Dr Juliana Calabria-Holley is a Lecturer in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering. Her main research interests lay with nanotechnology applied to innovative sustainable construction materials.

Dr Calabria-Holley is a material Scientist and experienced Architect. As an Architect she has conducted over ten years of self-employed architectural practice, six years of which were carried out simultaneously with her Masters from Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil and her PhD from UFMG, Brazil and Imperial College of London, UK. Both in the field of Materials Science and Engineering.

Her PhD research focused on developing breathable protective coatings for the sustainable and low-embodied energy material, adobe brick. The study approach was based on surface engineering strategies such as adsorption process and porosity systems. The interfacial modifications attained were the development of hydrophobic and bactericide nano membranes by means of sol-gel process initially containing an inorganic precursor linked to organic molecules.

Research

Juliana joined the University of Bath as a Research Associate in March 2012 working on the FIBCEM project. FIBCEM is a project funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme. The full project title is: Nanotechnology Enhanced Extruded Fibre Reinforced Foam Cement Based Environmentally Friendly Sandwich Material for Building Applications. The FIBCEM Consortium consisted of ten project partners from five different European countries (Spain, Italy, Lithuania, United Kingdom and Denmark).

She was appointed as a Lecturer in May 2014, and to the Centre for Innovative Construction Materials (CICM) research group. Her research expertise spans from architecture to material science, and is focused on the interdisciplinary development of innovative and low carbon construction materials. Her research activities centre on nanotechnology applied to cementitious systems, surface engineering via sol-gel, adsorption processes and porosity systems, micro and nanostructure of manufactured and natural building materials.  Academically her work is cross-disciplinary, expanding boundaries and, more importantly, delivering a new interdisciplinary interface.