Daniel endeavours to minimise electricity consumption

UOW PhD student Daniel Daly from the Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Buildings Research Centre, has been awarded a prestigious 2012 Endeavour Research Fellowship to undertake a research program at the University College London (UCL) for optimal retrofit strategies to minimise electricity consumption.

Daniel joins a handful of other successful Endeavour Award winners from UOW (see full list below).

His research (which is as part of Daniel’s PhD) aims to identify and asses avenues to minimise electricity consumption while maintaining acceptable Internal Environment Quality, in commercial and educational buildings through technical retrofitting, and organisational and behavioural modification.

A large part of the research will be focussed on the analysis of real world data from case study buildings, before and after a technical retrofit is undertaken.

“As well as providing an exchange of ideas and knowledge during my visit, I will be focussing on a particular UK commercial building, to provide a contrasting climate to the Australian studies. This will involve intensive measurement of physical parameters, as well as surveys of occupant behaviours, attitudes and perceptions”, Daniel said.

The Endeavour Award will assist Daniel to gain a complete picture of the global community’s response to the issue of climate change and gain a better understanding of people and energy, and the human dimension of energy use.

It will also strengthen the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the University of Wollongong and the UCL, which is a collaboration of energy efficient technologies to be retrofitted to the existing building stock and applied to new buildings in Australia, the UK and elsewhere.

The Endeavour Awards is the Australian Government’s internationally competitive, merit-based scholarship program providing opportunities for researchers to develop ongoing professional linkages between organisations and countries, and for individuals to increase their skills and enhance their global awareness.

Prime Minister's Australia/Asia Endeavour Awards

The successful recipient of the 2012 Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Endeavour Award is:

Bronwyn Lang – (Faculty of Creative Arts, School of Journalism and Creative Writing).  
She is currently in her first year of the Doctor of Philosophy.  Her supervisor is Mr Alan Wearne.
Project Title:  Travelling Light
As a part of the award, Bronwyn will travel to Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research in India, with her focus of theoretical research on the life and work of Australian poet Vicki Viidikas (1948-1998) who travelled and wrote throughout India between the 1970s and 1980s.

Endeavour Research Fellowships

Dr Haiping Du is an academic staff member of the School of Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering, Faculty of Informatics.

Haiping’s research will be with host institution the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong in Engineering and Related Technologies – Automotive.

Dr Sima Aminorroaya-Yamini is an academic staff member of the Institute of Superconducting and Electronic Materials, Faculty of Engineering.

Sima’s research will be with Host Institution the California Institute of Technology in Engineering and Related Technologies – Process and Resources Engineering.

April Ash is in her third year of the PhD in the School of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences. Her supervisors are Associate Professor Stephen Palmisano and Professor Julie Steele.

Project: An ecological analysis of illusory self-motion in depth: The role active control, multisensory stimulation and scene consistency.
April’s research fellowship will be with host institution York University, Toronto, Canada.

Daniel Daly is in his first year of the PhD in the School of Mechanical, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering.  His supervisors are Principal Supervisor Professor Paul Cooper and Co-supervisor Dr Zhenjun Ma

Project:  Optimal Retrofit Strategies and Effects of Occupant Behaviour.
Daniel’s research fellowship will be with host institution the University College of London, United Kingdom.