Principal investigator (PI)
Professor Sonja Oliveira (University of Strathclyde)
Sonja is a Professor in Architecture and Sustainability Design Innovation with over 20 years of innovation and research experience in the sustainability and design sector. She has worked as an associate architect, senior manager, and principal investigator in the delivery of complex multidisciplinary research, innovation, and design projects ranging in value from £200k-£29mil in the UK and internationally. She founded the Radical Architecture Practice for Sustainability network (http://www.rapsresearch.com) in partnership with leading design practitioners and researchers in Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Serbia, and France. She has been appointed as a Thought Leadership Specialist Advisor to the Design Council and is a board member of the World Green Building Council (Serbia), as well as a scientific and industry advisory member of numerous scientific committees including ARENA and the New European Bauhaus Collective.
Project team
Associate Prof. Anna Chatzimichali (University of Bath)
Anna is a Senior Lecturer in Engineering Design at the University of Bath. She lead the Embedded Intelligent Empathy feasibility study funded by Connected Everything II: Accelerating Digital Manufacturing Research Collaboration and Innovation. Together with a team of design experts, they investigate novel ways to model empathy and systematically integrate it into computational design. Their goal is to integrate empathy in the next generation of smart products to align with the emotions driving behaviors and forge powerful connections with the users.
Dr. Ed Atkins (University of Bristol)
Ed is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol. His work is focused on interdisciplinary research into energy transitions, climate change communication, and a just transition. He arrived at the School of Geographical Sciences in 2018 - the same year that he completed my PhD at the School of Sociology, Politics, and International Studies (also at Bristol).
Dr. Lidia Badarnah (University of the West of England)
Lidia is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the University of the West of England and a researcher in biomimetics. Her PhD dissertation (TU Delft, 2012), proposed a strategic methodology for the generation of biomimetic design concepts, and since then her work has branched out to new inspiring areas at the interface of natural systems, environment, buildings, and associated technologies and services, exploring novel approaches for the development of building solutions that are better suited to their environments. She received several competitive awards and fellowships and carried out her postdoctoral studies at the Building Technology Lab at MIT. She is on the editorial board of the Journal of Biomimetics in Engineering and has a Teaching Certificate from MIT (2014).
Dr. Merate Barakat (University of the West of England)
Merate is a Senior Lecturer in Computational Architecture at the University of the West of England AND an AIA architect with international experience, media designer, and academic researcher. She received her Ph.D. in Architecture from the AA School, in London, before joining UWE in 2016. Her research explores the intersecting domain between soundscape, urban, and computation design. Merate practiced architecture in the US, where she worked on numerous projects that have received AIA design awards. Merate initiated the AA Alexandria Visiting School and led an M.Arch design studio. Both the workshop and the studio are set up with a focus on generative and responsive sound-based designs.
Dr. Marco Perez Hernandez (University of the West of England)
Marco is a Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Creative Technologies at the University of the West of England Bristol where he researches and teaches about topics related to multi-agent systems, distributed artificial intelligence, and their applications. He is the recipient of the UWE’s Vice Chancellor Early Career Research Award 2022. Before joining UWE he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) at the University of Cambridge, working mainly on the design of agent-based control systems. He completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Leicester where he studied autonomy and self-adaptation in systems of smart objects and how to realise these behaviours through middleware architectures.
Dr. Faezeh Bagheri-Moghaddam (Research Associate, University of Strathclyde)
Faezeh is a Research Associate at the Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde. She received her international PhD in Architectural, Civil and Urban Heritage and Refurbishment of Existing Buildings in Jan 2022 from the Polytechnic University of Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain. She conducted research about integrating Architecture with Technology and Biology as a way to improve building energy efficiency.