The research team

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Ornella Iuorio is Professor and Chair of Architecture and Structures, School of Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds. She is expert in development of sustainable and resilient construction systems. Professor Iuorio holds a portfolio of projects of >£6M. In particular, She is PI for the NOVA-VIDA project: Novel approach for vital infrastructure post-disaster, Financed by British Academy, and PI for the Ilke Homes KTP aiming at developing lightweight modular structural systems. Before joining Leeds, she developed her carrier at MIT where she was recipient of the prestigious MIT-SUTD fellowship in “Smart retrofit of resilient Historical Cities”.

Michael Janoschka is a Human Geographer, with a strong expertise on territorial conflicts, inequality and exclusion in Latin American cities, especially in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico. Since autumn 2019, he has been teaching and researching at the Institute of Geography, University of Leipzig. Michael is the scientific coordinator of the interdisciplinary research network CONTESTED_TERRITORIES, funded by the European Commission, and Co-I of the NOVA_VIDA research project.

Susan Bernal is Professor of Structural Materials  and Director of the Materials and Structures Group (>50 members) in the School of Civil Engineering at University of Leeds. She holds a 5-year EPSRC Early Career Fellowship centred in engineering sustainable concretes, and determining interactions between concrete and environment.

Richard Romano is Chair in Driving Simulation at the University of Leeds. His key research interests are: Using virtual reality to design and test systems and infrastructure, real-time multi-body and ground vehicle dynamics, , rapid development of geospecific databases, ambient traffic models for driving simulators, autonomous vehicles, real-time software design, and simulator sickness. Before joining ITS Richard was the founder and President at Realtime Technologies. Richard has a PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University of Iowa.

Giulia Testori is Research Fellow in Critical Urban Studies at University of Leeds on the NOVA_VIDA research project. She holds a PhD in Urbanism and in Architecture from IUAV University of Venice and KU Leuven University. Her PhD thesis investigated the spatial implications of urban cooperative dynamics and self-management in Quito, Ecuador. Giulia worked as Urban Technical Consultant at UN-Habitat Mexico and Cuba.  

Alejandra Bonilla is geographer and holds a Master in Urban Studies of Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO). She is researcher at FLACSO University, Ecuador. Her research focuses on the themes: rent gap, land market, socio-spatial differentiation, real estate market and peripheries.

Mirko Russo is Research Fellow in Design and Virtual Reality at University of Leeds on the NOVA_VIDA research project. He holds a MArch (hons) in Architectural Design (2013) and a PhD in Architecture (2018) both from the University of Naples Federico II. In 2016 and 2017 he was Visiting Researcher at the University of Rosario, Argentina. In the academic year 2018/2019, Mirko was Adjunct Professor at the University of Naples Federico II in the course of Architectural Design-I of the Bachelor Degree.