Dr Zhou completed her PhD research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She then undertook postdoctoral research on the built environment at two institutes: the Berkeley Education Alliance for Research in Singapore (BEARS, a joint program between the Singapore government and UC Berkeley) and the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning (ABP) at the University of Melbourne. She pursues research through a combination of laboratory experiments, field monitoring, data analysis, and numerical modeling. 

      Her detailed profile is available here. 

It is all about the interaction with the buildings......

      Since joining Monash in 2019, I have been at the forefront of promoting the paradigm transformation toward occupant-centric and resource-responsive built environments. I root my research at two groups of interactions with the built environment — the interactions that take place between building and human (HBInt) and between the built and natural environment (NBInt). They are in line with the “health” and “environmental change” priorities set by ARC as well as the “good health and wellbeing” and “climate action” goals set by the UN.

      Different from other scholarly works in this field, my research developed an array of novel methods in data capture, analysis, and modeling to address real-life problems emerging from building, mining, waste management, renewable, and the education sector. I strive to work with industry and government collaborators to translate my research findings into practice.

      A visual representation of my research terrain is available here (https://www.monash.edu/engineering/jennyzhou#about).

      Each year I admit students for interdisciplinary research investigating the built environment and sustainability. This research calls on methods from lab and field experiments, numerical modeling, and data analysis. I am particularly recruiting candidates interested in the following topics. Some of the project ideas are presented in Monash’s research project directory (https://www.monash.edu/engineering/future-students/graduate-research/phd/projects). Of course, I am open to new research ideas as long as it aligns well with my research terrain (https://www.monash.edu/engineering/jennyzhou#about). Just send me your thoughts and we can start from there.

- Energy-efficient building and rating system (e.g. Passivhaus, Green star, net-zero, etc.)

- Climate change and Indoor environmental quality (e.g. impacts from bushfires, extreme weather, etc.)

- Human factor of indoor environment (e.g. thermal and visual comfort, occupant behavior, perceived quality, biometric response, etc.)

- Wireless sensing network for environmental monitoring and data analysis (e.g. IoT, data fusing, etc.)

- Sustainable urban infrastructure (e.g. LCA, embodied emissions, etc.)

- Bioaerosol fate and transport (e.g. impacts from COVID-19, bioaerosol transmission in aged-care facilities, etc)

- Building applied and integrated renewables (e.g. BAPV, BIPV, etc.)

      Interested candidates should email a CV, transcripts, English language test scores (if required), and contact details for referees.  I also encourage candidates to send through a brief research proposal. It will be a great first step toward graduate school admission. Please follow the application steps (https://www.monash.edu/engineering/future-students/graduate-research/how-to-apply) and ensure that you meet Monash University’s entry requirements. Experience in one of the following fields will be at an advantage: building performance or energy modeling, indoor environmental quality monitoring and analysis, post-occupancy evaluation, programming skills in Python or similar, physiological monitoring and analysis, LCA modeling skills in Simapro or similar, parametric design with the visual programming language.

ENE2021 - ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

ENE3031 - BUILDING SUSTAINABILITY