Dr Nicola Willand

Profile

I am a Senior Lecturer at the School of Property, Construction and Project Management at RMIT University, Australia. I am visiting the University of Leeds a British Academy Visiting Fellow from June to October 2023, hosted by Prof Lucie Middlemiss and her colleagues from the Sustainability Research Institute. I was awarded my PhD (Built Environment) from RMIT University in March 2017. I received by BArch with Distinction from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) in 1992. Before joining academia, I practiced as an architect in South Africa and Germany.

Research interests

My interdisciplinary research is concerned with understanding sustainability in the built environment from a holistic perspective. My work highlights that initiatives towards more sustainable built environments tend to focus on environmental and economic outcomes, while the social aspects are often neglected. I have raised awareness of energy vulnerability in Australia, provided evidence of the unequal impacts of the low carbon housing transition and contributed to the development of more equitable policies and programs.

I supervise six PhD students based at RMIT University, Australia.

Qualifications

• PhD (Built Environment), RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia , 2017
• Bachelor of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1992

Professional memberships

• Member of the Australian Institute of Architects

Student education

I am the course coordinator for the postgraduate Building Modelling and Simulation course and the postgraduate transdisciplinary Housing and Health elective. I teach the Materials component of the undergraduate Structures and Materials course and supervise 4^th Year Construction Management students in writing their Honours thesis.

Research groups and institutes

• Sustainability Research Institute