Priya Rajagopalan

Professor Priyadarsini Rajagopalan

Director, Sustainable Building Innovation Lab ; Associate Dean (Research and Innovation)

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Contact details

DSC | School of Property, Construction and Project Management

Energy@RMIT

Email: priyadarsini.rajagopalan@rmit.edu.au

Phone: +61 39925 2293

Campus: Melbourne City

Programs

 MC209 - Master of Energy Efficient and Sustainable Buildings

More information

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Profile photo of Priya Rajagopalan smiling towards the camera against a solid white background

Contact details

DSC | School of Property, Construction and Project Management

Energy@RMIT

Email: priyadarsini.rajagopalan@rmit.edu.au

Phone: +61 39925 2293

Campus: Melbourne City

Programs

 MC209 - Master of Energy Efficient and Sustainable Buildings

More information

iD icon - ORCID

- Google Scholar

- LinkedIn

Priya is the Director of the Sustainable Building Innovation Lab (SBi Lab) and Associate Dean (Research and Innovation). She is a building scientist with extensive experience in energy and indoor environmental quality of buildings and urban climatology.

Overview

Priya strives to achieve an enriching nexus between research and teaching by transferring the knowledge to the students. With a very strong research background in practical and theoretical underpinnings of sustainable built environments, Priya is able to provide students with current knowledge and advanced tools in this area.

Priya's research interests span from sustainable building design, energy benchmarking and labelling, urban heat island, building performance simulation, indoor air quality, lighting and acoustics to citizen science in urban microclimate monitoring, mitigation and adaptation. As an internationally recognized expert in the field of building energy and indoor environmental performance and urban climatology, she has secured larges competitive grants, led multidisciplinary teams and developed new knowledge and innovative methods for climate change mitigation and adaptation which are adopted by the industry, communities and governments.

Priya teaches in the Master of Energy Efficient and Sustainable Building Programme which involves a unique blend of courses that focus on key principles and practice of designing and delivering environmentally sustainable buildings, infrastructure and developments, where she challenges and helps students to build skills in energy efficient and sustainable building design for navigating the complex and rapidly changing built environment.

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Industry experience

President, Architectural Science Association

Technical Committee Member- Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS)

Member, American Society for Heating, Refrigeration and Air conditioning (ASHRAE)

Member, International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA)

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Research

Priya’s research demonstrates track record of high-impact, industry-led, applied research in the fields of indoor environmental quality, climate science and energy efficiency. Her expertise lies at the interface between indoor air quality, building design and climate science. She has established cross disciplinary partnerships with government and not-for-profit organizations. The outcomes from her research have directly informed the building industry through the development of performance indicators, guidelines and assessment tools for complex building typologies. She has developed cost-effective methods of collecting high quality climate data at large spatial and temporal scales using citizen science approach. Such data enable policy makers to predict future health and energy needs and plan urban built environment and open spaces. 

She has also developed performance-based energy benchmarking and labelling system for many building typologies. The benchmark standards and guidelines developed for aquatic centres are adopted by the Aquatics and Recreation Victoria and used by architects, engineers and council sustainability managers to set energy efficiency targets in the design and construction of new buildings and operation of existing buildings. This has assisted local governments to manage energy consumption and system design through better informed day to day management of operations, as well as guiding environmental performance during the design of new or refurbished infrastructure. 

Research keywords

Building energy efficiency, Indoor environmental quality, Urban heat island, Citizen science, Indoor air quality, Lighting, Acoustics, Building performance simulation

Research output summary

100+

Publications

8

Grants

13

Awards

Web

Supervisor interest areas

  • Building energy benchmarking and rating
  • Urban microclimate and outdoor thermal comfort
  • Natural ventilation and airflow
  • Urban heat island
  • Indoor environmental performance of buildings
  • Lighting, Acoustics, thermal comfort

Supervisor projects

  • Impact of window typologies on the indoor environmental quality in high-rise social housing
  • Towards Net Zero energy Apartment Buildings
  • Evaluation of Microclimates and Thermal Perceptions in Urban Precincts
  • Spatial Development Pattern and Urban heat Island
  • An assessment method for energy performance benchmarking in Day Procedure centres in Australia
  • Energy performance of aquatic centres in Australia
  • Impact of Urban Development on the Microclimate and Pedestrian Thermal Comfort in Melbourne
  • Daylight guiding system in an office building

Feature publications

Year long monitoring of indoor air quality and ventilation in school classrooms in Victoria, Australia

Architectural Science Review, 65:1, 1-13

Rajagopalan, P. Andamon, M.M. Woo, J. (2022)

Feasibility of net zero energy high rise apartment buildings in Australia

Solar Energy, 231, 158-174

Rajagopalan, P. Alawode, A. (2022)

Improving the indoor air quality of residential buildings during bushfire smoke events

