from new data to be released by the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP08) which is led by the University of Manchester. PhD studentships are available at all partner universities with individual programmes of work.
The main objectives of the research at Northumbria are:
1. To review examples of best practice in climate-mitigating building design and develop priorities for future building design approaches.
2. To adapt an existing modelling tool with particular emphasis on responsive plant, controls and embedded renewable energy systems capable of meeting the challenge implied by (1).
3. To test and evaluate the modelling tool on a variety of building case studies making use of the weather data sets emerging from the collaborators.
This part of the collaborative programme will involve close collaboration with two key stakeholders: a sample of building design professionals; and a building modelling software developer. A key deliverable will be a modelling tool capable of predicting building energy and environmental performance over an extended timeline and responsive to the needs of design practitioners.
The studentship:
This EPSRC Studentship covers home/EU tuition fees and a stipend of £12,940 (tax free) per annum. Overseas students are eligible to apply, but will be expected to pay the difference between home/EU and overseas fees (currently around £5,900 p.a.) and have an English Language Qualification, IELTS of no less than 6.5 or its equivalent.
The successful candidate will join a large and vibrant community of research students and staff and be based in our newly-created Research Hub at the School of the Built Environment(www.northumbria.ac.uk/be ). The School is one of the largest providers of built environment higher education and consultancy in the UK supported by research themes in building and renewable energy, construction management, virtual reality, urban design, and public policy for sustainability.
Applications:
Candidates should hold a first or upper second class honours degree in an engineering discipline, a physical science, computer science or a related subject and have a keen interest in simulation and mathematical modelling.
Interested applicants should send a CV and covering letter to Elaine Ryder, Senior Research Administrator, School of the Built Environment, Ellison Building, University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST or email: elaine.ryder@northumbria.ac.uk. For further details and an informal discussion about the project, contact Professor Chris Underwood on +44(0)191 227 3533 or email: chris.underwood@northumbria.ac.uk.
The deadline for applications is the 30th of June 2008.
