Dr Yuanhong Zhao

I have been assisting Professor Rajat Gupta in teaching the Building Performance Evaluation course for the MSc Sustainable Architecture: Evaluation and Design programme since 2023.

The module is informed by cutting-edge research on building performance evaluation (BPE) and low carbon building technologies.

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Architecture and Climate Change, School of Architecture, Faculty of Health, Science and Technology, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK. 2022. 07 – Present.

HEARTH - National Hub on Net Zero, Health and Extreme Heat (currently working on project) - More information: https://www.ukri.org/news/42m-funding-to-ensure-health-is-central-to-net-zero-strategies/

The research will assess these benefits in various settings, including homes, care facilities, hospitals, and prisons, with the aim of developing practical solutions that enhance health outcomes while supporting climate goals. The funding is part of a UK-wide £42m investment by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which has set up seven national transdisciplinary hubs to conduct research addressing different challenge areas over a five year period. HEARTH aims to assess and realise the co-benefits of the net zero transition and the reduction in health risks associated with extreme heat for vulnerable communities for whom evidence is lacking. This will be achieved through co-production of novel evidence-based knowledge, evaluation frameworks and tools, and provision of actionable, high-impact solutions. We will focus on interventions in the built and associated natural environments that are affected by net zero policies and their related health co-benefits, for which short (now-2030), medium (2030-2050) and longer-term (2050-2100) climate timescales are relevant.

THERM-UK: Protecting populations at risk from heat in the UK: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres-projects-groups/therm-uk

A four-year inter-disciplinary research project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) that will quantify the health benefits from reducing heat exposures through public health, housing policy and nature based solutions.

RESIDE - Residential building energy demand reduction in India – EPSRC Funded (Nov 2017 - Jun 2023) - Project website: https://www.reside-energy.org/

The Indo-UK RESIDE project is a four-year research initiative designed to support the improvement of living conditions for millions of Indian citizens through establishing a knowledge base to support the development of residential building energy code based on evidence collected from the field monitoring of 2000 homes in India. The project brings together an interdisciplinary team of architects, engineers, digital scientists, urban planners and behavioural researchers in India and the UK to assess all aspects of the residential energy use problem, including performance of the building fabric; in-home appliances including heating, ventilation and air conditioning; indoor environment and occupant behaviour.

REFINE - Radical decarbonisation of social housing through whole house energy retrofits

The REFINE project is one of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrators led by Warwick District Council and Oxford Brookes University with Enhabit and Sarah Wigglesworth Architects. The project aims to develop, deploy and evaluate processes to support architect-led whole house energy retrofits of social housing, in line with PAS2035:2019. Process innovations include development and testing of a new assessment tool, development of a Retrofit Manual to aid scoping and production of Medium Term Retrofit Plans, testing of the latest retrofit guidance and Standards for LETI and the AECB, and development of training and guidance for contractors and residents.

Knowledge Exchange Project: Strategic Initiative for Transformative Knowledge Exchange and Industry Policy Engagement (STRIDE): https://sites.google.com/brookes.ac.uk/oisdannualconference2025/home
The STRIDE project aims to strategically enhance the scale and ambition of Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development's (OISD's) Knowledge Exchange (KE) activities forging long-term partnerships with industry, policymakers and the third sector to align cutting-edge research with practical applications for KE.