Graduate research training group

In the past, graduate research training groups have been successfully established and carried out at HFT Stuttgart in cooperation with universities (e.g. under the names CI-NERGY, Windy Cities, or ENRes). While a graduate research training group provides a thematic framework for interdisciplinary research projects, the doctoral candidates themselves are responsible for organizing their own research and setting their own priorities. The Graduate School at HFT actively promotes a regular, structured exchange between doctoral candidates and regular status updates between main supervisors and doctoral candidates.

With the award of the right to award doctorates, HFT Stuttgart has launched its first graduate research training group on the topic of "Technologies for the sustainable, energy-efficient and resource-saving design of resilient living spaces" as part of the HIRE project.

Six doctoral candidates and one post-doctoral student (Dr. Svetlana Valger) are researching the following key questions:

1. How can digital tools support the design of high-quality, resource-saving, liveable and resilient public living spaces?

2. How can this question be researched and answered with interdisciplinary research approaches in such a way that added value is created for society?

The keyword "interdisciplinary" describes the character of this graduate research training group, which aims on the one hand to provide a strong individual research performance and on the other hand to ensure networking within different disciplines. The aim is to examine scientific issues from a variety of perspectives, which in turn can be a breeding ground for new ideas.

Collaboration is encouraged within the research group, e.g. through joint seminars or an annual summer school.

The research approach of the graduate research training group pursues the development of technologies for the "digital twin of the city".

The design of urban spaces as dynamically changing complex systems requires the development of digital tools and technologies. On the one hand, the focus is on the collection, processing and interpretation of large amounts of urban data and, on the other hand, the analysis and prediction of urban conditions such as noise and heat pollution derived from this data. Finally, the methods developed are intended to contribute to decision-making.

New methods for measuring the urban environment, such as spatial queries and streaming of 3D building models, green space analyses, as well as massive point clouds and sensor data will be used. Objective and subjective data can be collected using fixed or mobile sensors as well as models and forecasts. This approach is intended to enable predictions and correlations of climatic, acoustic or wind-related influencing factors. To this end, the six doctoral candidates from different disciplines are conducting joint research: from geoinformatics, computer science, acoustics and building physics to urban air currents, climate and biodiversity.

Enhancing Public Participation in Urban Planning through Augmented and Virtual Reality: A Focus on Visualizing Attribute Data

Interactive and informative presentation and visualization of data sets while maintaining a positive user experience.

Doctoral candidate: Muhammad Alfakhori

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Coors and Prof. Dr. Sedlmair

3D to 3D point cloud learning based alignment for outdoor Mixed Reality applications within the context of BIM and Digital Twins

Can mixed reality support the creation of digital twins in the process of communication between real and digital models? And not just be a means of visualization?

Doctoral candidate: Juan Sardi Barzallo

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Coors and Prof. Dr. Haala

Hybrid participation formats as a contribution to urban resilience

Recording the value of socio-ecological interventions for human quality of life; development of practical methods for incorporating these values into the design and use of public space.

Doctoral candidate: Amando Reber

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Simon-Philipp and Prof. Dr. Fischer

Simulation of urban climate and urban heat island processes

Development and evaluation of new methods for the numerical simulation of urban climate and urban heat island processes based on geodata and CAE technologies.

Doctoral candidate: Benjamin Hueber

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Simon-Philipp and Prof. Dr. Voss

New methods for recording urban greenery using high-resolution aerial images (including UAV) using RGB/multispectral sensors and 3D point clouds from aircraft laser scanning

Tree registers are often limited to the stock of public areas, but backyards and gardens are missing. The aim is to map all trees, hedges and green spaces in a city as completely and repeatedly as possible.

Doctoral candidate: Arpita Sinha

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Gülch and Prof. Dr. Sörgel

Understanding and Predicting Acoustic Perception in Urban Spaces - establishing an acoustic comfort index for a simple noise sensor system

In order to be able to plan urban spaces with the aim of achieving a high level of acoustic comfort for residents, a perception-based index is to be developed that goes beyond the existing physical parameters. By generating a large amount of data on the acoustic comfort of urban noise scenes (soundscapes), the noise sensors developed at the HfT can be upgraded with the help of AI to predict acoustic comfort.

Doctoral candidate: Michaela Marxt

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Zeitler

If you have any questions about the graduate research training group or scientific exchange, please contact the research coordinator, Dr. Svetlana Valger. If you are interested in a doctorate in the above-mentioned subject areas, please take a look at our job market or contact the Graduate School of the HFT Stuttgart. We currently have no vacancies in the Graduate Research Training Group.