Leeds Beckett University academic announced as new UK Treescapes Fellow

The Future of UK Treescapes is an interdisciplinary research programme designed to improve environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural understandings of the functions and services provided by UK Treescapes.

Outputs from the programme will help inform future decisions about treescape expansion, management, and resilience for the benefit of the environment and society.

The programme is supported on behalf of UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC), and the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Funding for the Treescapes Fellowship Scheme is provided by NERC and Defra.

In this fellowship, Dr Jim Parker will use data from a large existing network of environmental sensors across the city of Leeds to understand in more detail the role that treescapes have on the atmosphere we live in and will share resultant knowledge with key stakeholders that will influence the UK’s future treescapes.

By consolidating relationships between Leeds Beckett University, the University of Leeds and Leeds City Council, it will also help to demonstrate the role that anchor institutions can play in large urban areas and complex city-scale issues, and how these relationships can have a positive impact on the cities we live in.

Jim's research has included extensive work on the calibration of energy and thermal models, an area of expertise that informs in-depth evaluation of retrofit measures. This expertise has helped to secure high value research projects from Government Departments and UKRI organisations, all aimed at reducing the environmental impact of existing buildings.

In addition to his work in the retrofit sector, Jim has been involved in projects that have developed offsite manufacture systems for low energy buildings, overheating mitigation in future climate scenarios, energy management systems in the non-domestic sector, performance analysis of district heating systems and green infrastructure deployment in urban environments. He has also been involved in IEA Annexes and was a sub-task lead for the IEA Annex 67: Energy Flexible Buildings.

Speaking about the project, Dr Parker said:

“Existing knowledge suggests that treescapes can help to regulate overheating and air pollution in our cities. There is a need to measure these impacts to provide policymakers with robust evidence that can support the protection and expansion of urban treescapes. These types of measurements are however complex and need to be carried out over long periods of time.

“This Fellowship is a fantastic opportunity for me extend the scope of our work in the field of sustainable urban environments, being able to do this in Leeds is also great for the city. The support of Cat Scott and Jim McQuaid has been really important in the development of this project and I’m excited to be working with them over the next year, and beyond.”