Completed
Completed 2022/2023
Corina Angheloiu
PhD Project Title: Systems approaches for urban resilience capacity building: An action research inquiry
PhD Project Summary: "The term urban resilience is a broad umbrella concept that can connect traditionally disparate disciplines, such as disaster risk reduction, urban planning, ecology or community development. While its meanings are still under construction, the use of the term by practitioners and policy makers has skyrocketed in recent years. This has led to increasing gaps between urban resilience knowledge and its implementation.
Given the complex and interdisciplinary nature of urban resilience challenges, there is a pressing need to investigate how these gaps emerge, as well as to develop interventions to address them. The IPCC Research and Action Agenda (2018) identifies capacity building as a key approach to addressing these gaps.
Within this context, my research seeks to explore the role of systems approaches in bridging knowledge – implementation gaps in urban resilience. The site of this action oriented research is the capacity building programme organised by the International Urban Resilience Academy, a multi-stakeholder partnership that aims to support mid-career urban professionals (researchers, practitioners, policy makers). The research seeks to develop a test novel approaches to capacity building, as well as to explore the role of social learning approaches in the context of a community of practice for urban resilience professionals."
Supervisor: Mike Tennant
Completed 2021/2022
Courtnae Bailey
PhD Project Title: Increasing International Private Finance for Adaptation and Resilience in the Caribbean SIDS
PhD Project Summary: My research focuses on increasing international private adaptation finance flows to the Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The Caribbean SIDS are amongst the most vulnerable countries to being impacted by climate change. Climate change adaptation which is the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate effects, in an effort to enhance adaptive capacity and build resilience, is critical to reducing the costs of climate-related disasters and preserving sustainable development. Financing climate change adaptation activities in the Caribbean will require greater private sector investments due to the limited fiscal space and high debt to GDP ratios of these countries. Attracting private investment for resilience and particularly in Caribbean SIDS is challenging given the market characteristics such as high debt, the scale of projects and the high vulnerability due to poor risk-return profiles of adaptation projects. My work explores how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be used to quantify, monetise and transfer the benefits of adaptation and resilience which are often reserved for the country or region within which it is conducted to private investors. The objective of the research is to improve Caribbean SIDS’ access capital and attract investment by creating more attractive risk-return profiles for adaptation projects.
Supervisor: Karen Makuch
Co-Supervisor: Zen Makuch
Patrick Brandl
PhD Project Title: Techno-economic screening of CO2 capture technologies
PhD Project Summary: "During my PhD, I used my problem-solving and analytical skills to develop a novel techno-economic multi-scale CO2 capture screening model, with a focus on absorption-based systems. My model links molecular thermodynamics with process engineering to deliver insight into the cost-optimal capture plant and driving solvent development. This includes critically analysing data, benchmarking capture technologies on cost and energy demand, and deriving evidence-based policy recommendations supporting the implementation and deployment of CCUS.
I used my research to refute the general consensus that there is a limiting 90% capture rate for absorption-based systems, which significantly reduces the need for CO2 removal (CDRs) to indirectly capture residual emissions. My model highlights that solvent R&D is not a silver-bullet to reduce the capture cost, requiring a change in solvent chemistry to achieve long-term cost targets. Furthermore, I showed that financial incentives such as tax credits and investment credits will not benefit all CCUS projects equally. "
Supervisor: Niall MacDowell
Co-Supervisor: Jason Hallett
Solene Chiquier
PhD Project Title: The role and value of CDR in delivering the Paris Agreement
PhD Project Summary: "Following the Paris Agreement, Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) has become unarguably a key climate mitigation solution to reach the objectives of limiting global warming to 2C, and possibly to 1.5C.
Yet, the significant reliance in the near future on these nascent CDR solutions is highly controversial (i.e., feasibility, sustainability, co-benefits, side-effect).
My PhD aims at identifying the role and value of CDR, with the use of the Modelling and Optimization of the Negative Emissions Technologies (MONET) framework.
