Who We Are
We are a multidisciplinary team, working together on numerous research, teaching and public engagement activities. A spirit of shared collaboration lies at the heart of all of our work.
Please do get in touch if you would like to know more!
People
Daria Belkouri graduated with distinction from the Masters of Architecture course at The Scott Sutherland School of Architecture in 2011 and gained full professional qualifications in February 2016. Daria is an ARB registered Architect with over 3 years of progressive experience in professional practice. Daria has worked on a variety of projects, from small domestic extensions, housing developments to large commercial projects and hotels.
Daria has strong interests in graphic design, architectural theory, aspects of human-centred design and interconnections between art and architecture. In September 2019, she joined the research team at Scott Sutherland School to work on projects visualising and concentrating on interconnections between people, cities and digital technologies.
Projects: Civitas PORTIS, Planning for Autonomous Vehicles (PAV).
Dr Amar Bennadji is an experienced researcher in the areas of environmental design, energy consumption control and building performance and visualisation. Amar is involved in the research community through conferences and journal papers. His work has been widely published and acknowledged nationally and internationally through a variety of awards including the Scottish Saltire award for Innovation in Housing, the International Award for Innovation and Research from The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and other academic awards for visualisation in the Built Environment at Design festivals in Japan.
He focuses his research on existing and historic buildings and the ways to improve their energy efficiency. The hard to treat buildings were an interesting investigation for him and he developed a method to insulate historic buildings while keeping their original features. In collaboration with a Canadian manufacturer of a water based and breathable insulation material he achieved a reduction of 57% in the energy consumption of a 250 year old building. His group of PhD research students are carrying out research work on a wider scale in the aim of tackling CO2 reduction by understanding how to improve the efficiency of old building stock.
Research videos: Union Street, Kirkwall, Student work. Work undertaken as part of CARE North (Interreg North Sea Region)
Dr Whitney Bevan is a lecturer in Construction Management with a research background in the delivery of sustainable buildings. Whitney has been involved in new build and retrofit projects that look to adopt energy efficient measures and renewable technology. Previous research has focussed on the challenges for the construction sector and its clients, working with the construction workforce, supply chain, local authority and end-users.
Areas of interest
Research interests surround the challenges associated with the pressures for the construction sector and its clients to meet sustainable building requirements, the skills needed to deliver sustainable buildings, in addition to investigating end-user perspectives and comfort within these properties.
Projects
Recently part of a Healthy Urban Environments project for a review of urban planning and design associated with COVID, future policy and practice.
Dr Theo Dounas is an architect operating between research and practice in the digital domain in architecture.
His research expertise encompasses blockchain, generative and parametric systems with a tight orchestration between design and fabrication.
Areas of Interest:Blockchain in Architecture and Construction, Generative systems, Robotic fabrication
Projects: www.archchain.cc, ICT centre of excellence for construction in Scotland.
Professor Eyad Elyan is Professor of Machine Learning and Computer Vision at the School of Computing at Robert Gordon University.
Areas of Interest: machine learning; machine vision.
Projects: recent research has included work concerning the processing of P&ID drawings, the development of an Augmented Reality procedural guide system. These projects projects Machine Learning and Computer Vision techniques to automatically detect and track objects of interest in images/ videos.
Areas of Interest: storytelling, dark tourism, place, heritage, digital engagement
Projects: Orkney Folklore Trail, Storytagging, My Orkney Story
Projects: Augmented Fashion: This project seeks to explore ways to educate the consumer about the sustainability, craftsmanship, heritage and value of traditional fashion and textile products, using a variety of mediums such as film and immersive technologies. With Josie Steed and Karen Cross
Audrey Laing is a lecturer at RGU, in the school of Creative and Cultural Business. Her research has focused upon books, bookshops and bookselling culture, although she has also published on digital marketing and how authors use social media. Her latest paper, Indies in Scotland, examines the unique contribution made by independent bookshops to local communities, and suggests a role for bookshops in the regeneration of the high street.
Professor Richard Laing has led significant externally funded research (grant value in excess of £2M), and that research has resulted in over 100 publications.
Areas of Interest: Visualisation, public engagement, sustainable urbanism
Current projects: PORTIS, PAV
Professor Peter Reid’s work include research around cultural heritage particularly in north Scotland. He is very interested in digital heritage, identity, storytelling, language and dialect and the notions of 'big history in small places' and the 'things we have forgotten to remember'.
Some of Peter's recent work includes Little Norway, the Doric Literature Portal, Northwind and Fraserburgh on Film.
Dr Michele Victoria is involved in research projects on carbon optimisation of built assets and surveying education. She has presented her work in international conferences and published in peer reviewed journals and edited books.
Areas of Interest: carbon management, sustainable construction, surveying education
Current projects: Design Optimisation and Prototyping for Affordable Rural Housing
