Team members

Malcolm Cook

Malcolm Cook is Professor of Building Performance Analysis at Loughborough University. He obtained a first degree in Mathematics and completed his PhD in Computational Fluid Dynamics modelling of buoyancy-driven natural ventilation. As well as completing several UKRI and EU funded research projects, he has consulted for a wide range of projects worldwide which have included design and simulation work for health care buildings, schools, theatres and modern library buildings. His work is published in over 70 refereed journal and conference papers and has contributed to several awards for innovative building design.

Zulfikar Adamu

Dr Zulfikar Adamu is an Associate Professor of Strategic IT in Construction at London South Bank University.

Lena Ciric

Dr Lena Ciric is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering Science at University College London.

Liora Malki-Epshtein

Liora Malki-Epshtein is an Associate Professor of Urban Fluid Mechanics and Air Quality at University College London. She obtained her BSc and MSc in Geophysics, Atmospheric and Planetary Physics and did her PhD on double-diffusive convection in the Oceans at DAMPT, University of Cambridge, before joining the department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering and UCL.

Dr Malki-Epshtein applies physics-based approaches to projects in research and higher education that try to address some of the urgent threats of air pollution and infectious disease transmission, natural and environmental hazards. She co-founded and co-directed the UCL-RAEng Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Design (CofE SBD), and the UCL MEng Engineering and Architectural Design (MEAD), a multi-disciplinary programme focused on creativity and engineering in the built environment.

Since the Covid pandemic she has been involved with several projects aiming to improve the environment to reduce transmission of Covid. She has carried out studies in protection of key workers such as municipal waste collection crews from transmission in vehicles for Veolia, and a study of protection for TfL bus drivers from Covid-19, for which the team was awarded the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) Healthy transport award. She leads the air quality study on project VIRAL on Covid transmission on public transport. She is task leader for the field studies work package on AIRBODs, which led  since April 2021 the environmental study in the UK Government’s Covid-19 Events Research Programme. This study helped to build the evidence base on air quality at a wide range of venues and events and improved understanding of potential risks of airborne transmission at events, and their mitigations. The study enabled the UK to re-open events in culture, music and sports industries whilst improving safety at these events.

Shaun Fitzgerald

Shaun Fitzgerald is Director of the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge University. He is supporting the work on the use of analytical modelling of droplets and comparison with experimental observations. He is also working on the development of well-mixed models in order to help characterize risks of transmission and how these might be managed.

Abigail Hathway

Dr Abigail Hathway is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering at The University of Sheffield

Benjamin Jones

Dr Benjamin Jones is an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham. He is interested in the energy efficient ventilation of buildings and its relationship with indoor air quality and occupant health. He is leading a work package on simplified modelling approaches that consider the relative risk of exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in different buildings and spaces as a function of the geometry rooms, the number of occupants present and their activities, and the ventilation rate.

Thorsten Stoesser

Prof Thorsten Stoesser is Professor in Civil Engineering Fluids in the Faculty of Engineering Science at University College London.

Darren Woolf

Darren Woolf is Head of Building Physics at Wirth Research, Chair of CIBSE Building Simulation Group and a Visiting Professor in the Building Energy Research Group at Loughborough University.  Having directed many performance-led design projects for both indoor and outdoor environments for over 25 years, he is now very much engaged with understanding airborne infection risk and how this fits within our climate emergency.

He founded bluegreenUK.com over 10 years ago and has a long history of co-authoring industry publications such as CIBSE Guide A 'Environmental Design' (Chapter 5), CIBSE AM11 'Building Performance Modelling' and now, through his Best Practice Initiative, 'A Good Practice Guide to Dynamic Thermal Modelling of Basic Blinds' (expected Q2 2022).

Filipa Adzic

Dr Filipa Adzic is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at University College London within the Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering Department (CEGE). Focused on field studies and extensive data analysis for the AIRBODS project. Involved in several projects focusing on reducing the risk of COVID-19 virus transmission through assessment of ventilation and air quality.

