On May 18th Postdoc. Hicham Johra from Aalborg University, Department of Civil Engineering was awarded the REHVA Young Scientist Award. REHVA is short for Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Associations.
Each year REHVA hands out a maximum of three Young Scientist Awards. Hicham Johra received the prize during the REHVA General assembly web-meeting 18th May, 2020, and he will officially receive his diploma on 1st September at Danvak Dagen 2020.
The Young Scientist Award is given for outstanding research work on subjects covered by the fields of REHVA competence and is awarded to scientists younger than 35. The research results can be disseminated through a thesis, dissertation, or various shorter publications of similar importance.
Hicham Johra says:
It is a great pleasure and an honor to receive this award from REHVA. Thank you to Professor Per Heiselberg and Danvak for nominating me for this award. I am very happy to see that my scientific work is appreciated by the community of researchers, engineers and practitioners in the fields of building energy, indoor environment and HVAC systems. This award is a very nice achievement and it motivates me, even more, to produce good research and education content, and modestly contribute to building a sustainable future for our society.
My work and this award would not have been possible without all my colleagues at the Department of the Built Environment of Aalborg University. I would like to thank them all for this fantastic work environment and all the interesting projects we are working on. I have always been extremely happy to work at Aalborg University where we invest time and money to develop state-of-the-art laboratories and experimental facilities to produce high-quality research and education for students. Special thanks to Professor Per Heiselberg and Associate Professor Rasmus Lund Jensen.
I started my scientific career at Aalborg University as Research Assistant and Laboratory Engineer working on various experimental investigations of HVAC systems and sustainable building design. In 2018, I completed my Ph.D. about the development of an innovative magnetocaloric heat pump (ENOVHEAT project) and the energy flexibility of buildings (IEA EBC Annex 67 project). I am now a Postdoctoral Researcher working on the building energy flexibility of residential buildings connected to district heating networks (InterHUB project, IBPSA Project 1). Buildings can modulate their energy needs over short periods of time (demand-side management, load shifting, peak shaving), which can help the different energy smart grids to balance the intermittence of renewable energy sources. Understanding the interaction between energy flexible buildings (including the households and building occupants) and district heating networks is a key element to develop the future sustainable energy system of Denmark with 100% renewables.
Thanks again for this REHVA Young Scientist award. It is an honor to be part of this great scientific community.
Hicham Johra
20 maj, 2020