Where, when, and how, should CDR solutions be deployed, to meet the Paris Agreement's CDR objectives, cost-efficiently and fairly, are the key research questions that drive my work."
Supervisor: Niall MacDowell
Karina Corada
PhD Project Title: Holistic understanding of the role of green infrastructures in improving urban air quality
PhD Project Summary: "Green infrastructures (GI) are natural and semi-natural elements strategically planned in a city to provide ecosystem services. Green infrastructures such as trees, shrubs/hedges, green walls, and green roofs are seen as a win-win solution to urban air pollution, reducing ground-level pollutants concentrations. The effect of GI on air quality, however, is still unclear, and doubts have arisen in the last decade about the effectiveness of GI in mitigating air pollution.
The complex interaction between GI and air quality must be considered to maximise the positive effects of GI in holistically reducing air pollution. Street structure, meteorological conditions, and the type of GI influence the dispersion of pollutants, and leaf micro-morphological traits additionally influence particulate deposition. Plant emissions such as Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds and pollen should also be considered and minimised by appropriate species selection.
This research aims to comprehensively identify the mechanisms through which GI influences air quality in cities and classify the GI-characteristics according to these mechanisms, leading to a holistic framework. Practitioners and decision-makers will consult this framework to provide a guide for practitioners to make informed decisions.
This research will help inform decision-making for more health-promoting urban settings by optimizing the expected benefits of GI through a holistic understanding of the positive and negative impacts of green solutions in cities."
Supervisor: Audrey de Nazelle
Co-Supervisor: Tilly Collins
Catalina Cruz-Piedrahita
PhD Project Title: Benefits of urban agriculture in the Global North
PhD Project Summary: A biologist focusing on ecology and sociology of agriculture and food systems emphasises environmental impact and population health. Epidemiology of non-communicable diseases and it’s relation with the western diet. Interaction between agriculture and nature conservation. Sustainable development of food systems. Models’ development and application, biostatistics, data analysis. I am interested in developing a career in academia combining teaching and research of my areas of interest and collaborating with experts from other subjects to create a multidisciplinary research environment.
Supervisor: Audrey de Nazelle
Co-Supervisor: Caroline Howe
Simon Fischer
PhD Project Title: Development and simulation testing of management procedures for data-limited fish stocks
PhD Project Summary: "Most of the world’s fish stocks are considered data-limited, and there is insufficient information to use complex stock assessment models to evaluate their status. Nevertheless, scientifically sound management advice is required to ensure sustainable and precautionary exploitation.
My PhD project focuses on empirical management procedures to improve the management of data-limited fish stocks. Empirical management procedures are simulation tested control rules that solely use empirical data to derive management measures such as catch limits. The control rules are tested with the management strategy evaluation (MSE) approach, in which both the managed system (the fish stocks and the fishery) and management system are simulated within a feedback loop.
This work includes the simulation of various fish stocks, the exploration of management objectives against which the performance of management procedures can be evaluated, the analysis of the simulation outputs with statistical methods, the application of optimisation procedures to simulation frameworks in order to optimise management performance, and the use of high-performance computing."
Supervisor: John Mumford
Caroline Ganzer
PhD Project Title: Integrated modelling of the decarbonisation of power, heat, transport and industry in the UK
PhD Project Summary: I investigate pathways for the decarbonisation of power, heat, transport, and industry in the UK. Interactions between the sectors become increasingly important. They include the demand and supply of energy vectors (electricity, heat, fuels), the competition for resources (such as biomass), and the balance of residual and negative emissions. The aim of my PhD is to model these sectors and their linkages and gather insights on optimal trajectories to net-zero. Viable pathways should not only meet climate targets, but do so in a cost-optimal, ecologically sustainable and socially equitable way with sufficient robustness for future uncertainty.
Supervisor: Niall MacDowell
Dan Hdidouan
PhD Project Title: The economic impacts of climate change on wind and solar power generation.
