Category: Interviews
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Meet the Student Assistants at the SBE Research Area
Student assistants are an integral part of the Sustainable Built Environments research area. Currently completing their Master’s degrees, Johan Blomsterberg, Djamila Mamedova, and Arvid Hall support our research in energy-efficient building renovation, data management, and spatial data visualisation. We sat down to talk to Johan, Djamila and Arvid about their backgrounds and the specific projects…
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Interview with Jieming
This week, we sat down with Jieming Yan, SBE’s most recent PhD candidate. Jieming’s research explores how mixed reality can support better communication of building performance simulation results to inform sustainable decision-making. Jieming is supervised by Alexander Hollberg and Sanjay Somanath with funding from the Digital Twin Cities Centre. First of all, congratulations on your…
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From Architecture to Machine Learning: Xinyue Wang on Making Early-Stage Energy Optimisation Practical
What if predicting building energy demand did not require long simulation runs, heavy workflows, or massive datasets? Xinyue Wang recently defended her PhD, “Leveraging Machine Learning to Improve Early-stage Building Energy Optimization.” Originally trained as an architect, her research sits at the intersection of building energy simulation and machine learning. Her work focuses on making…
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Interview: Reduction Roadmaps and Climate Limit-Values in Construction
As the construction sector works to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, one tool is rapidly gaining importance: limit-values that define how much climate impact new buildings are allowed to have. Across the Nordic countries, governments and industrial actors are developing their own versions of such limit-values, but they are doing so using very different methods. In their recent CISBAT…
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Pragmatism in Practice – Interview with Sjouke Beemsterboer
Sjouke Beemsterboer discusses his PhD journey with us in this interview – research on life cycle assessment (LCA) in the Swedish building sector, and advice for future researchers. Sjouke shares his insights on balancing scientific credibility with practical utility, and the evolving landscape of sustainable building. Congratulations on your PhD! Could you briefly tell us what…
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Interview with Haitham Abu Ghaida
This week we sat down with Haitham Abu Ghaida to talk about his research journey, key insights, and advice for students interested in sustainability and the built environment. Could you briefly tell us what your recent work is about, in your own words? Built to Unbolt develops a way to fairly measure the environmental and economic benefits…
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Sharing for Sustainability – Interview with Divia Jimenez Encarnacion
This week we sat down with Divia Jimenez Encarnacion to discuss her PhD journey, research on the sharing economy, and advice for future researchers. Divia shares her insights on sustainability, urban consumption, and the challenges and rewards of academic life. Congratulations on your PhD! Could you briefly tell us what your research was about, in your own…
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Reflections on Circularity, Design, and Community – A Farewell Interview with David Sindelar
As his one-year position as project assistant comes to a close, we caught up with David Sindelar to reflect on his time within the Sustainable Built Environments (SBE) research area. From working on international projects to exploring circularity in building design, David shares his experiences, challenges, and ideas for what lies ahead. How has your time at…
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Predicting the Wind – Janne’s Journey from ETH to Chalmers
This week, we talk with Janne, a visiting masters student at the Sustainable Built Environments research area at Chalmers University. Janne is currently completing his MSc in Integrated Building Systems at ETH Zürich and joined the team through an IDEA League research exchange. His project applies machine learning to predict urban wind patterns, and we sat…
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From Models to Market – A Conversation with Claudio on Building Stock Modeling and Decarbonization
This week, we talk with Claudio, an alumnus of the Sustainable Built Environments research area at Chalmers University, whose PhD and postdoc work on building stock modeling (BSM) laid the foundation for his current venture, SINOM. Claudio shares how his research at Chalmers on dynamic BSMs supports strategic energy planning and decarbonization, how that experience shaped…