Dr Kate Simpson is a Climate Change Lecturer (0.4FTE) here at MSA and a Research Associate at Imperial College London (0.5FTE). Kate’s work focuses on housing transitions, particularly post occupancy evaluation, peoples' experiences of energy and digital technology retrofits, design tools and evaluation toward net zero.

Kate holds a BSc in building surveying from Leeds Beckett University, an MRes and PhD in energy demand from Loughborough University. She has Associate Fellowship for the Higher Education Academy and is working toward Fellowship. Kate aims to meaningfully engage all levels through her work, from citizens to policy makers. Recently contributing to the LETI Climate Emergency Retrofit Guide and often collaborating with industry partners in her research and teaching.

Previously, Kate worked in research across academia and the charity sector, as a trainee building surveyor in housing maintenance and as a CAD technician. She co-developed the first HNC in construction in North Lincolnshire. Kate provides annual guest lectures, retrofit tours and urban walks for MSc students at Imperial College London and the University of Leeds. In addition, Kate has led and participated in many creative public engagement activities including museum exhibitions, busking and film making.

Research

Journal Articles

Murtagh, N., Owen, AM., Simpson, K., 2023. 'Engaging UK repair-maintain-improve practitioners in improved building performance', International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, 41 (1), pp. 11-24.

Simpson, K., Murtagh, N., Owen, A., 2021. 'Domestic retrofit: understanding capabilities of micro-enterprise building practitioners', Buildings and Cities, 2 (1), pp. 449-466.

Murtagh, N., Owen, AM., Simpson, K., 2021. 'What motivates building repair-maintenance practitioners to include or avoid energy efficiency measures? Evidence from three studies in the United Kingdom', Energy Research & Social Science, 73, pp. 101943-101943.

Simpson, K., Whyte, J., Childs, P., 2020. 'Data-centric innovation in retrofit: A bibliometric review of dwelling retrofit across North Western Europe', Energy and Buildings, 229, pp. 110474-110474.

Simpson, K., Janda, KB., Owen, A., 2020. 'Preparing 'middle actors' to deliver zero-carbon building transitions', Buildings and Cities, 1 (1), pp. 610-610.

Simpson, K., Owen, A., 2020. 'Reflections From Engaging a Network of Local Stakeholders in Discussing Training Needs for Sustainable Renovation', Frontiers in Built Environment, 6.

Iuorio, O., Wallace, A., Simpson, K., 2019. 'Prefabs in the North of England: Technological, Environmental and Social Innovations', Sustainability, 11 (14), pp. 3884-3884.

Conference Papers

Simpson, K., Cockbill, S., Childs, P., 2022. 'Home energy renovation: UK owner-occupied householder uncertainties, information and data needs', in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 1085 (1), pp. 012046-012046.

Simpson, K., Childs, P., Whyte, J., 2021. 'Sensitivity analysis of heating a typical UK dwelling and implications for retrofit design', in Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2042 (1), pp. 012148-012148.