Professor Tarek Hassan

My research expertise and interests are in advanced information and communication technologies (ICT) in construction across the whole life cycle, application of advanced ICT to improve energy efficiency in buildings and neighbourhoods for new built and retrofitting, smart buildings technologies, BIM and digital twin and their integration with buildings energy performance, Artificial Intelligence applications in construction and infrastructure, industrialised construction and information modelling. I have participated in over 18 projects funded by the European Commission in the above-mentioned areas as Coordinator or partner, and have been leading the School participation in various EU initiatives. This is in addition to EPSRC funded projects within the BUILDTEDDI programme (Transforming Energy Demand through Digital Innovation). I have raised research funding of over £7M directly to the School, with total research projects of value of over £50M.  I have authored / co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and successfully supervised over 25 Doctorate students / RAs. I have been serving as an evaluator of proposals and reviewer of projects for the European Commission and for other research councils across the world, as an external examiner for construction management programmes nationally and internationally and invited keynote speaker and guest lecturer in prestigious conferences and universities across the world.

Since my appointment as Associate Dean for Enterprise, I have been leading the School enterprise activities including consultancy, strategic partnerships with industry, Knowledge Transfer partnerships in addition to nurturing the research impact culture within the School

Current research activity

• Integration of BIM with energy performance modelling and simulation
• Development of Decision Support Tool for energy-efficient retrofitting
• Integration of BIM and GIS for improved collaboration in infrastructure projects
• Dynamic scheduling in construction
• Gender issues in STEM within HEIs
• ACT EU Project: Communities of PrACTice for Accelerating Gender Equality and Institutional Change in Research and Innovation across Europe

Recently completed research projects 

• Design4Energy – EU funding: Building life-cycle evolutionary Design methodology able to create Energy-efficient Buildings flexibly connected with the neighbourhood energy sys  http://www.design4energy.eu/
• EEBERS EU funding: EEB ICT ClustERS https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/193414/factsheet/en
• REFIT EPSRC funding: Smart Homes and Energy Demand Reduction https://www.refitsmarthomes.org/
• TEDDINET: Transforming Energy Demand through Digital Innovation Network: EPSRC funding http://www.teddinet.org/
• Dynamic Scheduling in Construction – PhD research
• GENDERTIME EU funding https://gendertime.org/

• Dimitriou, V., Firth, S., Hassan, T., Kane, T. (2020) The applicability of Lumped Parameter modelling in houses using in-situ measurements, Energy and Buildings, ISSN: 0378-7788. DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.110068.
• Fahmy, A., Hassan, T., Bassioni, H., McCaffer, R. (2019) Dynamic scheduling model for the construction industry, Built Environment Project and Asset Management, ISSN: 2044-124X. DOI: 10.1108/BEPAM-02-2019-0021.
• Kane, T., Firth, S.K., Hassan, T.M., Dimitriou, V. (2017) Heating behaviour in English homes: An assessment of indirect calculation methods, Energy and Buildings, 148, pp.89-105, ISSN: 1872-6178. DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2017.04.059.
• Pan, S., Xu, C., Wei, S., Hassan, T.M., Xie, L., Xiong, Y., Firth, S.K., Greenwood, D., De Wilde, P. (2016) Improper window use in office buildings: findings from a longitudinal study in Beijing, China,Energy Procedia, 88(C), pp.761-767, ISSN: 1876-6102. DOI: 10.1016/j.egypro.2016.06.104.
• Wei, S., Hassan, T.M., Firth, S.K., Fouchal, F. (2016) Impact of occupant behaviour on the energy saving potential of refurbishment measures for a public building in the UK, Intelligent Buildings International, 8(2), ISSN: 1756-6932. DOI: 10.1080/17508975.2016.1139538.
• Dimitriou, V., Firth, S., Hassan, T., Kane, T., Coleman, M. (2015) Data-driven simple thermal models: The importance of the parameter estimates, Energy Procedia.
• Bassanino, M., Fernando, T., Masior, J., Kadolsky, M., Scherer, R.J., Fouchal, F., Hassan, T.M., Firth, S., Mäkeläinen, T., Klobut, K. (2015) Collaborative environment for energy-efficient buildings at an early design stage, eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and Construction - Proceedings of the 10th European Conference on Product and Process Modelling, ECPPM 2014, pp.863-870.
• Fahmy, A., Hassan, T.M., Bassioni, H. (2014) Improving RCPSP solutions quality with Stacking Justification – Application with particle swarm optimization, Expert Systems with Applications, 41(13), pp.5870-5881, ISSN: 0957-4174. DOI: 10.1016/j.eswa.2014.03.027.
• Fouchal, F., Hassan, T.M., Loveday, D.L. (2014) Design methodology for integrating multipath systems (building services), Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, 12(4), pp.491-506, ISSN: 1726-0531. DOI: 10.1108/JEDT-09-2011-0057.
• Fahmy, A., Hassan, T.M., Bassioni, H. (2014) What is Dynamic Scheduling? Project Management World Journal, III(V), pp.1-9.
• Fahmy, A., Hassan, T.M., Bassioni, H. (2014) Questionnaire Survey on Dynamic Scheduling in Construction, Project Management World Journal, III(V), pp.1-20.
• Fouchal, F., Hassan, T.M., Loveday, D.L.L. (2013) Design approach for the integration of services in buildings, Building Services Engineering Research and Technology, 34(3), pp.333-348, DOI: 10.1177/0143624412442510.

