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Engineering for International Development Centre

Engineering for International Development Centre researches engineering solutions for human development and wellbeing, which address SDGs using locally acceptable water-sanitation-energy approaches.

Collecting water
About

Engineering for International Development Centre focuses on engineering solutions for human development and wellbeing. The centre researches locally acceptable water-sanitation-energy solutions to address Sustainable Development Goals.

UCL’s Engineering for International Development Centre was founded by Prof. Priti Parikh to address gaps in infrastructure provision in resource-challenged settings in low-middle income countries. EFID brings together a team of doctoral students, postdocs, academics and cross sectoral organisations to address global challenges in water, sanitation and energy provision. This is achieved by combining technical innovation with societal needs through mixed method research. EFID is pioneering work on evidencing links between infrastructure and the Sustainable Development Goals. Prof. Parikh aspires to inspire future engineers to tackle global challenges such as urbanisation, climate change, poverty alleviation and gender inclusion through engineering. To that end she founded CEGE's Engineering for International Development MSc, the Engineering Faculty student Hub and the BSCC EFID research centre.

People 

Leadership
  • Prof. Priti Parikh, EfID Centre Founder and Director
  • Dr Margarita Garfias Royo, Deputy Director
Associate Members
Research Fellows
  • Margarita Garfias Royo: Margarita recently completed her PhD on Gender and Built Environment, looking the link between urban infrastructure and Violence Against Women in public. She has a high level of cross-cultural understanding achieved through international experiences, and has experience conducting mixed-methods research across the world. Margarita is a Research Fellow on two projects:
    • Integrated and Inclusive Infrastructure Framework (3IF), a Royal Academy of Engineering funded project conducted in partnership with Kuonkuey Design Initiative (KDI) to enable participatory, sustainable and inclusive infrastructure planning and upgrading, while achieving a range of Sustainable Development Goals and African Agenda 2063 Goals.
    • WASH Resilient Recovery, a UKRI-ESRC-funded project focused on communities impacted by the 2018 tsunami affecting Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.
    • Anthony Odili: Anthony will conduct extensive research on the appraisal and selection of sanitation technologies using a framework based on the SDGs and aligned to local development priorities of Durban, South Africa. Anthony is currently completing his PhD in the School of Built Environment and Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal. His PhD thesis conceptualizes the levers for change and prospects for alternatives in the move towards novel off-grid sanitation technologies in Durban, South Africa. Since 2016, Anthony has been involved in local and international projects in the WASH sector. Through the WASH R&D Centre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and as part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s generation 1 & 2 “Reinvent the Toilet Challenge”, Anthony conducted user experience surveys and social assessments of innovative, off-grid toilet prototypes in informal settlements and peri-urban areas in Durban, South Africa. Anthony's research interest is on sanitation and sustainability, sanitation governance, circular economy.”

       

    Research Assistants
    • Jonathan Barnsley: Jonnie is a current MSc candidate in climate change at UCL with an interest in climate modelling, integrated assessment modelling and carbon footprinting. He graduated from UCL with a BSc in mathematics and holds a second MSc from Cambridge University in mathematical physics. Parallel to his current MSc, he is also assisting with the creation of a carbon footprinting tool for travel between the UK and COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.
    • Loan Diep: Loan is an urban researcher on green infrastructure, water and sanitation, and environmental justice in cities. Her PhD focuses on the urban politics of green infrastructure in contexts of favelas in São Paulo. She graduated from a BSc in Environmental Geography and an MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development at UCL. She also worked as a consultant for various organisations including UNEP and IIED, and as a project officer for Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor. Parallel to her PhD, she is currently conducting different research projects with WaterAid and with KDI on developing policy tools that articulate the links between sanitation and the SDGs, with IIED on humanitarian aid for WASH services in Jordan, and with UNICEF on climate change impacts on children.
    • Jhénelle Williams: Jhénelle is an early career Jamaican Scientist with experience in ocean science and nuclear applications. She received her BSc in Ocean Engineering from Florida Institute of Technology and worked as a Scientific Officer at the International Centre for Environmental & Nuclear Sciences (ICENS) prior to enrolling at the UCL in the MSc Climate Change Programme in 2021. Her experience has been in utilizing nuclear techniques like instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) to study Jamaica’s coastal and atmospheric environment to support Jamaica's efforts in achieving the outlined targets under the Sustainable Development Goals. Ms. Williams is currently completing her dissertation that investigates climate signals from stable isotopes in precipitation. Coupled with her studies, she is currently working with Prof. Priti Parikh in the collation of a comprehensive research paper that assesses climate change impacts and solutions in developing regions like Sub-Saharan Africa.
    • Flavio Pinheiro Martins: Flavio is currently a PhD student conducting research on the interplay between infrastructure and healthcare delivery in Brazilian communities. Over the past years, Flavio has been involved in research mapping projects that connect the Sustainable Development Goals framework with various sectors. Currently, Flavio works as a Research Assistant for the following projects:

    Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): This project aims to explore the role of ICE in promoting the 2030 agenda through its publications venues, including Civil Engineering, Energy, Engineering Sustainability, Municipal engineering, Smart Infrastructure and Construction, Transport, Urban Design and Planning, Waste and Resource Management, Water Management, and Climate Resilient Infrastructure. The project is coordinated by Prof. Priti Parikh (EFID-UCL) and fostered by stakeholders from the ICE.

