PANDEMIN, DOKTORSTUDENTERNAS MOTIVERING OCH HANDLEDNINGSROLL

PhD Forsknings- och handledningsprocessen går igenom olika steg av upp- och nedgångar, demotivation och stress. Oväntade situationer, såsom Covid-19-pandemin, och dess betydande inverkan på det dagliga livet och deras arbetssituation och forskningsprocess, sätter ny press på PhD-studenter. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka Covid-19-pandemin påverkade på doktorandmotivation, handledningarnas strategier och vikten av handledare för att stödja studenter att hantera demotivation och stresssituationer. I den här studien har vi genomfört en webbenkät, med öppna frågor och frågor i Likertskala bland doktorander. Dessutom intervjud vi handledare vid Malmö Universitet. Enligt undersökningsresultatet har pandemin påverkat doktorandernas forskningsmetoder, kommunikationsfrekvens och effektivitet med sina handledare, tillgång till kontoret och laboratorium samt motivation att skriva och avsluta sin doktorsavhandling. Stress, nya livs- och familjeprioriteringar, osäkerheten i fältarbete och forskningsmetoder, isolering, skepsis mot vikten av deras forskning och mindre kontakt med handledare och kamrater har nämnts som orsaker till demotivering. Dessutom visade undersökningsresultaten att de flesta respondenter betonade vikten av handledarnas roll i deras motivation. Budskapet från denna studie är att ge tillräckligt med feedback, att sätta realistiska mål, tidshantering, ömsesidig förståelse, omtanke och stöd, flexibilitet och tillgänglighet, regelbundna och informella möten samt positiva attityder är väsentliga faktorer i doktorandhandledning under stressade situationer. Resultaten pekar ut de mest effektiva handedningsstrategierna under tuffa situationer som pandemin, vilket kan vara lärdomar för framtida liknande händelser. Men resultaten tog också upp elevernas olika behov och vikten av medvetenhet och uppmärksamhet på elevernas olikheter under handledning och mentorskap.

The Ph.D. research and supervision process passes through different momentums of ups and downs, demotivation, and stress. Unexpected situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and its considerable influence on daily life and their working situation and research process, put new pressures on Ph.D. students. This study aims to investigate the COVID-19 pandemic on doctoral motivation, the supervisions' strategies, and the importance of supervisors in helping students tackle demotivation and stress situations. In this study, we conducted an online survey, including open-ended and Likert scale questions, distributed among the doctoral students and interviews with supervisors at Malmö University. According to the survey result, the pandemic has affected the doctoral students' research methodological process, communication frequency and efficiency with their supervisors, access to the office and laboratory, and motivation to write and finish their doctoral thesis. Stress, new life and family priorities, the uncertainty of fieldwork and research methods, isolation, skepticism about the importance of their research, and less connection with supervisors and peers have been mentioned as their reasons for demotivation. In addition, the survey results showed that most respondents emphasized the importance of the supervisors' role in their motivation. The message from this study is that the clarity of feedback, setting realistic goals, time management, mutual understanding, caring and support, flexibility and availability, regular and informal meetings, and positive attitudes are essential factors in doctoral supervision under stressful situations. The findings pinpoint the most efficient supervision strategies during challenging situations like the pandemic, which can be lessons for future similar events. However, the results also addressed the students' different needs and the importance of awareness and attention to the students' differences under supervision and mentoring.

In recent years, the need for affordable sustainable housing has increased. At the same time, there has been a gradual rising interest in compact living. With the mounting impacts of climate change, a new way of thinking is needed to develop more resilient and climate responsive ways of living that are compact, affordable, and climate-conscious. In response to this need, the idea of a ‘Z-Free Home’ was born. The ‘Z-Free Home’ is a tiny mobile house equipped with essential passive and eco-cycle systems that achieves nine zero targets. The main design and construction concept is based on circular design and a return to nature life cycle principles. In this paper, the architectural design concept, building energy modelling, and simulation for the Z-Free Home design proposal is discussed. This paper describes the concept design and design development phases together with building modelling and simulation. A focus was made on the use of virtual reality in design development assessment as a new method for evaluating passive and eco-cycle systems. The results show that it’s possible to achieve nine different zero goals while the analysis illustrates the challenges in achieving them. The paper also described the next steps planned for the proof of concept, i.e., the 1:1 house model. The project is ongoing, and it aims at a full-scale physical prototype as a proof of concept for the zero targets. The ‘Z-Free Home’ is designed for the cold Swedish climate but could be more widely applicable in other mild climates as well as hot climates.