Undergraduate

• Management Information Systems and advanced construction informatics
• Planning and estimating
• Supervision of dissertations on topics aligned to my research interests

Postgraduate

• Principles of Design and Construction 
• Supervision of dissertations on topics aligned to my research interests

I look after the School’s enterprise portfolio including consultancy activities, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), EPG projects (Enterprise Projects Group), partnerships with industry including contract research and funded PhDs, IP protection, commercialisation, in addition to nurturing the research impact culture within the School. I lead the development of the Impact Case Studies for REF (Research Excellence Framework) and provide support and training for acadrmic members of staff to be enterprise active. Currently, the Enterprise income for the School is in the range of £1.8 M. The School has secured 50% of the University KTP projects and is awarded the largest consultancy project in Loughborough’s history (£900K).

After obtaining my first degree in Civil Engineering in 1983 (BSc. Civil Engineering, first class), I worked in industry with international construction consortia in large projects including the World Trade Centre, a five stars hotel and a major 10 million m2 touristic development. I held the roles of Designer, Site Engineer, Site Manager, Technical Manager and Project Manager between 1983 and 1991. In parallel, I have studied for an MSc. In Foundations Engineering which I was awarded in 1989. Then, I studied for another MSc. in Construction Management at Loughborough University in 1991 which I was awarded in1992 with Distinction. 

I worked for a further year in industry as a Project Manager before I take on the post of a Research Associate at Loughborough University for the modelling and simulation of information flows at the design stage of construction projects in 1993. I was researching for my PhD in parallel and was awarded my PhD in 1996 then was appointed as a Research Fellow to work on a £2M EU project on the requirements for Large Scale Engineering Construction projects and also writing proposals to generate further research funding. I was appointed as a Lecturer in 2000, Senior Lecturer in 2004 and was awarded my Professorship in 2009. I was successful in securing large funds from the European Commission for EU research projects as coordinator or partner and hence appointed as Director of the School European Union Research Group (2001-2015) and the University Chair of the Horizon 2020 Funding Strategy Group (2014-2018). I served on the University Senate as an appointed member (2014-2019). 