Climate, 9, 2

Rajagopalan, P. Goodman, N. (2021)

Key publications by year

Expand all sections

  • Rajagopalan, P. 2021, 'Urban Heat Island and Mitigation in Tropical India', in Urban Heat Island (UHI) Mitigation, Springer, Singapore, pp. 183-203 ISBN: 9789813340503
  • Rajagopalan, P., Andamon, M.M & Woon J (2021),Year long monitoring of indoor air quality and ventilation in school classrooms in Victoria, Australia, in Architectural Science Review.
  • Rajagopalan, P. and Goodman, N. 2021, 'Improving the Indoor Air Quality of Residential Buildings During Bushfire Smoke Events', in Climate, MDPIAG, Switzerland, vol. 9, no. 32, pp. 1-14 ISSN: 2225-1154
  • Woo, J. Rajagopalan, P. Francis, M. and Garnawat, P. 2021, 'An indoor environmental quality assessment of office spaces at an urban Australian university', in Building Research & Information, Taylor and Francis, United Kingdom, pp. 1-17 ISSN: 1466-4321.

  • Abidi, S. and Rajagopalan, P. 2020, 'Investigating Daylight in the Apartment Buildings in Melbourne, Australia', in Infrastructures, M D P I AG, Switzerland, pp. 1-13 ISSN: 2412-3811
  • Duverge, J. and Rajagopalan, P. 2020, 'Assessment of factors influencing the energy and water performance of aquatic centres', in Building Simulation, Tsinghua University Press, China, vol. 13, pp. 771-786 ISSN: 1996-8744
  • Rajagopalan, P. Andamon, M. and Paolini, R. 2020, 'Investigating thermal comfort and energy impact through microclimate monitoring- A Citizen Science approach', in Energy and Buildings, Elsevier, Netherlands, vol. 229, pp. 1-15 ISSN: 0378-7788.
  • Jara Baeza, F. Rajagopalan, P. and Andamon, M. 2020, 'Reviewing indoor environmental quality of high-rise social housing', in Proceedings of the 54th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA 2020), Architectural Science Association, Auckland, New Zealand, pp. 925-934.

  • Moore, T. Andamon, M. and Rajagopalan, P. 2019, 'Cohesion: Our Environment—Building Better and Smarter', in Energy Performance in the Australian Built Environment, Springer, Singapore, pp. 215-218 ISBN: 9789811078798
  • Rajagopalan, P. Moore, T. and Andamon, M. 2019, 'The Built Environment in Australia', in Energy Performance in the Australian Built Environment, Springer, Singapore, pp. 1-8 ISBN: 9789811078798
  • Rajagopalan, P. 2019, 'Recent advances in Passive Cooling Techniques', in Cooling energy solutions for buildings and cities, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., Singapore, pp. 205-241 ISBN: 9789813236967
  • Rajagopalan, P. 2019, 'Advances in Wind Tunnel and CFD Analysis for Building Design in Hot-Humid Climates', in Building in Hot and Humid Regions: Historical Perspective and Technological Advances, Springer, Singapore, pp. 151-164 ISBN: 9789811375187.
  • Jamei, E. and Rajagopalan, P. 2019, 'Effect of street design on pedestrian thermal comfort', in Architectural Science Review, Taylor & Francis, United Kingdom, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 92-111 ISSN: 0003-8628
  • Jamei, Y. Rajagopalan, P. and Sun, C. 2019, 'Spatial structure of surface urban heat island and its relationship with vegetation and built-up areas in Melbourne, Australia', in Science of the Total Environment, Elsevier BV, Netherlands, vol. 659, pp. 1335-1351 ISSN: 0048-9697
  • Jamei, Y. Rajagopalan, P. and Sun, Q. 2019, 'Time-series dataset on land surface temperature, vegetation, built up areas and other climatic factors in top 20 global cities (2000-2018)', in Data in Brief, Elsevier BV, Netherlands, vol. 23, pp. 1-4 ISSN: 2352-3409
  • Shooshtarian, S. and Rajagopalan, P. 2019, 'Perception of Wind in Open Spaces', in Climate, M D P I AG, Switzerland, vol. 7, no. 9, pp. 1-17 ISSN: 2225-1154.
  • Andamon, M. Rajagopalan, P. Woo, J. and Huang, R. 2019, 'An investigation of indoor air quality in school classrooms in Victoria, Australia', in Proceedings of the 53rd International Conference of the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA), Avlokita Agrawal and Rajat Gupta (ed.), Architectural Science Association, Roorkee, India, pp. 497-506.