 In hot dry climates, employing passive cooling roofs systems can providecooling needs with less amount of electrical energy. Furthermore, when focusing onliving spaces in terms of indoor thermal comfort and energy performance issues,occupant’s interaction with the building should not be underestimated. Recent studieswith occupant-based focus have shown that human behaviour significantly impactsenergy consumption, even more than building design. Likewise, understandingoccupant’s interactions within buildings plays a key role in enhancing the indoorenvironment performance. To examine the potential for cooling load reduction andthermal comfort enhancement by using cool roofs in residential buildings, a study wasperformed. Considering a sample of twelve multi-story houses located in the city ofBiskra (southern Algeria), thermal comfort conditions were analysed on the basis of apost-occupancy evaluation (POE) survey and in situ recorded measurementscampaign. The POE household survey indicated that out of 43 respondents, 54%perceive indoor thermal conditions as “hot” during summer period, while 79.33% ofthem operate HVAC device day and night. Using interviews, the study also exploressocial acceptability toward implementing passive roofing techniques. Results showedthat cool roof and cool tiles were the best accepted systems with 100% and 90% votedstrongly agree. Furthermore, the potential of thermal comfort and energy-efficiencyimprovements due to cool roofs was investigated through a dynamic simulation usingTRNSYS software. Results indicated that air temperature was reduced by an averageof 4.11°C to 3.28°C, and cooling loads have decreased to 508.60kWh/m² and384.54kWh/m² respectively during the hottest period of summer. Therefore, user-centric satisfaction as a research method would enhance future buildings design.

The mounting climate change crisis and the rapid urbanization of cities have pressured

many practitioners, policymakers, and even private investors to develop new policies, processes, and methods for achieving more sustainable construction methods. Buildings are considered to be among the main contributors to harmful environmental impacts, resource consumption, and waste generation. The concept of a circular economy (CE), also referred to as “circularity”, has gained a great deal of popularity in recent years. CE, in the context of the building industry, is based on the concept of sustainable construction, which calls for reducing negative environmental impacts while providing a healthier indoor environment and closing material loops. Both vernacular architecture design strategies and circular economy principles share many of the same core concepts. This paper aims at investigating circular economy principles in relation to vernacular architecture principles in the built environment. The study demonstrates how circular principles can be achieved through the use of vernacular construction techniques and using local building materials. This paper will focus on Egypt as one of the oldest civilizations in the world, with a wide vernacular heritage, exploring how circularity is rooted in old vernacular settlements and how it can inspire contemporary circular practices.

In hot dry regions, the building envelope receives abundant solar radiation, which contributes to heat stress and indoor thermal discomfort. To mitigate overheating inside spaces, cooling is the main basic requirement during most of the year. However, due to the harsh climatic conditions, buildings fail to provide passively the required comfort conditions. Consequently, they are fully dependent on-air conditioning systems, which are huge energy consumers. As roofs are exposed to the sun throughout the daytime, they are estimated to be the main source of heat stress. In return, they can contribute significantly to achieve optimum comfort and energy savings when efficient design strategies are used in an early design stage. To examine the potential for cooling load reduction and thermal comfort enhancement by using cooling roof techniques in residential buildings, a study was performed in the city of Biskra (southern Algeria). Accordingly, an in-field measurement campaign was carried out on test-cells during five days in summer. Three different cooling roof techniques were addressed: (a) cool reflective white paint (CR), (b) white ceramic tiles (CT) and (c) a cool-ventilated roof (C-VR). These roofing alternatives were investigated by monitoring both roof surface temperatures and indoor temperatures. Comparative analysis showed that a cool-ventilated roof is the most efficient solution, reducing the average indoor temperature by 4.95 °C. A dynamic simulation study was also performed based on TRNSYS software to determine the best roofing system alternatives in terms of thermal comfort and energy consumption, considering the hottest month of the year. Simulation tests were run on a base-case model representing the common individual residential buildings in Biskra. Results showed that a double-skin roof combined with cool-reflective paint is the most efficient roofing solution. By comparison to a conventional flat roof, meaningful improvements have been achieved, including reducing thermal discomfort hours by 45.29% and lowering cooling loads from 1121.91 kWh to 741.09 kWh.

Research on climate change mitigation and adaptation is pressing in order to understand its implications and risks in different urban areas. It is especially critical for those who face high degrees of urban inequality in the context of an uneven state presence. This paper is an explorative and investigative study which uses Cairo as a case. The focus of the study is on mapping state and private sector efforts in mitigating climate change issues, specifically for vulnerable groups who have limited access to public services. The study adopted an investigative approach where a literature search and bibliometric mapping were used to identify the gap in knowledge in the field of architecture and urban climate change mitigation and adaptation, followed by a field survey which included conducting interviews and questionnaires with different stakeholders from the public and private sector to investigate the link between the efforts for climate change mitigation. The explorative part of the study concluded that there is a huge knowledge gap in the Middle East and in Egypt when it comes to research efforts related to climate change with a focus on the built environment. The results of the investigative part of this study revealed that-apart from already limited efforts on ground-there is no synchronization in efforts between the public and private sector. Climate change issues are still not a priority when poverty, economy, and health are still a prime concern and take precedence over climate change. There is uneven presence of public efforts for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The efforts that do exist in the public sphere are self-help unorganized work (efforts) conducted by the civil society.

The need for affordable housing requires more compact living. With the increasing frequency and impact of climate change incidents, a new way of thinking is needed to live in a more resilient and climate responsive way. The idea of a Z free home began by considering these two needs. As a tiny mobile house equipped with passive and eco-cycle systems, it achieves 9 zero targets. This paper evaluates the design concept, building modelling, and building simulation for the Z free home design. The project is ongoing and aims to model a full physical prototype as a proof of concept for the 9 zero targets in an urban living lab context in Lund Sweden.