Dr Hu Du

Dr Hu Du is the Principal Investigator for European Commission funded Horizon 2020 Plug-n-Harvest project (2017-2021) at Cardiff University. He is also supported by the Welsh Government's Sêr Cymru programme researching into future technologies for capturing solar energy and the integration of solar technologies in the built environment, at building communities and larger scales. The Sêr Cymru programme is part of the Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales’ strategy to increase research capacity in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) related subjects, and is designed to attract high-profile scientific talent to Welsh universities.

Before joining Cardiff in December 2014, Dr Hu Du was a Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Energy Simulation at the Oxford School of Architecture and Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development, Oxford Brookes University. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer after 2-year lectureship at the same institute. He led a postgraduate teaching module (Modelling and Passive Design Strategies) and supervised MSc dissertations on the MSc Sustainable Building: Performance and Design programme. He also worked on a range of cutting-edge research projects on climate change adaptation of new buildings, innovative refurbishment and building performance evaluation of existing buildings. He developed and evaluated refurbishment strategies for two historical office buildings funded under the Innovate UK’s ’Invest in Innovative Refurbishment’ programme and conducted building performance evaluation for a visitor centre funded under the Innovate UK’s ’Building Performance Evaluation’ programme. He also developed climate change adaptation strategies for five live architecture projects (a new eco-town development, two low impact schools and two sustainable healthcare buildings) funded under the Innovate UK’s ’Design for future climate: adapting buildings’ programme.

Dr Hu Du gained his PhD from University of Northumbria with the thesis titled: ’Modelling of building performance under the UK climate change projections and the prediction of future heating and cooling design loads in building spaces’. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Building Energy and Environmental Performance Modelling from Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University and a BEng in Building Environment and Services Engineering from Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, China. As PhD researcher, Hu worked on the 3-year EPSRC funded COPSE (COincident Probabilistic climate change weather data for a Sustainable built Environment) project (2008-2011), wherein he developed a simple calculation method for predicting the distribution of future cooling design loads, and a tool in Matlab to generate future Test Reference Year and Design Reference Year weather files from UK Climate Projections 2009 Weather Generator raw data.

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Research interests

Dr Hu Du is the Principal Investigator of 4 research projects. He has been very active in pursuing research in the low carbon building field where he has been working on 17 cutting-edge research and innovation projects (with a total value over £2.8 million) funded by European Commission, Innovate UK, EPSRC, Welsh Government, British Council and Leverhulme Trust.

Dr Hu Du is interested in building performance modelling and evaluation, sustainable building technologies, building adaptation in a changing climate, innovative refurbishment, lighting environment modelling, dynamic thermal modelling, CFD modelling, urban scale modelling, building optimisation and statistical analysis of big data. His projects and roles in these projects are listed below.

1. Welsh European Funding Office (European Social Funds) Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships (KESS 2 East): Developing optimal domestic low carbon ventilation technologies to improve air quality and reduce health risks from indoor and outdoor air pollution, 2019-2022, £39,911, role: Co-I.
2. European Commission (Horizon 2020): Plug-n-Harvest, 2017-2021, €399,085 for Cardiff University (total European Commission grant €5.99m), role: Principal Investigator at Cardiff University.
3. HEFCW Cardiff University Global Challenges Research Fund: HABITAT- HArvest modular façade for zero bills Buildings In Tibet plATeau, 2018, £34,408, role: Principal Investigator.
4. British Council (Researcher Links Workshop Grants): China-UK Workshop on Renewable Energy Systems in Zero Carbon Villages, 2018-2019, £22,800, role: Principal Investigator.
5. HEFCW Welsh Crucible Seedcorn funding: Health cost of mould and damp in Welsh homes, 2018-2019, £9,976, role: Principal Investigator.
6. Welsh Government: Sêr Cymru Academic, 2014-2019, £360,000, role: Co-I.
7. Innovate UK (Invest in innovative refurbishment – Tranch B Phase 2): Innovative refurbishment of internal wall insulation, 2013-2014, £839,439, role: Co-I.
8. Innovate UK (Invest in innovative refurbishment –Tranche 2): Innovative glazing and ventilation package for historic buildings, 2013-2014, £601,849, role: Co-I.
9. Innovate UK (Invest in innovative refurbishment –Tranche 1): Innovative glazing and ventilation package for historic buildings, 2012-2013, £19,986, role: Co-I.
10. Innovate UK (Invest in innovative refurbishment – Tranch B Phase 1): Innovative installation of internal wall insulation, 2012-2013, £19,992, role: Co-I.
11. Innovate UK (Building Performance Evaluation): In-use BPE study of College Lake Wildlife Visitors Centre, 2012-14, £58,290, role: R.
12. Innovate UK (Design for Future Climate: Adapting Buildings): Dragon Junior School for the Future, 2012-13, £99,915, role: R.
13. Innovate UK (Design for Future Climate: Adapting Buildings): New Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Hospital, 2012-13, £99,942, role: R.
14. Innovate UK (Design for Future Climate: Adapting Buildings): Edge Lane – TIME ‘To Improve Mental Health Environments’ Project, 2012, £99,752, role: R.
15. Innovate UK (Design for Future Climate: Adapting Buildings): Ebbw vale 11-16 School, 2012, £100,000, role: R.
16. Innovate UK (Design for Future Climate: Adapting Buildings): NW Bicester Eco Town, 2012, £100,000, role: R.
17. EPSRC: COPSE – COincident Probabilistic climate change weather data for a Sustainable built Environment, 2008-11, £84,790, role: PhD R.

Supervision experience

2 research assistants and 3 PhD students

I am interested in taking 1 or 2 PhD students each year in the following research fields:

• Big data for buildings and cities
• Building integrated renewables
• Urban heat and microclimate
• Low carbon ventilation
• Weather data and climate change
• Building performance prediction
• Modular building retrofit