Success for the 10th Annual International Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society (SEEDS) Conference

On the 27th – 29th August 2024, Leeds Beckett were delighted to host the 10th Annual International Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society (SEEDS) Conference.

In partnership with the SEEDS committee institutions (Loughborough University, University of Suffolk and the University of the West of England, Bristol), Leeds Beckett University brought together researchers from all over the world to discuss the theme: Achieving Resilience through Sustainable Digitalization and Ecological Engineering in the 21st Century.

This year, researchers were asked, ‘‘How do we leverage the advancements in digital technology and industry 4.0 to promote sustainable and ecological engineering for society?’ and presentations took place across all 3 days to delve deeper into this topic.

Researchers explored many interesting themes including: Digital Transformation for Sustainability, Resilient Communities in a Changing World, Nature-Inspired Engineering and Biomimicry, Balancing Tradition and Innovation, Ethics, Responsibility, and Sustainability and Urban Sustainability and Smart Cities. Presentations were described as clear, engaging and provoked many thoughtful discussions.

This year, SEEDS collaborated with CIB, International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction and were delighted to welcome Chief Executive Don Ward who discussed CIB’s values and framework.

The programme also featured a number of inspiring Keynote presentations. First of all, Dr Suresh Renukappa delivered his talk on ‘Business Resilience During a Global Pandemic: Exploratory Case Studies.’ Dr Suresh Renukappa is a Reader in Sustainable Value Creation at the University of Wolverhampton, where he leads Future Smart Cities and Mobility Lab. He has also worked with and advised many public and private sector organisations on a number of social, economic and environmental sustainability issues so it was an honour to have him join the event to share his expertise.

Professor Hafiz Alaka, Professor and the founding Director of the Big Data Technologies and Innovation (BDTI) laboratory, delivered his talk titled “Big Data Analytics in Construction.” Hafiz favours cross-disciplinary collaborative research for solving real-life challenges and delivered an insightful and informative presentation.

The SEEDS community were also delighted to be joined by Dr Dalia Al-Tarazi, an Assistant Professor in Architecture at Zarqa University, Jordan. Her talk, titled “From Bricks to Bliss: Exploring Built Environment Influences on Well-being” allowed Dr Al-Tarazi to share her thoughts on the influences of the built environment on well-being and explore how future concepts can support more inclusive and empathetic design.

It was an honour to also welcome Dr Helen Bailey, who not only has worked in the mineral products industry for over 17 years in various roles, but has also set up her own consultancy, The Driven Company Associates Limited – her presentation was titled ‘System awareness, from rocks to roads.’

A highlight of the conference was the keynote talk delivered by Madeleine Mendes, Chief of Brand and Communication Strategy Officer at ORO, a German-Brazilian Financial Technology organisation. Madeleine’s talk was titled “Turning Plastic into Gold: Fintech ORO's Revolutionary Approach to Reverse Logistics and Converting Consumers into Rewarded Recyclers,” and she shared the fantastic work that she and ORO are doing. Attendees described her work as ‘incredible’ and a poster outlining her work was also awarded the winner of the Social Value category at the RISE Awards 2024 (see below for full list of winners).

The final keynote speaker was Professor Ornella Iuorio, Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano (IT), and Visiting Professor at the University of Leeds (UK). SEEDS were honoured to hear her talk on ‘The balancing act of Modern Methods of Construction between Innovation and Climate Emergency’ and her engaging presentation helped make SEEDS a memorable experience.

