Gen A Alumni Travel Grant 2023
Martín Mosteiro Romero Will Travel to Seoul
With the Gen A Alumni Travel Grant, Asia Society Switzerland continues its commitment to foster the Asia Competence of the next generation. The Travel Grant allows a selected Gen A Young Leader to deepen their knowledge of Asia-related issues and accomplish a project that is crucial for their professional and personal journey, and that will inform their future as a global decision-maker in Switzerland.
The Travel Grant offers a fixed sum of CHF 10'000 for a selected Young Leader to spend a longer time (6-12 weeks) to do research in Asia on a project of their choice. Application for the Gen A Alumni Travel Grant is open to the Gen A Alumni Community only: Applicants must have successfully completed the Gen A Young Leader Program.
Inaugural Recipient of the Gen A Alumni Travel Grant
Martín Mosteiro Romero is a Fellow of the Gen A 2020 cohort. He is an energy systems engineer and a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore. He holds PhD and MS degrees from ETH Zürich as well as a BS from Rutgers University.
He will travel to Seoul in the autumn of 2023.
Project Abstract
With a globally increasing urban population, the development of sustainable urban areas that support the needs of their dwellers is a pressing need worldwide. The widespread availability of open datasets in cities is transforming the way urban energy systems are planned, simulated and visualized. However, such datadriven initiatives often neglect the central role of urban dwellers, whose activities create the demand for energy and mobility in urban areas.
In this project, a cross-scale approach is pursued to better understand the effects of the reciprocal effects between building energy performance, the urban climate, and building occupants’ thermal comfort. On the one hand, urban datasets will be used to study the effects of urban form on a district’s energy and climate performance. On the other, subjective thermal comfort data from urban dwellers will be collected to better understand how the urban environment affects their choices and behaviors, and how these might in turn affect energy performance.
The project is to be carried out in a case study area in Seoul, South Korea, the highest-ranked Asian country on open data readiness, implementation and impact, and home to one of the most prominent smart city initiatives in Songdo. As a particularly tech-savvy society, South Korea is expected to provide excellent data collection and participant recruitment opportunities. The work carried out in Seoul will help develop methodologies for the convergence of district-scale and occupant-scale data in urban areas, which is at the forefront of open data and smart city initiatives worldwide.
About the Gen A Alumni Community
The Gen A Young Leaders Program has been launched by Asia Society Switzerland in 2020. After the completion of the Gen A Young Leadership program, many continue to be highly engaged in our alumni community, that we launched in 2022 to ensure a continued access to this growing and vibrant community of over 60 Young Leaders. Asia Society Switzerland is proud of this diverse and highly skilled community and is continuing to engage and support it.
Patron
Asia Society Switzerland is grateful to Investment Management Professionals (IMP AG) for supporting our cause in raising Asia Competence in Switzerland and through its contribution to the Gen A Alumni Travel Grant.
