XClose

The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction

Menu

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
  • Lucila Carbonela: With extensive experience working as an architect, Lucila has recently completed her doctorate on urban housing reconstruction after disaster from a gender and diversity standpoint. Her interests lie in urban development planning, with a focus on intersectionality around housing policy and planning.

    As research associate for ToolSanDurban, Lucila has conducted an extensive evidence review focusing on Durban-centric sources to identify over 140 linkages between sanitation and the SDGs in the local context.

  • Kerry Bobbins: Over the last 9 years, Kerry has worked on developing knowledge on sustainable urban infrastructure at the academia-policy interface. She has worked closely with a range of government, private sector and civil society stakeholders in South Africa and the United Kingdom to produce academically relevant policy outputs on water, sanitation and energy. Kerry’s academic interests lie in the situated aspects of urban sustainability transitions, where she has previously utilised a practice theory approach for exploring how concepts such as green infrastructure and nature-based solutions have been used by a range of urban actors in planned and unplanned ways. Kerry is a Research Fellow on the Cross-sectoral benefits of action in sanitation project, where she works closely with the core research team and wider partner network to co-develop policy outputs.
  • 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.
  • Imad Ahmed: Imad is pursuing a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in International Development focusing on resilient infrastructure in resource-constrained settings. He is focusing on two new research projects:
    • WASH Resilient Recovery, a UKRI-ESRC-funded project focused on communities impacted by the 2018 tsunami affecting Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.
    • TEG cookstove user perceptions, a UCL-IIT Delhi Strategic Partner Funds project. The energy access project is being conducted in partnership with UCL’s Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (GOSH) and with IIT Delhi’s Centre for Rural Development Technology.
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.

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

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

    Content placeholder

    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