  • Alawode, A. and Rajagopalan, P. 2018, 'The Way Forward-Moving Toward Net Zero Energy Standards', in Energy Performance in the Australian Built Environment, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd, Singapore, pp. 199-214 ISBN: 9789811078798
  • Rajagopalan, P. 2018, 'Environmental Rating Systems for Non-Residential Buildings-How Does Australia Compare with International Best Practice?', in Energy Performance in the Australian Built Environment, Springer, Singapore, pp. 61-74 ISBN: 9789811078798
  • Rajagopalan, P. 2018, 'A Guide for Evaluating the Performance of Indoor Aquatic Centres', in Energy Performance in the Australian Built Environment, Springer, Singapore, pp. 149-166 ISBN: 9789811078798
  • Duverge, J. Rajagopalan, P. Fuller, R. and Woo, J. 2018, 'Energy and water benchmarks for aquatic centres in Victoria, Australia', in Energy and Buildings, Elsevier BV, Netherlands, vol. 177, pp. 246-256 ISSN: 0378-7788
  • Shooshtarian, S. and Rajagopalan, P. 2018, 'Daytime thermal performance of different urban surfaces: a case study in educational institution precinct of Melbourne', in Architectural Science Review, Taylor and Francis, United Kingdom, vol. 61, no. 1-2, pp. 29-47 ISSN: 0003-8628
  • Shooshtarian, S. Rajagopalan, P. and Sagoo, A. 2018, 'A comprehensive review of thermal adaptive strategies in outdoor spaces', in Sustainable Cities and Society, Elsevier, Netherlands, vol. 41, pp. 647-665 ISSN: 2210-6707
  • Shooshtarian, S. Rajagopalan, P. and Wakefield, R. 2018, 'Effect of seasonal changes on usage patterns and behaviours in educational precinct in Melbourne', in Urban Climate, Elsevier, Netherlands, vol. 26, pp. 133-148 ISSN: 2212-0955
  • Alawode, A. and Rajagopalan, P. 2018, 'A methodology towards achieving Net zero energy performance for high-rise residential buildings in Australia', in Proceedings of the 52nd International Conference of the Architectural Science Association 2018, Architectural Science Association, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 1-10
  • Duverge, J. Rajagopalan, P. and Woo, J. 2018, 'Calibrating the energy simulation model of an aquatic centre', in Proceedings of the 52nd International Conference of the Architectural Science Association 2018, Architectural Science Association, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 1-8
  • Rajagopalan, P. Andamon, M. Paolini, R. and Santamouris, M. 2018, 'Developing Experimental Protocol for collecting large scale urban microclimate data through community participation', in Proceedings of the 52nd International Conference of the Architectural Science Association 2018, 28 November-1 December 2018, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia., Architectural Science Association, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 561-568
  • Baker, E. Zillante, G. Daniel, L. et al, A. and . 2018, 'The Australian housing condition dataset - technical report', Australian Research Council, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.

  • Ahmed, T. Rajagopalan, P. and Fuller, R. 2017, 'Experimental validation of an energy model of a day surgery/procedure centre in Victoria', in Journal of Building Engineering, Elsevier, United Kingdom, vol. 10, pp. 1-12 ISSN: 2352-7102
  • Duverge, J. Rajagopalan, P. and Fuller, R. 2017, 'Defining aquatic centres for energy and water benchmarking purposes', in Sustainable Cities and Society, Elsevier, Netherlands, vol. 31, pp. 51-61 ISSN: 2210-6707
  • Fuller, R. Rajagopalan, P. and Duverge, J. 2017, 'Assessment and modelling of the viability of a solar heating system for aquatic centres in southern Australia', in Energy Efficiency, Springer, Netherlands, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 1269-1278 ISSN: 1570-6478
  • Jamei, E. and Rajagopalan, P. 2017, 'Urban development and pedestrian thermal comfort in Melbourne', in Solar Energy, Elsevier, United Kingdom, vol. 144, pp. 681-698 ISSN: 0038-092X
  • Jamei, E. Ossen, D. and Rajagopalan, P. 2017, 'Investigating the effect of urban configurations on the variation of air temperature', in International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment, Elsevier BV, Netherlands, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 389-399 ISSN: 2212-6090
  • Rajagopalan, P. Hoang, T. and Carre, A. 2017, 'Acoustic performance of contemporary public libraries: an evaluation of public libraries in Melbourne, Australia', in Architectural Science Review, Taylor and Francis, United Kingdom, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 104-115 ISSN: 1758-9622
  • Roetzel, A. Fuller, R. and Rajagopalan, P. 2017, 'Integral sustainable design - reflections on the theory and practice from a case study', in Sustainable Cities and Soceity, Elsevier BV, Netherlands, vol. 28, pp. 225-232 ISSN: 2210-6707
  • Shooshtarian, S. and Rajagopalan, P. 2017, 'Study of thermal satisfaction in an Australian education precinct', in Building and Environment, Elsevier, United Kingdom, vol. 123, pp. 119-132 ISSN: 0360-1323
  • Rajagopalan, P. Santamouris, M. and Andamon, M. 2017, 'Public engagement in urban microclimate research - An overview of a citizen science project', in Proceedings of the 51st International Conference of Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA 2017), Marc Aurel Schnabel (ed.), Architectural Science Association, Wellington, New Zealand, pp. 703-712 (51st International conference of Architectural Science Association)
  • Shooshtarian, S. Sagoo, A. and Rajagopalan, P. 2017, 'Seasonal usage pattern of outdoor spaces in eduaction precints', in Proceedings of the 41st Australasian Universities Building Education Association Conference (AUBEA 2017), RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 1-10
  • Woo, J. and Rajagopalan, P. 2017, 'Soundscapes in Public Libraries - A case study', in Back to the future: The next 50 years, M. A. Schnabel (ed.), The Architectural Science Association and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, pp. 685-694.

