ResearchNew study to demonstrate indoor environment quality impact on staff happiness and business costs

The new project will draw on key automation factors within the built environment to enhance employee wellbeing and productivity while reducing costs
Content Team12 months ago4 min

Last week (13 March), the Cyprus University of Technology (Tepak) announced its participation in the SIEQUA-CERT project, which focuses on indoor environment quality (IEQ). IEQ refers to indoor conditions in a building related to the health of those who occupy it and affects employee satisfactions as well as business costs.

The SIEQUA-CERT project stands for ‘real-time monitoring and actionable decision support for sustainable indoor environment quality certification.’ The Research and Innovation Foundation (Idek) has chosen to fund the project under its CO-DEVELOP programme, launching on 1 January 2023 with a scope of 24 months.

The University announced that the overarching goal of the project is the development of real-time indoor environment quality health-impact metrics per building zone and an Indoor Environment and Health Awareness Decision Support System.

These outcomes are predicted to generate significant added value to support stakeholders in high-occupancy public and private buildings.

SIEQUA-CERT project objectives

One of the main goals of the project is for the decision support system to play a significant role in automatically suggesting improvements within buildings, thereby enhancing aspects such as employee performance and satisfaction and optimising how resources are being used. Project predictions can also help to reduce the risk of transition and viability of airborne viruses as well as costs of heating and cooling.

Regarding the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering and Informatics, the second Tepak team comprises Michalis Michaelides, Assistant Professor; and Christina Kakoulli, PhD candidate.

“The contribution of the two Tepak teams is mainly focusing on literature review, acquisition of questionnaire data with respect to environmental and health parameters in indoor environments, as well as refinement and transfer of algorithms and intellectual property for the capturing of virus transmissibility indexes in indoor environments,” the university said.

“The developed system can be used by owners and operators of large high occupancy buildings, enabling them to identify problems and take corrective actions,” the statement concluded.

Who is part of the team?

The SIEQUA-CERT project is organised by PHOEBE Research and Innovation Ltd.

The interdisciplinary consortium also includes LELANTUS Innovations Ltd, the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence of the University of Cyprus, the Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative, and two research teams from the Cyprus University of Technology (Tepak): the Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health (CII) and the Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Informatics (EECEI).

The leader of the Tepakteam is Konstantinos Makris, Associate Professor from the CII.

Other members of the CII team include Corina Konstantinou, PhD candidate; Pantelis Charisiadis, Postdoctoral Fellow; and Christina Xeni, Research Fellow.

Content Team

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