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| Reference Number | UKRI1240 | |
| Title | HESTIA: Home Environment Solutions through Technology and Innovation for All | |
| Status | Started | |
| Energy Categories | Energy Efficiency (Residential and commercial) 30%; Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research (Environmental, social and economic impacts) 70%; |
|
| Research Types | Basic and strategic applied research 100% | |
| Science and Technology Fields | ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Architecture and the Built Environment) 100% | |
| UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation | Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Other sociological economical and environmental impact of energy) 100% | |
| Principal Investigator |
Douglas Booker University of Leeds |
|
| Award Type | Standard | |
| Funding Source | EPSRC | |
| Start Date | 01 November 2025 | |
| End Date | 01 November 2027 | |
| Duration | 24 months | |
| Total Grant Value | £497,172 | |
| Industrial Sectors | Unknown | |
| Region | Yorkshire & Humberside | |
| Programme | Healthcare : Healthcare | |
| Investigators | Principal Investigator | Douglas Booker , University of Leeds |
| Other Investigator | Suzanne Bartington , University of Birmingham Ruth Doherty , University of Edinburgh Helen Fisher , King's College London Rajat Gupta , Oxford Brookes University Anna Mavrogianni , University College London Dr Alejandro Moreno Rangel , University of Strathclyde Catherine Noakes , University of Leeds |
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| Web Site | ||
| Objectives | ||
| Abstract | What is this network about? The HESTIA Network (Home Environment Solutions through Technology and Innovation for All) aims to create a new approach to home design and upgrades, integrating existing and emerging building technologies to make buildings healthy for all people, and for the environment by reducing carbon emissions. Who are we? HESTIA is a team of interdisciplinary researchers from leading UK universities, spanning engineering and architecture, environmental and atmospheric sciences, human health and the social sciences. We work closely with government and housing organisations that manage housing provision, regulation, and design, and with communities most affected by unhealthy homes to ensure that HESTIA helps to improve health for all. Why focus on housing? Many millions of homes in the UK are being built, and upgraded with a focus on improving energy efficiency to reduce carbon emissions. This is typically achieved through improving building thermal insulation and airtightness to prevent heat loss. However, minimal attention is paid at the moment to what this means for the health and wellbeing of the people living in them. Housing is a key factor that determines people's health because people spend more than two thirds of their time indoors at home, and current evidence suggests that deprived communities tend to suffer from poorer quality housing. While energy efficiency upgrades can improve health and reduce health inequalities through, for example, tackling the ongoing fuel poverty crisis, high levels of building thermal insulation and air tightness can worsen the quality of our indoor environments if not implemented properly. For example, they can increase exposure to harmful indoor air pollutants, damp and mould, and make indoor temperatures uncomfortable in the summer. In turn, this can worsen mental and physical health, and health inequalities. Many new and established technologies are currently being installed into homes alongside building insulation to make them more energy efficient, such as smart meters that monitor energy use, and replacing gas boilers with heat pumps. At the same time, new technological devices such as low-cost air quality sensors and air cleaners are increasingly being used in homes to make them better for human health. The HESTIA Network will address how these technologies can work together to both improve environmental health through reducing carbon emissions while improving physical and mental health and reducing health inequalities. What will the HESTIA network do? The HESTIA Network will focus on: Building community: We will build a community across academic disciplines, policy, industry, and the general public through a series of in person and online activities. We will share research, best practice, and lived-experience to create a forum to guide policy, practice, and research on housing to ensure health and equity are central considerations. Developing research potential: Working with our full range of network members, we will roadmap research and innovation priorities, and fund feasibility studies to understand the role that different engineering interventions and technologies can play in home environments to improve human and environmental health for everyone. Promoting future leaders: We will prioritise researchers in the early stage of their careers to develop future leaders who are equipped to work across different academic disciplines and sectors, as well as with the general public, to co-design and deliver housing solutions in an equitable way | |
| Data | No related datasets |
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| Projects | No related projects |
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| Publications | No related publications |
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| Added to Database | 14/01/26 | |
