Dr Chris J. Roberts
Dr Chris Roberts studied BSc (Hons) Planning, Environment and Development at Birmingham City University (BCU) achieving a first-class honours degree (2013-2016) before securing a STEAM funded bursary to read for a PhD (2016-2020). Dr Roberts’ thesis was submitted in 2019 (although the viva was delayed until March 2020 due to the birth of his first child). After submitting his thesis, Dr Roberts complied the evidence and subsequently authoring the first draft of the REF2021 environmental statement for the School of Computing before assuming a permanent role at BCU as an assistant lecturer in June 2020.
Since assuming his permanent role, Dr Roberts has: i) been promoted twice (now senior lecturer); ii) assumed leadership of the BSc (Hons) Building Surveying course (2022-2024) doubling NSS student satisfaction metrics during his tenure; iii) published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and cited well over a thousand times in subsequent academic works; iv) supervised five PhD students to completion; v) secured over £1.2m in research grant funding in collaboration with the ‘Infrastructure Futures Research Group;’ and vi) worked with various industrial and public sector partners including National Highways and the UK Government (culminating in several presentations to senior Whitehall civil servants across multiple departments).
Dr Roberts has collaborated on various research projects across a number of fields of research, including (but not limited to): i) post-occupancy evaluation (POE); ii) climate change; iii) environmental and social sustainability; iv) health and safety; v) digital innovation; vi) higher education course provisions and curriculum development; vii) project management; viii) energy conservation; and ix) establishing circular economic principles within the built environment sector. However, Dr Roberts' primary research interests/passions pertain to reducing the anthropogenic impact of the built environment upon the natural environment and addressing the climate crisis through environmental and social (i.e. prevailing economic and ideological factors) sustainability.