PhD Project Summary: Dan’s research focuses on the impact that climate change has on renewable energy systems, in particular how renewable energy resources and generation like wind and solar are effected by climate forcing. This research is being done under the supervision of Iain Staffell, Rob Gross (CEP, Imperial College London), and David Brayshaw (University of Reading).
Supervisor: Iain Staffell
Co-Supervisor: Robert Gross
Pooya Hoseinpoori
PhD Project Title: A systematic approach for decarbonising heating in buildings
PhD Project Summary: I study the transition in the heat and power sectors in order to meet national/regional climate change mitigation targets. My PhD project is focused on the whole system assessment of different pathways for decarbonising heating in buildings. I developed a mathematical optimisation framework for comparative assessment of different pathways and technology options (Hydrogen, Electrification, Solar thermal etc. ) for decarbonising heat. The model is aimed to assess the implications of various policies and approaches for decarbonising heat on the transformation and operation of power and gas grids over the planning horizon to 2050 and provide technical evidence for policymaking for decarbonising heating.
Supervisor: Jem Woods
Richard Kirkman
PhD Project Title: Communication of science and technology in environment sector
Supervisor: Nick Voulvoulis
Daniel Mehlig
PhD Project Title: Electrification of the car fleet
PhD Project Summary: My research aims to determine the current and future impact of EVs on air quality and emissions in the UK. This is done through modelling the road trasnport fleet and its growing integration with the electricty system to determnine direct and upsteam emissions.
Supervisor: Helen Apsimon
Co-Supervisor: Iain Staffell
Yoga Wienda Pratama
PhD Project Title: Assessing priorities for net-zero transitions in different power systems’ characteristics via multi-scale modelling and optimisation
PhD Project Summary: Decarbonisation of the energy system, including in the power sector, is key to the 21st century systems efforts to address climate change. While it has been proposed more than a decade ago that it can be done cost-effectively through the deployment of various existing technologies, there is widespread recognition of inadequate progress. Instead of deploying technologies, the focus has been on efforts to find a silver bullet technology that is low in capital cost and yet highly efficient. In contrast, each energy system is unique, and therefore, the solution it needs may be different from one to another. Accordingly, this research aims to identify key priorities of the net-zero transition from technological and policy perspectives. To answer this question, I use Monte Carlo analysis using Electricity Systems Optimisation (ESO) framework to identify potential roles different technologies may play in the future under uncertainty. To obtain robust conclusions, the approach is implemented on four different cases, i.e., the UK, Poland, ERCOT Texas, and PacifiCorp-East in Wyoming and Idaho in the US.
Supervisor: Niall MacDowell
Yannis Souliotis
PhD Project Title: Environmental Policy and Natural Resources Management: Issues on economic analysis in the context of the Water Framework Directive.
PhD Project Summary: "The PhD project is concerned with assessing the integration of economics in the analysis requested by the WFD. Several EU Member States have faced significant challenges in assessing the socioeconomic impacts of suggested Programme of Measures and in assessing the value of ecological changes of river basins. Therefore, the overall aim of the project is to provide optimal water management options and policy insights, which will consider the environmental, geographical, social and economic aspects of the river basins as systems and has the potential to improve economic analysis undertaken in the context of environmental policies. Central to the projects is the use of ecosystem services as a tool to promote integration of disciplines."
Supervisor: Nick Voulvoulis
Yue Wang
PhD Project Title: The impact of built environment characteristics on walking route choice
PhD Project Summary: Yue is a PhD student at Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London. Her research areas is physical activity, walking behavior, route choice decision and urban planning. Yue's research is looking at the impact of built environment on walking route choice in seven European cities.
Supervisor: Audrey de Nazelle
Completed 2020/2021
Miriam Aczel
Supervisor: Karen Makuch
Esther Anaya-Boig
PhD Project Title: Built and social environment factors associated with Stages of Change of cycling for transport.?Case studies from the pasta project
PhD Project Summary: "Cycling for transport provides health and other benefits to participating individuals, wider society and the environment. In a European context, where the uptake of cycling is very varied, my thesis explores how built and social environment factors affect people’s cycling behaviour.
