Dr Jemima Unwin

Lecturer

Bartlett School Env, Energy & Resources

Faculty of the Built Environment

Joined UCL: 1st Sep 2015

Research summary

Following the completion of her PhD which examined the effect of street lighting on pedestrian reassurance for both young and elderly participants, Dr Unwin’s work into external environments has evolved to examine the impact of lighting on pedestrian flows at an urban scale. The implications of this extend beyond the lighting field, to public health, smart cities, and the design of inclusive and interactive environments.

She is also interested in daylighting; the effect of light on health; spatial geometry and how this affects decision-making; long term accessibility and sustainability of cities and the effect of multiple sensory inputs on vision and movement.

Teaching summary

Dr Unwin is Programme Leader for the MSc in Light and Lighting. Her approach to teaching is embedded in the idea that ‘learning happens whilst doing’, therefore since joining UCL she has encouraged and been instrumental in integrating lecture and workshop formats and has involved students in live research projects.

Module Leader for:

BENVGBE3: MSc L&L Dissertation

Lecturing, tutorials and marking on the following modules:

BENVGLG1: Lighting Fundamentals

BENVGLG2: Lighting Applied Calculations

BENVGLG3: Lighting Research

BENVGLG5: Lighting Practice

BENVGBE3: MSc L&L Dissertation

She is a subsidiary supervisor to three PhD students also supervises six plus Masters' dissertations yearly. This involves guiding the candidates on the research construct including defining a lighting research question and designing an appropriate experimental strategy to answer that question.

Education

Sheffield University: PhD, Architecture | 2015
Royal Institute of British Architects - North West Region: ADPP, Architecture | 2005
Glasgow School of Art: DipArch, Architecture | 2003
Glasgow School of Art: B.Arch Hons, Architecture | 2002

Biography

Dr Jemima Unwin is an Expert in the area of Light and Lighting with ten plus years of lighting practice. As a practitioner she successfully applied and tested new theories in lighting research to live building projects. As a researcher, she has developed a rich body of lighting research work. Research projects focussing on environments ranging from residential streets to hospitals have developed a deep and holistic understanding of key issues linked to human factors in lighting, with a prime focus on the effect of lighting on human behaviour.

Dr Unwin’s journey into academia started with architecture studies at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art. She qualified as an architect in 2005. Since the inception of her practice in 2008, the art and science of lighting has been an integral aspect of her building projects, ensuring a healthy, symbiotic relationship between practice and research. With fifteen plus years of practical architectural experience working across three continents (Asia, Australia and Europe), she has a root grounding in the key issues facing practitioners and a firm belief that research can inform decision making to improve the built environment for all it's users.

Please get in touch if you’d like to collaborate.

Publications