Czech Technical University in Prague, University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings
General description
The Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) was founded in 1707 and is one of the oldest technical universities in Europe and currently the major technical university in the Czech Republic. UCEEB was founded in 2012 as an independent institute of the CTU. Main goal of UCEEB is to produce knowledge in the field of energy efficiency of buildings and to implement such knowledge in practice through close cooperation with industry and municipalities. UCEEB is divided into five research departments that include decreasing of energy demand in buildings, efficient usage of renewable sources, systems of intelligent control, indoor environmental quality and environmental links. UCEEB is a reaction to one of the European Union’s largest priorities aimed at optimisation of energy efficiency of buildings. The centre also participates in European scientific projects, such as the Joint Technology Initiative on Energy Efficient Buildings, which is based on the EU’s targets for carbon dioxide emissions. UCEEB is a holder of the European HR Excellence in Research Award.
Key Research Facilities, Infrastructure and Equipment
- Equipment for experimental research in all areas of building physics: hygrothermal laboratory, climatic chambers, climatic rooms etc., infrared photography (IR), partical imaging velocimetry (PIV), building energy concepts, technical systems for HVAC, photovoltaic laboratory, acoustic laboratory, material laboratory, fire laboratory.
- Artificial sun – testing stand for solar-energy harvesting elements. Experimental equipment for mechanical testing of building component up to full scale testing. New unique facility for side-by side experiments under real climatic condition will be available as well. A testing plot for large full-scale testing and observations. Tools for advanced simulations.
- Laboratory of Heat Pumps: Multi-purpose climate chamber with two separated rooms. Two separate measuring loops for testing ground, water and air source heat pumps. Portable analyzer of heat pumps and cooling devices for function and performance diagnostics during operation.
- Solar Laboratory SOLA B2: In/out door test stands for solar collectors, solar simulator, test stand for determining the optical characteristics of transparent materials, portable ultrasonic flow & heat meter, mertel eurotest PV device for complete testing and diagnostics, mass flow meters for fluids’ measuring.
Contact person
Contact us to know more about our location and work environment. Please use the main contact for questions related to administrative matters. Please contact the supervisors/group leaders of respective research groups regarding feasibility of your research proposal with regard to the research group activities.
Your future supervisors
Jan Tywoniak
Jan Tywoniak
My background is in architectural engineering with focus on thermal performance of buildings and building components. I am a senior researcher in the hygrothermal laboratory at UCEEB. My longtime research area is in relation to buildings and energy. In parallel, as a professor of Theory of building constructions and materials at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, I teach Building Physics and supervise PhD students. The focus of our team at UCEEB is in the applied research of hygrothermal properties of building materials, especially those with low negative impact on environment, and of progressive building-energy concepts like passive and zero-energy buildings, integration of renewables in the building envelopes, etc. In parallel, with fundamental and applied research we are working on developing new building components.
The Postdoctoral fellow will join the research team Building Physics, that is mainly focused on hygrothermal and energy performance of buildings and building components. One of the goals is a systematic search for new solutions of building envelope components minimizing overall energy demand of buildings without compromising the requirement on indoor comfort (temperature, daylighting, acoustics) taking into account the sustainability issues.
The key research infrastructure and equipment of the research team include among others two sets of climatic double chambers, a climatic room with adjustable indoor temperature and relative humidity, laboratory equipment for measurement of thermal conductivity, hygric material properties etc. The Postdoctoral fellow will perform experimental observation of building components, for example of windows with new generation of movable shading devices in our outdoor facility consisting of two identical experimental units in the real size. In parallel, numerical simulation will be performed for validation and design of experiments.
Given the main focus of our research group, the expected outputs of the fellowship are high-level scientific publications and applied research outputs applicable for creating new collaboration with industry and collaborative research projects.
Antonín Lupíšek
Antonín Lupíšek
I am engaged in interdisciplinary research in sustainable construction, building energy efficiency, and digitization in the construction industry. At UCEEB I serve as a Director for Research and Innovation and do research in the team Sustainable Built Environment. I have experience from national and international research projects dealing with sustainability assessment in the built environment, methods and tools for evaluating environmental impacts of buildings, and strategies and techniques reducing carbon footprint of building’s life cycle. As an associate professor I teach Integrated Building Design at the Fac. of Civil Engineering, where I supervise several PhD students.
The successful candidate will be based at the Department of Architecture and the Environment of the University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings of the Czech Technical University in Prague. The Postdoctoral fellow will join the research team Sustainable Building that is focused on reducing environmental impacts of buildings, decarbonisation of the building stock, circular construction and environmental life cycle assessment.
Given the main focus of our research group, the expected outputs of the fellowship are contributions to the ongoing national and international research projects, common high-level scientific publications and participation in preparation of new collaborative research projects.
CTU-UCEEB has top research equipment in the field of energy efficient buildings, building physics and renewable energy systems and skilled multidisciplinary teams of enthusiastic researchers keen to collaborate.
The fellow may have the opportunity to carry out secondments in the non-academic sector, in cooperation with our industrial partners, e.g. Deloitte Deloitte Central Europe Service Centre and Czech Green Building Council.
Potential areas of knowledge of the applicants that can be a good fit for our research group: PhD in architecture, construction, environmental engineering or in other related field. The applicant shall have a solid publication track record in peer reviewed journals.
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