Using survey data from the European project Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA), 7,684 participants from seven European cities were assigned to three behavioural stages of change based on the Transtheoretical Model of behaviour change and specifically defined for cycling for transport (Pre-contemplation = “Not thinking about cycling”, Contemplation-Preparation = “Thinking about cycling” and Action-Maintenance = “Cycling”). I've used multinomial statistical modelling estimated to calculate the associations of built and social environment with the stages of change, controlling for socioeconomic status and city.
Results show that elements in both the built and social environment have strong associations with the cycling stages of change. The study allows producing policy recommendations that are tailored to people in the different Stages of Change."
Supervisor: Audrey de Nazelle
Renato Manuel Cabral
PhD Project Title: A quantification of the value provided by flexible oxycombustion CCS to the UK energy system
Supervisor: Niall MacDowell
Shuyang Chen
PhD Project Title: The socioeconomic impacts of the Chinese climate policy
PhD Project Summary: My research focuses on the socioeconomic impacts of the Chinese carbon tax and emission trading scheme using the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model.
Supervisor: Ioannis Kountouris
Habiba Daggash
PhD Project Title: Whole systems assessment of the water-carbon-energy nexus of BECCS
Supervisor: Niall MacDowell
Diego Hopkins
PhD Project Title: Valuation of Natural Resources: Implementation of legal framework
Supervisor: Karen Makuch
Thiago Hector Kanashiro Uehara
PhD Project Title: Peasants, Markets and Austerity: State retrenchment and rural livelihoods in Amazonas and São Paulo in the aftermath of constitutional austerity - Brazil post-2015
PhD Project Summary: "The thesis examines the politics and impacts of mediated markets for rural development in light of the austerity regime recently established in Brazil. Theory and praxis tend to overlook relational complexities between rural people and the state and their interplay with livelihood opportunities and self-reported wellbeing. Focused on Brazil’s Fome Zero Food Acquisition Programme, we analyse the political economy surrounding its establishment and subsequent retrenchment and the impacts of this rise and fall on rural people in two contrasting study areas. Paying attention to geographical, economic and demographic differences, we adapt political ecology and livelihood frameworks to investigate how peasants in São Paulo and Amazonas have coped with austerity. The research uncovers an underlying tension in nested markets for rural development, in which principles of equity and social justice are to some extent subsumed as policy principles by a modernisation project represented by a ‘pedagogy of marketisation’. Under this project, rural people are encouraged to move away from community self-provisioning to a market economy - which would transform them from being people belonging to the country (peasants or camponeses) into workers or controllers of the land (family farmers or rural entrepreneurs). This tension threatens to absorb peasants into the corporate food regime and undermine ecological and cultural diversity. Our findings suggest a complex set of impacts such as income-poverty alleviation, progress towards gender equality but limited effects on structural inequality or market integration. The significance of this thesis is that it informs our theoretical understanding of rural development through nested markets by introducing a political economy/ecology focus hitherto lacking – and informs our empirical understanding of wellbeing, public procurement, food, agrarian, environmental and social policy. Keywords: Rural Development; Nested Markets; Public Procurement; Food Acquisition Programme; Brazil."
Supervisor: Clive Potter
Vasiliki Kioupi
PhD Project Title: Sustainability Education: A systemic framework for evaluating educational outcomes towards the Sustainable Development Goals
PhD Project Summary: My research focuses on Education for Sustainable Development and specifically on the development of a framework for Education Institutions to assess the contribution of the programmes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This framework enables education practitioners to set clean visions around the SDGs, select the competences that are needed for achieving their visions and implement teaching methods and assessment tools that develop and evaluate the attainment of those competences in learners. Finally, education practitioners can make evidence-based decisions based on the information collected through the application of the framework.
Supervisor: Nick Voulvoulis
Ute Thiermann
PhD Project Title: Mindfulness and Sustainability - an Experiment
Supervisor: William Sheate