Research Students
Our students are researching on various topics that will support the SBRC to achieve its aim and drive its innovation and research.
Catherine Chisholm
My background is in architecture and mathematics, a combination that will hopefully prove valuable in my area of study: evaluating retrofitting options for the homes of people vulnerable to extreme heat. The Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC) brings together an exciting and varied mix of interest and expertise, with the common aim of guiding Australia's buildings to a state that truly can be sustained over the long term. The SBRC provides the Illawarra with a new identity as a leader in sustainable building research.
Project Title:
Retrofitting and other measures to unlock the adaptive capacity of vulnerable elderly Australians to heat stress during future extreme weather events.
Research Supervisors:
Prof. Paul Cooper (Supervisor)
Dr. Lan Ding (Co-Supervisor)
Michael Whitehouse 
Household energy use is increasingly on the rise and contributes to a significant proportion of national energy use. Australia faces particular challenges with grid power quality and aging infrastructure, but it also has unique opportunities with an effective national electricity pricing scheme and smart grid rollouts. I see the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre as a key facility for the research and development of innovative solutions to address energy efficiency in both new and existing dwellings, as well as an avenue to publicly display and communicate findings of this research.
Project Title:
Cross reality energy flow.
Research Supervisors:
Prof. Paul Cooper
Dr. Duane Robinson
Laia 
Ledo
Energy consumption currently is very high and immediate action should be taken to guarantee our adaptations to climate changes and reduce carbon footprints. The Sustainable Buildings Research Centre offers a unique opportunity for researchers to investigate ways to mitigate human impact on the environment. I believe the SBRC will assist the Australian community in embracing sustainability and actively contribute to the moving society towards a restorative future.
Project Title:
Optimal educational buildings retrofitting strategy for thermal comfort and energy efficiency.
Research Supervisors:
Prof. Paul Cooper
Dr. Zhenjun Ma
Peichun Xiao
The best integrated low carbon green solutions to our community requires collective efforts from individuals, technologies and social systems to make a positive change. SBRC represents an excellent opportunity to develop a collective intelligence model that investigates socio-technical interactions between people, building energy systems and renewable energy generation, and build up pathways that empower people, through the use of distributed energy systems, to achieve low carbon energy efficiency targets.
Project Title:
Development of Collective Intelligence in Cross-Reality Environment for Building Energy Efficiency.
Research Supervisors:
Dr. Lan Ding
Su Huang
The SBRC is a world class research laboratory and research facility, en route to becoming the only 6 Star Green Energy rated building in the Illawarra region. My research is about developing an integrated approach to systematically optimise the design and operation of ground source heat pump systems.
Project Title:
Dynamic characteristics and energy performance of ground source heat pump systems for Australia.
Research Supervisors:
Prof. Paul Cooper
Dr. Zhenjun Ma
Aqeel Kareem Mohaisen
The Sustainable Buildings Research Centre offers many opportunities to deal with various energy issues in the built environment. The development of environmentally friendly, low cost and high energy performance HVAC and refrigeration systems is just one of the research and application initiatives. My research focuses on the development of advanced solar desiccant dehumidification air-conditioning systems for heating and cooling of buildings.
Project Title:
Development and modeling of an advanced solar desiccant dehumidification air conditioning system.
Research Supervisors:
Prof. Paul Cooper
Dr. Zhenjun Ma
Daniel Daly
Trying to answer the question of how to maintain a high standard of living whilst reducing society's environmental impact has never been more important. The SBRC represents an opportunity to contribute to the solution, in a practical and robust way. The contribution can be meaningful on both a global level, through research in new technologies and practices, and on a local level by encouraging, aiding and inspiring the Illawarra to transition to a green economy and way of life.
Project Title:
Optimal retrofit strategies and the effects of occupant behaviour in commercial and educational buildings to minimise electricity consumption.
Research Supervisors:
Prof. Paul Cooper
Dr. Zhenjun Ma
Massimo Fiorentini
The cost of energy is increasing every year and the trend of energy consumption per person is higher than ever before. As such, sustainability in the energy sector has become one of the most important international strategic issues. One approach to handling energy consumption issues is by reducing the energy consumption of buildings. The building sector provides a variety of energy services to support the livelihoods and well being of people. We need to sustain this well being through sustainable solutions rather than through consumption of fossil fuels.
Project Title:
Development of Advanced Control and Optimization Strategies for Building Energy Management.
Research Supervisors:
Prof. Paul Cooper
Prof. Weihua Li
Dr. Zhenjun Ma
Yi Guo
Sustainable buildings can bring many benefits towards saving our resources. The SBRC can help us in the future by exploring the use of more renewable and eco-friendly resources that we can help research, build and communicate.
Project Title:
Development and validation of advanced air-conditioning systems for building retrofits.
Research Supervisors:
Prof. Paul Cooper
Dr. Zhenjun Ma
Scott Redwood
With my experiences, coming from a construction background and working on the construction of large-scale 'sustainable' projects, I am particularly interested in the effectiveness of our current sustainable frameworks, measures and efforts. I feel the SBRC is a great mechanism that will create opportunity to lead and direct the future for positive and effective evolutionary steps in sustainable development and construction. I hope that my time at the SBRC will allow me to grow, learn, apply and become a part of this positive and effective sustainable movement.
Project Title:
Sustainable construction of new and retrofitting of buildings.
Research Supervisors:
Prof. Tim McCarthy
Dr. Lip Teh
Danilo Pereira de Souza
Moving towards sustainability is a challenge and also a growing international concern. The SBRC is unique because it provides a wide range of opportunities to improve energy efficiency and sustainability. The SBRC allows researchers, students and industry partners to work together on environmental problems and solutions, social equity and economic issues.
Project Title:
A smart living laboratory using collective intelligence for energy efficiency.
Research Supervisors:
Prof. Paul Cooper
Dr. Lan Ding
Stephen Choi
In Australia, the drive towards liegemen gas emissions is usually met with active measures (such as renewable energy technologies or upgrading of central plant) rather than through initial energy demand reduction. The reasons for this approach are several: out-dated attitudes and skills of designers, builders and the trades, historically low energy prices, and perhaps even a general view that excess consumption is not only acceptable but expected as a civil right. The latter is often exacerbated by 'landlord and tenant' relationships, where tenants are the users of energy but are not explicitly responsible for the ongoing financial costs (i.e. they do not pay bills). As an environmental architect, the aim of my study is to investigate whether the Passivhaus approach is possible, appropriate and beneficial in the Australian climate and its social and economic challenges for the standard to the Australian community.
Project Title:
To what extent is the Passivhaus building approach appropriate as both a low energy and occupant comfort model in tenanted residential buildings in Australia?
Research Supervisors:
Dr. Lan Ding (Principal Supervisor)
Prof. Paul Cooper (Co-supervisor)