Dr. Stephen Allen is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, and Associate Director of the Institute for Sustainability.  His research focuses on embedding sustainability in design and engineering, particularly through use of life cycle assessment.  This is essential for achieving net-zero carbon emissions and effectively tackling climate change.  Stephen collaborates with scientists, engineers, designers and a variety of companies. Current projects include:

• Towards net-zero carbon buildings: tackling uncertainty when predicting carbon footprints
• UK Energy Research Centre
• Circular Biobased Construction Industry
• Active Building Centre Research Programme
• Supervising PhD researchers working on LCA and experimental development in the fields of buildings, construction materials, electric vehicles and phase change materials

Stephen’s PhD and post-doctoral research (2006-09) predicted the net energy and carbon performance of renewable energy technologies, including how long it takes to payback their embodied carbon.  In 2010-12 he was the Energy Adviser at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. He provided scientific advice to inform public policy, and specialist input to select committee inquiries.  In 2012-18 he was a senior associate at Sustain Ltd (now Anthesis) and then director at Circular Ecology. He led projects for companies with combined turnovers of greater than £10bn, helping them to measure and reduce their environmental footprint. Prior to 2006, Stephen worked as an engineer in remote parts of Canada and Mexico, designing and building equipment and accommodation for ecological field research.

His publications have been used by parliament, government and the Committee on Climate Change to inform policy, and by professional magazines to influence practice in industry.  He won the prestigious George Stephenson Prize from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (for best original paper), and a place on the USA’s International Visitor Leadership Programme on climate change and renewable energy.  He has featured on the BBC’s ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’ and written a regular column on sustainability for a magazine.  He is conversationally fluent in Spanish.

Interested in supervising students studying:

• Low energy and low carbon design of buildings
• Sustainable building materials
• Sustainable energy technologies
• Carbon footprinting
• Life cycle assessment