UWTSD Secures Funding to Lead Net Zero Housing Research Project Across Swansea Bay Region
The University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) has secured £83,569 in funding to lead an innovative research project exploring how residents experience and use low-carbon technologies in their homes.
The funding, awarded through the EPSRC Switch to Net Zero Buildings Place Based Impact Acceleration Account (PBIAA), will support the project Human-Centred Net Zero: Building User Experience Evidence to Improve Procurement of Low Carbon Home Technologies in the Swansea Bay City Region (SBCR). The research will examine the real-world benefits and challenges associated with technologies such as heat pumps and smart energy controls.
Led by UWTSD in partnership with CODI Group, the largest registered social landlord in Wales, the project brings together expertise from three specialist centres within the University: the Assistive Technologies Innovation Centre (ATiC), UNESCO MOST BRIDGES, and the Construction Wales Innovation Centre (CWiC).
Researchers will work directly with residents to better understand how low-carbon technologies are used in everyday life, identify factors that support their successful adoption and long-term use, and explore how households can maximise potential savings.
The initiative builds on collaborative networks and place-based approaches established through the AHRC-funded REPAIR project, which explores nature-based solutions for climate adaptation and biophilic design in the built environment. While REPAIR focuses on environmental adaptation, this new project will concentrate specifically on residents’ experiences of low-carbon technologies installed in their homes.
Research activity will include interviews, home visits, and collaborative workshops with residents. Findings are expected to help inform future housing design, technology procurement, implementation strategies, and customer communications, ensuring net zero ambitions are aligned with the needs and lived experiences of residents.
ATiC Research Innovation Fellow Yolanda Rendón Guerrero, Project Lead, said: “This funding represents an exciting opportunity to strengthen our role as a civic institution and innovation partner in creating a collective future. By working closely with social housing organisations, networks, and communities outside academia, we can co-create solutions that respond directly to people’s needs and generate meaningful impact to how we live and implement innovation. Building on partnerships and learning developed through projects such as REPAIR, this work allows us to deepen our understanding of how people experience change within the built environment and translate that knowledge into practical action that supports both communities and sustainability goals.”
Shelley Doolan, Project Manager at ATiC, added: “This project reflects what ATiC does best: bringing together researchers, industry partners, public sector organisations, and communities to better understand people’s experiences and translate those insights into meaningful innovation. By combining expertise from different sectors, we can help ensure that new technologies are shaped around the needs of the people who use them. We look forward to working with our partners on this project and developing further collaborations that place people at the centre of innovation.”
Luci Attala, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Deputy Executive Director of UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES, said: “The transition to net zero is not simply a technical challenge, it is a social, cultural, and ethical one. Through UNESCO MOST BRIDGES, we are committed to bringing different forms of knowledge into dialogue to better understand how people experience environmental change in their everyday lives. This project recognises that successful innovation depends not only on the performance of low-carbon technologies, but also on how they fit within people’s homes, communities, and values. By placing lived experience at the heart of research and decision-making, we can help shape more inclusive, trusted, and sustainable pathways to decarbonisation.”
Gareth Evans, Head of CWiC, said: “This project provides an important opportunity to connect research, housing innovation, and workforce development. By generating stronger evidence on how low-carbon technologies perform in people’s homes, we can help shape better procurement, implementation, and skills decisions across our regions, while developing educational pathways that prepare learners and professionals to support Wales’s wider transition to a net zero housing stock.”
The project will focus on key themes including lived experience, behavioural insights, technology usability, collaborative design, and performance outcomes. Partners will work together to identify the factors that contribute to the successful use of low-carbon technologies, helping to improve future procurement and implementation approaches across the housing sector.
ATiC Research Innovation Fellow and Project Co-Lead Dr Fatma Layas said: “Achieving net zero is not only about deploying innovative technologies - it is about ensuring they work for the people who use them every day. This project will generate valuable evidence about residents’ experiences of low-carbon home technologies, helping us understand the practical, behavioural and accessibility factors that influence their successful adoption. By placing user experience at the centre of procurement and design decisions, we can help housing providers select technologies that are not only technically effective but also intuitive, inclusive, and capable of delivering lasting benefits for residents and communities.”
Alongside advancing innovation in housing and sustainability, the project will create opportunities for students and early career researchers to work alongside housing providers, communities, and multidisciplinary research teams, gaining valuable practical experience to complement their academic and professional development.
The project will begin in October 2026 and run for 12 months.
Dr Mark Cocks, Dean of the Wales Institute of Science and Art at UWTSD, said: “The funding award further strengthens UWTSD’s commitment to delivering impactful research and innovation, supporting sustainable development, and creating meaningful partnerships that generate benefits for communities across Wales and beyond.”
Becky Cole, Head of Regeneration at CODI, said: “We are pleased to be working with colleagues at UWTSD on this project. Through this partnership we want to better understand how low carbon technologies are being used in everyday life, and what support may be required to ensure people get the most from these technologies. The research will provide valuable insight, helping us identify opportunities to inform procurement, improve services, enhance customer experience, and maximise potential savings for households. At Codi we want to ensure innovation is shaped by the people who use it, and we are keen to share insights with our net zero partners across the sector.”
For further information about the project and opportunities to get involved, please contact atic@uwtsd.ac.uk.
Further Information
Rebecca Davies
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