    Climate Resilient Infrastructure and the Future of the SDGs: This project aims to provide a cross-cutting perspective on climate resilient infrastructure within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is coordinated by Prof. Priti Parikh (EFID-UCL) and supported by Dr Samuel Godfrey (UNDP).

    • Marta Koch: Marta is a current Research Assistant with an interest in the UN SDGs and the intersections between social, economic and environmental sustainability, infrastructure and international development. She graduated with an MSc from the LSE and has worked on projects for the United Nations, King's College London, LSE, University of Oxford and the UK government. She has worked on the following projects with Prof. Priti Parikh (EFID-UCL): 

    ​​​​​​​UN-Habitat-led ‘Global Report on Sanitation and Wastewater Management in Cities and Human Settlements’: This is a global reference report on sanitation and wastewater in urban settings drawing from existing literature and primary data in 18 cities across Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. 

    UCL Health of the Public-funded ‘Exploring the Impacts of Water Contaminated by Emerging Pollutants on Vulnerable Children’ (Impacts of Contaminated Water on Children (ICWC)): The UCL-lead research team conducted a scoping review mapping the existing evidence on the effects of water chemicals on the health and wellbeing of children in low-and-middle-income countries and led a co-design workshop with global Engineering, Water Sanitation and Child Health experts. 

    ICE-funded ‘Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’: This aims to explore the role of the ICE in promoting the 2030 agenda through its publications, including those focused on Civil Engineering, Energy, Engineering Sustainability, Smart Infrastructure & Construction, Transport, Urban Design & Planning, Waste & Resource Management, Water Management & Climate-Resilient Infrastructure.  

    Current PhD

    Tash Perros

    • Primary supervisor: Prof. Priti Parikh
    • Secondary supervisor: Dr Julia Tomei
    • Research interests: I am interested in how innovative technology and business models can create a more equal world. My current research is part of the EFID BBOXX collaboration and uses mixed methods to investigate how pay-as-you-go LPG can improve access to clean cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa
    • Working thesis title: Smart Cooking Solutions for All

    Vasco Megulhao

    • Primary supervisor: Prof. Priti Parikh
    • Secondary supervisor: Dr. Licia Capra
    • Research interests: Sustainable Energy; Energy Access; Applied Machine Learning; Data Science. My research seeks to leverage the ever-increasing data assets that are being collected under the Pay As You Go (PAYGo) model to increase our understanding of Solar Home System (SHS) adopters. 
    • Working thesis title: Rwandan & Kenyan Solar Home System User Behavioural Patterns – a Data-driven Approach

    Penelop Yaguma

    Flavio Pinheiro Martins

    • Primary supervisor: Prof. Priti Parikh
    • Secondary supervisor: Prof. Monica Lakhanpaul 
    • Research interests: Sustainable Development Goals, Universal Healthcare, Vulnerable Communities, Science diffusion and communication. My PhD research focuses on investigating the impact of diverse infrastructure dimensions on the achievement of Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) in communities that are typically underserved by healthcare delivery in Brazil.
    • Working thesis title: The Role of Infrastructure in Achieving Universal Health Coverage in Brazilian Communities

    Katharina Oemmelen

    • Primary supervisor: Prof. Priti Parikh
    • Secondary supervisor: Dr Ben Page
    • Research interests:  Energy Access; Sustainable Development; Poverty Alleviation; Equality and Inclusion; Gender. My research applies a mixed-methods approach to examine the gendered benefits and trade-offs of mini-grid access in rural Madagascar. 
    • Working thesis title: From mini-grid to sustainable development: The renewable energy transition in rural Madagascar 
    Visting researchers

    Nana Deng

    • Primary Supervior: Dr Jing Meng
    • Research interests: Residential electricity demand response; energy poverty; residential energy consumption behaviour. My research focuses on the factors such as economic incentives, policies and technologies, influence household energy consumption patterns and carbon emissions in China.
    • Working thesis: Inequitable and Heterogeneous Impacts on Household Adaptation From Poverty Eradication. 
      Collaborators

      BBOXX
      Vitol Foundation 
      Water Aid
      Kounkuey Design Initative
      International Institute for Environment and Development
      eThekwini Municipality
      IIT CRDT

      Alumni

      Publications   

      Prof. Parikh's publications

      RPS Widget Placeholderhttps://research-reports.ucl.ac.uk/RPSDATA.SVC/pubs/PPARI97?orderby=year

       

      In the media 

      Prof. Priti Parikh did stand-up comedy on sanitation issues  

      on Twitter

      Videos
      News and links
      Media and Blogs

      Teaching and Student Experience

      EfID Centre members contribute to the following programmes:  

      EfID Centre Director Prof. Parikh founded Engineering for International Development MSc in 2014, and was the programme director for five years.
      The UCL EfID hub, also founded by Prof. Parikh, facilitates opportunities for all UCL Built Environment undergraduates from across the Faculty to work on global international development projects, honing their skills and putting their engineering knowledge to good use.
      As UCL's branch of Engineers without Borders UK, the UCL Engineers without Borders student society offers its members the opportunity to network, upskill and participate in overseas projects. EfID Centre members has strong connections and extensive collaborations with the charity and student society. 

      Contact

      UCL Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction

      2nd Floor
      1-19 Torrington Place
      London
      WC1E 6BT

      Prof. Priti Parikh, EfID Centre Director 

      E: priti.parikh@ucl.ac.uk