  • Jamei, E. Rajagopalan, P. Seyedmahmoudian, M. and Jamei, Y. 2016, 'Review on the impact of urban geometry and pedestrian level greening on outdoor thermal comfort', in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, United Kingdom, vol. 54, pp. 1002-1017 ISSN: 1364-0321
  • Fuller, R. Rajagopalan, P. and Duverge, J. 2016, 'Convincing aquatic centres in Victoria to use solar energy for pool heating', in Proceedings of the Asia-Pacific Solar Research Conference 2016, Australian PV Institute, Australia, pp. 1-10
  • Jamei, E. and Rajagopalan, P. 2016, 'Urban planning and pedestrian thermal comfort- A study of growing Melbourne city', in Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Countering Urban Heat Island (UHI) and Climate Change Through Mitigation And Adaptation (4th IC2UHI), National University of Singapore, Singapore, pp. 1-10
  • Mills, A. Abbasi, N. McLaughlin, P. Georgiadis, S. Lozanovska, M. Rajagopalan, P. and Nalewaik, A. 2016, 'Understanding global student mobility: exploring new ways of capturing international experiences using in-county overseas students', in Proceedings of the 40th Australasian Universities Building Education Association Annual Conference (AUBEA) 2016, Natee Singhaputtangkul (ed.), Central Queensland University, North Rockhampton, Australia, pp. 343-352
  • Rajagopalan, P. Wong, J. and Andamon, M. 2016, 'Building performance simulation in the built environment education: Experience from teaching two disciplines', in 50th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association 2016, School of Architecture and Built Environment, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, Australia, pp. 359-368
  • Roetzel, A. Fuller, R. and Rajagopalan, P. 2016, 'Visual mapping of the Integral Sustainable Design approach', in Proceedings of the 50th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA 2016), J. Zuo, L. Daniel, V. Soebarto (ed.), School of Architecture and Built Environment, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, Adelaide, Australia, pp. 11-20
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Feature projects

Enhanced Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) for Improving the Wellbeing of Vulnerable Population in Victoria

Funding: Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning: Climate Change Innovation Grants 2017

2018 - 2020

Scientists work with communities to improve urban microclimate

Funding - Department of Industry, Innovation and Science - Citizen Science Grants

2017 - 2021

Key projects by year

Expand all sections

  • Healthy Environments and Lives (HEAL) - National Research Network on Human Health and Environmental Change (administered by Australian National University). Funded by: NHMRC (2022 to 2027)
  • Enhancing Home Thermal Efficiency, Theme H2 Opportunity Assessment, RACE for 2030 CRC (2022-2023)

  • Impact of window typologies on the indoor environmental quality in high-rise social housing: Australian Housing & Urban Research Institute (AHURI) -top up Scholarship (2021 to 2024)

  • Pre Occupancy Evaluation of OurPlace@RMIT QV, (2019)

  • Resource efficient future cities, environment and health, Rutherford Fund Strategic Partnership Grant, The Universities UK International  (2018‐2019)

  • An Australian Housing Condition Data Infrastructure, ARC Linkage Infrastructure and Equipment Scheme (2016)

  • Aquatic and Recreation Victoria- Benchmarking Energy and indoor environmental quality of aquatic centres in Victoria (2014-2015)
  • Cardinia Council, Developing energy efficiency plans (2014)

  • Tools for environmental & air infiltration analysis of public buildings (2010)
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Awards

National University of Singapore Research Scholarship Award

Recipients: Priyadarsani Rajagopalan

Grants

  • Healthy Environments and Lives (HEAL) – National Research Network on Human Health and Environmental Change, NHMRC Special Initiative in Human Health and Environmental Change (2022 to 2027).
  • An Australian Housing Condition Data Infrastructure - Administered by The University of Adelaide. Funded by: ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) 2016.
Web

Public and media engagements

2021

2019

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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aboriginal flag
torres strait flag

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.

More information