I was appointed as the School Associate Dean for Enterprise (ADE) in August 2017 to date, where I look after the School’s enterprise portfolio including consultancy activities, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), EPG projects (Enterprise Projects Group), partnerships with industry including contract research and funded PhDs, IP protection, commercialisation, in addition to nurturing the research impact culture within the School. I lead the development of the Impact Case Studies for REF (Research Excellence Framework) and provide support and training for academic members of staff to be enterprise active. I am also a member of the School SMT (Senior Management Team) where I assist the Dean in all aspects related to the management of the School. I led the School Athena Swan Bronze submission as ‘Co-Champion' in 2020. National and international recognition for my achievements has led to additional external prestigious roles as outlined in the sections below.

Professional affiliations

• Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building (FCIOB)

• Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (MASCE)
• Member of the Construction Institute (CI)

Awards

• Funding of 6 million euros from the European Commission for research projects of total value of 50.2 million euros
• Funding of £700,000 from the EPSRC for research projects of total value of £1.7 million
• Loughborough University CALIBRE Research Awards (Winter 2019) on Open Research in Smart Homes Technologies (REFIT Project)
• Loughborough University CALIBRE Research Awards (Spring 2020) on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) for research undertaken in the GENDERTIME EU project
• CIOB International Innovation & Research Award 2014 won by my student who I supervised for his MSc project on Intelligent Buildings