Melissa Canales

Dr Melissa Canales is a Post-doctoral Research Associate at University College London

Paul Cropper

Dr Paul Cropper is a Post-doctoral Research Associate in the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering at Loughborough University. Paul specialises in the application of computer models to evaluating the design and operational performance of buildings. He has a particular interest in Indoor Environmental Quality and has developed techniques for coupling Computational Fluid Dynamics with a model of Human Thermal Comfort to simulate the two-way interaction between a human body and its surrounding environment. This coupled system enables both the effect building occupants have on the indoor environment and how this environment affects their individual thermal comfort to be studied.

Arthur Hajaali

Dr Arthur Hajaali is a Post-doctoral Research Associate at University College London

Within the Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering Department (CEGE), he specialises in Computational Fluid Dynamics and parallel computing. Arthur has a particular interest in code development to enable the computation and analysis of complex physic phenomena. He was involved in numerous CFD projects including riverbeds, diffusers, turbines and COVID. He is currently working on a complex framework that couples a scalar model (aerosol-cloud) with a Discrete Particle Model (large droplets) to represent accurately the cloud and droplet dynamics during breathing and coughing events.

Chris Iddon

Dr Chris Iddon is a ventilation expert working as a research fellow at the University of Nottingham assessing the role of the built environment on the risk of far field Covid transmission using analytical models. He chaired the CIBSE Natural Ventilation group between 2019 and 2022 and has co-authored the CIBSE Covid Ventilation Guidance and the CIBSE Air Cleaning Technologies guidance. He has a background in biochemistry and has worked in the built environment for the last 15 years for SMEs and main contractors. Chris brings a wealth of practical built environment experience to supplement his research background.

Rupy Matharu

Dr Rupy Matharu is a Post-doctoral Research Associate at University College London.

Murat Mustafa

Dr Murat Mustafa is a Post-doctoral Research Associate in University College London working on experimental, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and field data gathering aspects of the project. His industrial and academic background is electrical and mechanical building services engineering, building physics and energy demand in built environment. He completed his PhD in Loughborough University on local ventilation effectiveness of natural ventilation.

Majeed Oladokun

Dr Majeed Oladokun is a Post-doctoral Research Associate in the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering at Loughborough University. Majeed has expertise in building physics, building performance diagnosis, indoor air quality and exposure risk assessment. Majeed has broad interests in enclosed space ventilation and air distribution, building performance simulation, and evironmental sustainable design. He is experienced in Computational Fluid Dynamics, Dynamic Thermal Modelling, as well as microclimate environmental control studies for design and assessment of building systems' performance.

Patricia Pino

Patricia Pino is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with 13 years experience in the Built Environment. She specialises in Building Physics using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Dynamic Thermal Modelling (DTM) and has experience in pedestrian wind modelling, air dispersion modelling, natural ventilation studies and thermal comfort assessments. Many projects she has been involved in have required bespoke innovative solutions that push the boundaries of modern day computational modelling. Notable projects she has been involved in includes the Al Rajan 2022 FIFA World cup Stadium in Qatar, The London Olympics, and University College London facilities in London.

Ben Roberts

Dr Ben Roberts is a Post-doctoral Research Associate in the Building Energy Research Group (BERG) in the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering at Loughborough University. He will soon begin a prestigious EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship to reduce extreme heat and transmission of airborne infectious diseases in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries exposed to tropical climates.

Ben has expertise in thermal comfort, ventilation, and overheating. Ben runs experiments in test houses, is involved in large international field trials, and manages dynamic thermal model validation exercises. Ben recently completed the first evaluation of SMETER technologies and is now working in the UK and Ghana on a range of projects.

Elpida Vangeloglou

Elpida Vangeloglou is a Research Associate in the School of the Built Environment and Architecture at London South Bank University and a Building Physics Engineer. She has eight years of experience in the industry and has been working independently through her own limited company for the last three years. Elpida has specialised in dynamic thermal modelling and performance-led design assessments and has experience in CFD modelling and environmental surveys. Her background includes international projects of high complexity, such as a FIFA 2022 World Cup Stadium in Qatar and several publications, including co-authoring the CIBSE ‘Good Practice Guide to Dynamic Thermal Modelling of Basic Blinds', expected to be published in 2022. Elpida is working on the ‘Design guidance and dissemination’ work package of AIRBODS.

Oliver Wild

Oliver Wild is a Research Associate at University College London