Trial / Demo
Mohataz Hossain, a PhD student at the University of Nottingham was recently named the first ever winner of our Martin Gough Student Award. In this interview, we caught up with Mohataz to find out more about his plans for the future and what winning this award means to him.
How does it feel to be named the first ever winner of this award?
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 who recognised my entry. I also express my sincere gratitude to my academic supervisors and others who supported me in numerous ways during my doctoral study.
How do you plan on using your prize? Do you have any future plans for using the software?
I am planning to use this prize for enhancing my technical knowledge and extending my existing doctoral research. To improve my technical knowledge on building services and regulations, the prize will financially support me to attend a number of continuing professional development (CPD) courses arranged by various UK based organisations, such as the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Building Research Establishment (BRE). I hope to further explore simulation-based research to extend the present scope of my PhD research. Therefore, this award, which includes a 12-month full licence of the IES-VE software and online training, will enable me to fulfil that aspiration. So, of course! I would like to carry on using this software for not only my future research work but also further application in the process of Building Information Modelling (BIM).
How valuable has the IESVE software been in your research/studies?
My PhD research focused on improving workers’ thermal comfort within the workspaces of existing garment factories in the tropical climate of Bangladesh. The main aim of my PhD research was to find a few workable design solutions that can help reduce the indoor air temperature and enhance the ventilation flow within these workspaces for an improved thermal comfort condition. I can remember those days when I was eagerly looking for an appropriate software for analysing both ventilation and thermal performance of the case study buildings. I must admit, IES-VE added great value to my PhD research experience due to its user-friendly interface and integrated modelling approach. It was also affordable for me to run this software for two years due to the IES student licence offer. The validated results from the dynamic thermal simulations (Apache) and CFD simulations (MicroFlo) helped me a lot to meet the objectives of my PhD research.
Would you recommend IES tools to others pursuing a career in your field?
Absolutely! In my opinion, the integrated modelling interface for thermal (solar and heat), lighting, ventilation and HVAC analyses are the main advantage of the IES tools. I found this software continuously expanding its scope by collaborating with the other modelling software and by generating a number of new useful tools for the building industry, for instance, IES-ERGON, IES-Tap, and through collaboration with One Click LCA. I recommend this tool to those who would like to pursue a career as researchers in academia as well as consultants in the field of Architecture and the Built Environment.
What advice would you give to any students that might consider entering the competition next year?
From my point of view, the overall simulation process should be clearly presented in the paper. In this regard, an executive summary and a flowchart of the simulation process may help. The validation of the simulation model with field data or laboratory-based data should be rigorously completed and clearly presented in the paper. Application of the IES-VE software in achieving the research objectives should be considered and highlighted.
Congratulations again to Mohataz! Entries for next year’s award will open in early 2019. If you are interested in taking part, please sign for updates via our newsletter or watch this space for further details being posted in due course.
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And the winners of the Martin Gough Student Award 2018 are…
Martin Gough Student Award - Winner's Case Study
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