External activities

• Appointed expert evaluator by the European Commission for evaluating research proposals submitted to the European Commission under the ICT, NMP programmes and Marie Curie fellowships for framework programmes FP5, FP6, FP7 and Horizon 2020
• Appointed expert reviewer by the European Commission to evaluate and assess progress in EU funded projects under the fifth, sixth and seventh framework programmes of the EC, examples of projects include ECC, SMEROSIN, MIRROR, COMIST, EUDOMAIN, ENVISION, N4C, PERIMETER
• Regional Editor for Europe (invited) of ‘Built Environment Project and Asset Management’ (BEPAM) international Journal, published by Emerald
• Expert evaluator for Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence (ORF-RE) program, Canada, 2019
• External examiner at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Univeriti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia for the Construction Management programme and reviewer for the Civil Engineering programme
• External examiner for the MSc Construction Management programme at City University, London, UK (2012-2018)
• Invited International Expert by the Institute of Global Low Carbon Economy, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China for the ‘Future Campus’, ‘Future City’ and ‘Future Life’ projects.
• Appointed expert evaluator for the National Academy of Finland to evaluate research proposals submitted to the academy (from 2012)
• Expert evaluator for the National Research Foundation of Singapore to evaluate research proposals (from 2012)
• Expert evaluator of proposals for The National Centre for Research and Development, Poland (from 2012)
• Expert evaluator of proposals for the Russian Federation Eurasia Foundation (from 2013)
• Appointed member of Senate for Loughborough University (2015 - 2019)
• Member of the Project Management Board (PMB) of Sports Pavillion 4
• Chair of Loughborough University ‘Horizon 2020 Funding Strategy Group’ which sets the University strategy for participation in EU funded research projects (2014-2018)
• Conference Chair for the International Conference on Industrialised, Integrated, Intelligent Construction, UK, 2008 (105 delegates from 16 countries, paper authors from 13 countries)
• Invited member for the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Design Sciences and Technology.
• Visiting Professor at the British University of Egypt (BUE) 
• Invited guest speaker at Chongqing University, China
• Invited key note speaker at the International Conference of Mosques Architecture, Dammam, December 2016
• Evaluator of appointments and promotions at Professorial level for Tampere University (Finland) and University of Salford (UK)
• Member of the Management Committee for the COST (Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action: Innovation in Intelligent Management of Heritage Buildings (i2MHB) funded by the European Commission
• Invited by Prof. Sir David King, the then UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser to review a state-of-the-art review report within the “Sustainable Energy Management & the Built Environment” project
• Invited key note speaker at the ‘Engineering for a sustainable future conference’, Teeside University, May 2011
• Invited key note speaker for “Synergiedag” conference on Sustainability and Durability, Netherlands, May 2008
• Invited keynote speaker at the eServices conference, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, March 2010
• Invited evaluator for MERIT on line PhD programme of Salford University, UK
• Invited guest Professor by the University of Lubljana (Slovenia) to give guest lectures on ICT for energy efficiency, employability in the construction sector at the civil engineering department
• Invited member to the steering committee of the ICT4EE Forum, World wide initiative on ICT for Energy Efficiency 
• Selected member to the advisory board of the REEB European project “The European strategic Research Roadmap to ICT enabled Energy Efficiency in Buildings and construction”, September 2008. Selection was based on a competition between 55 major organisations from 13 European countries, activities within the REEB advisory board are funded by the EC
• Member of the Board of Trustees, British University of Egypt (BUE) (2005-2013), colleague members include Boutros Boutros Ghali (ex UN Secretary General), Lord Andrew Stone, Sir David Davies, Sir Magdy Yaacoub, Sir David Blatherwick, and others
• Invited speaker to the Middle East and North Africa Learning and Leadership programme event, Abu Dhabi, February 2007
• Invited speaker by the British Council at the “Research for Development Conference”, Cairo, March 2007
• External examiner for MSc at Nanyang Technological University, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Singapore
• External examiner for PhD at the Universities of Salford , Reading, Glamorgan, Heriot-Watt, Teeside, Leeds
• International External Examiner for PhD at the University of Heriott-Watt, Dubai campus 
• Invited member of Scientific Committees for various international conferences e.g., CIB W78 (IT in Construction), 2009,2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, Joint Conference on Computing in Construction (JC3), 2017, CIB Joint International Conference – Construction Facing Worldwide Challenges, 2009, CIB World Congress, 2016, I-ESA, 2007, 2008 (International Conference for Interoperability for Enterprise Software Applications), PRO’VE (IFIP – International Federation for Information Processing conference on Virtual Enterprises 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,2014), International Doctoral Conference on Computing, Electrical and Industrial Systems (DoCEIS 2010, 2011), Portugal, ASCAAD conference, Fez, 2010, BUE Sustainability conference, Cairo, 2010, Sustainability in the Built Environment, Cairo, 2013, European Conference on Process and Product modelling (ECPPM), Reykjavik, Iceland, 2012 and Vienna 2014  CE2003 (International Conference on Concurrent Engineering Research and Applications), International Postgraduate Research Conference (Salford), esm@rtconference, CIESMIC etc
• Invited referee for International academic journals e.g.:
  • International Journal of Construction Management and Economics 
  • International Journal of Automation in Construction
  • International Journal of Construction Innovation, Information, Process and Management
  • Engineering Construction and Architectural Management
  • International Journal of Computer Integrated Design and Construction 
  • International Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, ASCE
  • International Journal of Building and Construction Management (Hong Kong)
  • International Journal of Information Technology in Construction (ITCON)

Key collaborators

My research and enterprise activities are conducted with a range of academic and stakeholder partners, including:

Universities and Research Centres

• VTT Research Institute (Finland)
• CSTB (Centre Scientifique et Technique de Batiment (France) 
• Fraunhofer-Institute for Industrial Engineering (Germany)
• Technical University of Dresden (Germany)
• University of Stuttgart (Germany) 
• Technical University of Delft (The Netherlands)
• TNO Building and Construction (The Netherlands) 
• Instituto de Desenvolvimento de Novas Tecnologias UNINOVA (Portugal) 
• Ljubliana University (Slovenia) 
• University of Hong Kong 
• TECNALIA Research Centre (Spain)
• UC3M (Spain)
• University of Salford (UK)

Industry

Major international construction and engineering firms including: 

• Dragados (Spain) 
• YIT (Finland) 
• Zublin Germany 
• Skanska (UK and Sweden) 
• Ove Arup and Partners (UK)

I led the School Athena Swan Bronze submission as ‘Co-Champion' in 2020.