UK : University of Teesside Research Doctoral Scholarships

Creative digital technologies and sustainability applications to built environment

The University of Teesside is offering 4 full-time Research Doctoral Scholarships across a broad range of subject areas including: computing, psychology, science and engineering. The scholarships are aligned to key areas of research strength within the Digital Futures Institute, the Social Futures Institute and the Technology Futures Institute. The awards will be for a period of three years and include fees (home/EU or international rate) and an annual stipend of £12,600. Successful applicants should be in a position to take up the scholarships in November 2008 or shortly thereafter.

Research Theme: Creative digital technologies and sustainability applications to built environment

1. Environmental impact assessment models of built environment and urban development using intelligent visual simulation and GIS.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) tools have been available for some years now and their function is predominantly to predict and identify the environmental impact of building projects. However EIA analysis is often done after the completion of the project or building and when it is too late to influence the design, materials or components to be used. Also, more than 80% of the design decisions that influence the whole life cycle of a building are made at the initial design phase.

A new approach is suggested in this research to ensure that designers, clients and stakeholders have all of the relevant information needed at the outline design stage for the assessment of cost, environmental impact and brown-fields. The idea is that building owners and users will have the opportunity to minimise their operating costs from ‘cradle to grave'. As energy resources reduce over the next few decades, the value of this research will increase and it is possible to foresee government legislation which drives building construction and remediation of Brown-fields in this direction. By making environmental impact analysis readily linked to 3D products at the very early stage of the design process, the value of 3D technology will be enhanced significantly and it will likely result in more use of the technology in the construction process.

The objective of this proposal is to introduce and explore approaches for developing integrated 3D-EIA, LCA (Life Cycle Analysis) and LCCA (Life Cycle Cost Analysis), VR (Virtual Reality) and GIS tools and develop trade-off analysis to assist in the decision making process. The developed methodologies and tools will be applicable to both new built and urban development and more emphasis will be given to case studies in the north east of England.

Research Doctoral Scholarships applicants should have at least an upper second class honours degree or equivalent qualification and ideally a postgraduate qualification. The minimum English language entry level is IELTS 6.5 with no grade below 6.0 or equivalent.

To apply for a scholarship you must contact the Graduate Research School for an application form:

University of Teesside Research Doctoral Scholarships
Graduate Research School
University of Teesside
Middlesbrough
Tees Valley
TS1 3BA
UK
E-mail: graduateresearchschool@tees.ac.uk or tel: +44(0)1642 738033

Closing date: 15 September 2008