Barah Rababa

PhD Student

Loughborough University

Barah, a qualified architectural engineer, holds a bachelor's degree from the Jordan University of Science and Technology. She advanced her expertise with a master’s degree in Environmental Design of Buildings from Cardiff University, where her dissertation was titled “Occupant Behaviours and Environmental Preferences in Home-Office Environments Versus Conventional Office Environments: Reflections from The Pandemic.” Barah is also certified as a BREEAM Associate and a Construction Life Cycle Assessment Specialist.

Integrating Environmental Monitoring and Householder Perspectives for User-centred Cooling Technologies and support the energy transition in UK Homes

Overheating in UK homes is intensifying due to climate change, urbanisation, and shifting comfort expectations. Although passive/low-energy strategies (shading, ventilation, reflective materials, thermal mass) are effective, they remain underutilised, and retrofit efforts often neglect user-centred perspectives. This project applies a participatory, co-design approach using mixed methods: questionnaires, home visits, interviews, environmental monitoring, and workshops. An online survey (May 2025) gained 123 responses in two weeks; 60 volunteered for follow-up, and 11 East Midlands households were purposively selected. Sensors and window loggers monitored living rooms and bedrooms. Python-based analyses produced heat maps, thermal zoning, and feedback reports. Findings show co-design meaningfully engages households and supports tailored, user-centred cooling retrofits.