Dr Arash Beizaee

My current research interests and expertise include the following:

• The Effects of Climate Change on the Built Environment: Thermal Comfort and Overheating Risk
• Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience in the Built Environment
• Low Energy Building Services for Net Zero Buildings
• Health and Wellbeing in the Built Environment

My research has had both national and international impacts. My work on overheating risk assessment of English homes has informed the works of the UK Government’s Committee on Climate Change, Building Research Establishment, Westminster City Council, and Zero Carbon Hub among others, and has been awarded a research impact prize by the Homes and Communities Agency. 

My research on quantifying the energy-saving potential of smart heating controls has led to the development of a robust method that enables relatively small differences in energy demand caused, for example, by energy efficiency measures, to be identified. Experimental data collected in full-scale test houses with synthetic occupancy has been used to develop empirical and dynamic thermal models. The experimental dataset assisted the work of research teams from twelve different countries who participated in International Energy Agency’s Annex 71.

My recent outputs in collaboration with other colleagues and stakeholders such as BEIS include the development of a domestic operational rating for UK homes using smart meter data, and a systematic international review of energy saving, cost-effectiveness, and usability of smart heating controls.

Current research activity

• EPSRC EP/W031736/1- Transforming care and health at home and enabling independence call. Home Heat Health (HHH), £1.2m, CI

Recently completed research projects

• EPSRC EP/S021671/1 - EPSRC and SFI Centre for Doctoral Training in Energy Resilience and the Built Environment, £5.7m, CI
• Overheating Risk from Domestic Retrofit (Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Demonstration of Energy Efficiency Potential (DEEP) project.
• Heating Controls Scoping Review Project (Department of Energy and Climate Change)
• Enterprise Project Group (EPG) Fund, 含羞草视频- Summertime overheating in English Homes, £48K, CI
• 含羞草视频’s Global Research Challenges Competitive Grant- seed-corn funding to develop proposals at the nexus of health and built environment, £4K, PI
• Digital Energy Feedback and Control Technology Optimisation (DEFACTO), EPSRC, £1.5M (Research Associate)

• Roberts B, Beizaee A, Onyenokporo N, Oyinlola M (2023) Upcycled construction materials to reduce dwelling overheating in tropical climates: the bottle house. Journal of Building and Environment; Vol 234: article 110183.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110183
• Lomas KJ, Allinson D, Watson S, Beizaee A, Haines V, Li, M (2022) Energy savings from domestic zonal heating controls: robust evidence from a controlled field trial. Journal of Energy and Buildings; Vol 254: article: 111572.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111572
• Beizaee A, Morey J, Badiei A (2021) Wintertime Indoor Temperatures in Social Housing Dwellings in England and the Impact of Dwelling Characteristics. Journal of Energy and Buildings; Vol 238: article 110837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.110837
• Morey J, Beizaee A, Wright A (2020) An Investigation into Overheating in Social Housing Dwellings in Central England. Journal of Building and Environment; Vol 176: article 106814.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106814

I am also a module leader for the Energy and Buildings: Physics and Engineering course as a part of the ERBE CDT training programme for Doctoral Researchers. I supervise doctoral researchers, postgraduate taught MSc dissertations and undergraduate final-year projects in my areas of interest.

• Overheating Risk from Domestic Retrofit (Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Demonstration of Energy Efficiency Potential (DEEP) project.
• Heating Controls Scoping Review Project (Department of Energy and Climate Change)
• Enterprise Project Group (EPG) Fund, 含羞草视频- Summertime overheating in English Homes, £48K, CI

Having trained as a Mechanical Engineer specializing in Heat and Fluids, I completed an MSc (with distinction) in Building Services Engineering at 含羞草视频. Following graduation, I received an EPSRC scholarship to pursue my postgraduate studies at the London- 含羞草视频 Centre for Doctoral Research in Energy Demand; a collaboration between University College London (UCL) and 含羞草视频.

I completed an MRes (with distinction) in Energy Demand Studies before embarking on my PhD, which focused on quantifying the energy demand reduction potential of zonal space heating controls. I completed my PhD in 2016 and continued my work at 含羞草视频 as a Research Associate on a large multi-disciplinary EPSRC project (DEFACTO).

In 2017 I joined De Montfort University (DMU) where I progressed from an Early Career Academic Fellow to Senior Lecturer. During my time at DMU, I was the Programme leader for MSc courses in Energy and Sustainable Building Design, and Energy and Sustainable Development. 

In 2020 I returned to 含羞草视频 as a Lecturer in Energy Resilience and the Built Environment and the Academic Manager of the ERBE CDT; the EPSRC & SFI Centre for Doctoral Training in Energy Resilience and the Built Environment. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Building Energy in April 2023.

Professional Affiliations

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• Member of American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air -Conditioning (MASHRAE)
• Member of the International Building Performance and Simulation Association

Awards

• ARCC & Homes and Communities Agency Research Impact Prize
• Winner of Best Paper at LoLo CDT Paper Competition for the Paper "National Survey of Summertime Temperatures and Overheating Risk in English Homes”.
• Pick Everards Prize for Best Final Year Research Project at MSc Building Services Engineering at 含羞草视频
• Full EPSRC Scholarship for 4 years during MRes and PhD studies.

External Activities

• Editorial Board: Journal of Sustainability (MDPI) as Guest Editor for a special issue on Sustainable Future Proofing of Heating and Cooling in Buildings: Heat Pumps, Passive Measures, and Low-Carbon Interventions. Journal of Indoor Environment as Review Editor for Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering, Frontiers in Built Environment, and Frontiers in Energy Research. Reusable and Sustainable Building Materials in Modern Architecture. Global Research Society, LLC, USA, 2019
• Research Funding Proposal Reviewer: National Science Centre Poland, The German Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), University of Sharjah
• Journal Referee: Energy and Buildings, Building and Environment, Building Research & Information, Building Engineering, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning (ASHRAE), Indoor and Built Environment, Advances in Building Energy Research, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Energies, Sustainability, Architectural Science Review, Buildings and Cities
• Conference Scientific Review Committee: IBPSA-England Building Simulation & Optimization Conference 2020, CIBSE ASHRAE Technical Symposium 2017
• ASHRAE UK Midlands Chapter: Member of the Board of Governors, Student Branch Advisor.

Key Collaborators

My research and enterprise activities are conducted with a range of academic and stakeholder partners, including:

• Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
• University College London
• University of Granada, Spain
• University of Guanajuato, Mexico
• De Montfort University
• University of the West of England