In the evening, delegates attended the gala dinner and RISE Awards ceremony which took place at The Clayton Hotel. It was a chance to celebrate and showcase exemplar case studies from the Built Environment sharing emerging best practice in Research, Innovation, Sustainability and Enterprise for new and innovative products, technologies, processes, projects and schemes. A list of winners can be found below:

Field and Laboratory Research

  • Winner
    Bhagyashri Lanjewar - ‘Development of 3D Sustainable Volumetric Pods & Application Thereof’

  • Highly Commended
    Promise Nukah, Samuel J. Abbey, Colin A. Booth - ‘A prediction tool to support cement replacement in lightweight concrete’

Design, Innovation & Creativity

  • Winner
    Brett Pryde, Josie Rothera (PL Projects Ltd) – ‘Developing a PFMO’

  • Highly Commended
    ONSEE - ‘Rebo: a smart bike safety camera for capturing and sharing instant replays of your rides’

New Technologies & Building Materials

  • Winner
    Rana Qudaih - ‘Impact of AI capability on Stakeholder Integration and NPD projects in Manufacturing’

  • Highly Commended
    Catalina Giraldo-Soto, Adam Hardy, Dominic Miles-Shenton, Chris Gorse, Aitor Erkoreka, Koldo Martin - ‘Estimation of the overall uncertainty of heat flux measurement. A case of study: Heat Flux through a water tank under controlled water temperature’

Sustainable Developments

  • Winner
    ICF Bondmoor – ‘Super Brad’s Pad.’

  • Highly Commended
    Kambiz Rakhshanbabanari, Chris Gorse, David Allinson, Kevin Lomas, Ben Roberts, Cliff Elwell, Frances Hollick - ‘Implications of Errors in the HTC on EPC ratings of houses’

Behaviour Change

  • Winner
    Nafa Duwebi, Josie Rothera (PL Projects Ltd) - ‘From Strategy to Action: PLP’s Holistic Approach to Sustainability’

  • Highly Commended
    Suhaib Arogundade, Prof. Mohammed Dulaimi, Prof. Saheed Ajayi, and Mike Raven - ‘Development of Behavioural Change Framework to Influence Contractors' Carbon Reduction Behaviour’

Social Value

  • Winner
    Madeleine Mendes, Astrid Emmerich, Ciro Girard,, Emily Hunter-Higgins, Matheus Antunes Bezerra , Rita Antunizz , Janine Goncalves , Muriel Matalon, Luiz Roberto Dos Santos Rosa , Adriana Cardillo , Hajar El-kacimi , Colin A. Booth - ‘TURNING PLASTIC INTO GOLD: FINTECH ORO'S REVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO REVERSE LOGISTICS AND CONVERTING CONSUMERS INTO REWARDED RECYCLERS’

  • Highly Commended
    Bob Giddings, James Charlton - ‘Public Squares in North Western European Cities’

Enterprise

  • Winner
    Suhaib Arogundade – Carbonetrix - ‘A digital construction carbon management platform for upskilling and aiding decarbonisation decisions of built environment professionals’

  • Highly Commended
    Brett Pryde, Josie Rothera (PL Projects Ltd) – ‘PL Projects’ Academy’

Collaborative Working

  • Winner
    Environment Agency - ‘Environment Agency's Collaborative Delivery Framework’

  • Highly Commended
    Dr Subarna  Sivashanmugam, Dr Sergio Rodriguez Trejo, Prof Farzad Pour Rahimian - ‘BUILDING WASTE TOOL (BWT) – A BIM-integrated Digital Tool for Early-stage Construction Waste Quantification and Optimisation’

Education and Training

  • Winner
    Abhinesh Prabhakaran - ‘Step into the Spotlight: Exploring the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Training for Oral Presentation and Public Speaking Fear’

  • Highly Commended
    Obuks Ejohwomu, Nwabueze Emekwuru, Oluwapelumi Abiodun - ‘Developing Low-Cost Air Quality Monitors’

Health, Safety and Wellbeing

  • Winner
    Alireza Moghayedi, Prof Carlos Cifuentes and Prof Marcela Munera - ‘EXOCON - Wearable Smart Device for Improving Health & Safety, Well-being & Productivity in Construction Projects’

  • Highly Commended
    Andy Easthope - ‘CANHSEU (Care and Nursing Home Satellite Emergency Unit)’

 

The SEEDS 2024 Conference Proceedings can be found here.