About the Project
The School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh invites applications for a fully funded PhD scholarship on the digitalisation of buildings. The successful candidate will explore innovative methodologies to digitalise collections of existing buildings with the purpose of understanding and managing their environmental performance.
Most existing buildings in European countries predate the adoption of high energy efficiency standards, and a significant proportion were built well before architectural design processes were digitalised or energy conservation regulations introduced. The result is a diverse stock for which limited information exist. Even in cases where information is available, it tends to be patchy, out of date, or exists in physical documents that cannot be readily consumed by modern processes for facility management.
At the same time, pressure is mounting for a highly energy-efficient, low-carbon stock that meets end-user demands at the lowest possible costs. Here, many proposals have been put forward, from simple methods to advanced, real-time coupling with building simulations and a wide range of algorithms. However, they presume the right information is available at an adequate quality to inform such advanced workflows.
Your research will develop strategies to digitalise collections of buildings with the view to support asset owners. In particular, the work will explore digitalisation for energy management, linking with ongoing activities around building energy modelling and digital twins. The project will research solutions using the buildings of the University of Edinburgh. It will be conducted in close partnership with our Estates Department, who develop and maintain more than 550 buildings across Scotland. Together, these buildings represent key challenges of the building sector at large, like different uses, level of information, vintage, construction techniques, energy systems or services.
We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, and we wish to particularly encourage applications from groups underrepresented at this level.
A comprehensive training programme will be provided comprising both specialist scientific training and generic transferable and professional skills, as well as mentorship. The PhD candidate will have numerous training options, within the University of Edinburgh and project partners. Depending on the experience of the candidate, options include (1) building physics, (2) introduction to data science or (3) geospatial data analysis.
The candidate will also have the opportunity to become a teaching assistant following formal training, as well as opportunities to contribute to wider training and outreach activities. Further training in both academic and interdisciplinary skills will be available as part of Edinburgh’s Institute for Academic Development.