August 24th 2018

And the winners of the Martin Gough Student Award 2018 are…

And the winners of the Martin Gough Student Award 2018 are…

Earlier this year we launched a new Student Award based around the use of Apache and thermal simulation in memory of our longstanding colleague, Martin, who was a true expert in this field. We were touched to receive entries from students around the globe showcasing their use of IESVE to help us honour Martin’s legacy.

After careful consideration, our judges have awarded the top prize to Mohataz Hossain, PhD student at the University of Nottingham, UK, for his paper entitled Application of the IES-VE simulation tool in quantifying the indoor environmental benefits of retrofitting a garment factory: A case study in the tropical climate.’ Mohataz will be the first ever entrant to be named on our winner’s plaque and also receives our top prize of £1000, a full 12 month IESVE software licence and access to our distance learning portal for one year. Congratulations Mohataz!

On receiving his award, Mohataz commented: “I feel extremely honoured to be the first ever winner of this global student award. I am earnestly grateful to the jurors and IES team and would also like to express my gratitude to my academic supervisors and others who supported me in numerous ways during my doctoral study.

“I plan on using my prize to enhance my technical knowledge and to extend the present scope of my doctoral research. It will also financially support me to attend a number of CPD courses arranged by organisations, such as, CIBSE, RIBA and BRE."


Naghman Khan, Business Development Manager, IES presenting Mohataz with his prize.

Our runner-up is Rehnuma Parveen, PhD student of the University of Adelaide, Australia, with a paper on ‘IES-VE for Achieving Energy Independence.’ Well done to Rehnuma who will also receive a £500 cash prize (in local currency equivalent), as well as an annual IESVE software and distance learning licence.

Rehnuma responded to the announcement by saying: “What great news! Many thanks to all at IES. No words are enough to express my appreciation for the arrangement of this award and the cause behind it. Truly honoured to be a part of this.”

Judging this award, Craig Wheatley, Chief Technological Officer at IES, commented: “Both papers stood out firstly in terms of their subject matter: improving indoor environmental conditions in garment factories in Bangladesh and also a study into energy independence for rapid urban growth in mega-cities. Secondly, both papers are topical and relevant. Recommendations for improving worker thermal comfort and providing the understanding of the interventions needed for energy independence are critical and timely areas for academic study.

Thirdly, both papers understood the need for calibration with real world data to ensure that any recommendations are based on accurate virtual representations of the actual building. In the end, the difference was in the breadth of study performed for Mohataz Hossain’s paper where both a calibrated dynamic thermal simulation and a validated computational fluid dynamics simulation were used to establish the paper’s findings.”

Unfortunately we could only have two prize winners but thanks to all our other entrants for taking part. Entries for next year’s award will open in early 2019 so if you’d like to participate please ensure you have signed up to receive updates via our newsletter or watch this space for further details being posted in due course.

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