The Queensland University of Technology has launched the ARC Training Centre for Advanced Building Systems against Airborne Infection Transmission (Thrive).
The $5 million training centre is working to design and develop a building system that reduces indoor airborne infection transmission by improving indoor air quality while maintaining comfort and energy efficiency.
Heading up the centre is QUT professor Lidia Morawska who is recognised as one of the world’s foremost authorities in atmospheric, aerosol and exposure science in the context of building infection transmission.
“Every drop of water we drink and every piece of food we put in our mouth is highly regulated – yet the indoor air, which we take into our lungs 12 times a minute, is not regulated at all,” Morawska said.
“I firmly believe the centre will be a catalyst for revolution and bring us closer to clean indoor air becoming the norm.
“This work has the potential to touch billions of lives in the next decade by enhancing safety from airborne transmission of infections in indoor spaces.”
While complex buildings normally have a building management or automation system that may use integrated sensors, Morawska said these systems are not yet sufficiently advanced to support clean indoor air.
She said the purpose of Thrive will be to bring together a body of interdisciplinary academic and industry experts to advance the design of a sophisticated system that can future-proof built environments from potential epidemics.
“You can think of that system as a brain within a building that supports its operation, and a network of nerves and sensors that provide information and allow control of its operation to ensure clean indoor air with minimal energy consumption,” Morawska said.
Thrive will also work towards building improved technologies, quantitative methods for building control, evidence for policymaking and recommendations for operational guidelines.