Do you want to undertake research that aims to urgently transform urban heat systems so that they can adapt to future heating and cooling needs, reduce fuel poverty and CO₂ emissions, and improve air quality? Would you like to join a growing interdisciplinary research group at the University of Leeds, bringing your data analysis and modelling expertise? Are you interested in working collaboratively with city decision-makers and practitioners?

Transforming the heat system is an urgent priority for the UK.  The Climate Change Committee, an independent advisor to the UK Government, has stated that immediate action is required if we are to radically reduce carbon emissions produced by the provision of heat and meet our national and international climate-change targets. In addition to the urgent need to mitigate climate change, fuel poverty affects 11% of households in England; we need to find ways to provide affordable heating in the face of rising energy prices.  The demand for cooling is also likely to rise substantially in coming years, in response to a warmer climate and growing thermal comfort requirements, which will increase energy use and add to carbon emissions.  

Such radical transformation presents a substantial challenge: affordable provision of heating and cooling requires multiple decision-makers within this complex system to consider energy vectors, technologies, users, institutions and networks.  You will contribute to cutting-edge research that will drive the transformation of city-level heat systems by explicitly recognising and embracing their complexity.  New analysis frameworks and decision-support tools, grounded in complexity theory and developed and applied through participatory processes, will empower the delivery of both significant decarbonisation and profound health and wellbeing benefits.

In this role you will lead the significant elements of the project that involve data analysis, data visualisation and modelling. Responsibilities will include gathering secondary data on urban heat systems, developing new visualisation and modelling decision-support tools, working with social scientists to incorporate non-technical data, and supporting delivering of participatory workshops to use these models with stakeholders in order to generate route-maps for transitions in two case-study cities.

You will be based in the School of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Leeds, where you will join colleagues working on sustainable low carbon futures. The work is being led by Dr Catherine Bale, under a funded EPSRC five-year fellowship award titled “Co-creating visions and pathways for integrated urban heat systems”.  You will also work alongside other members of the project group.  

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact: 

Dr Catherine Bale, Associate Professor 

Tel: +44 (0)113 343 8250 or email: [email protected]