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Professor Tim Dixon

  • Research Excellence Framework 2021 Impact Lead, School of the Built Environment
  • Research Programme Leader, Sustainability in the Built Environment (SustBE).

Areas of interest

Tim's research interests focus across built environment scales, but with a strong interdisciplinary element centred on the urban scale, sustainable development, and futures studies.

Over the course of more than 30 years in built environment research this has led to projects which have focused, for example, on technology impacts in real estate; economic and social benefits of urban regeneration; brownfield land regeneration; retrofitting the city (EPSRC Retrofit 2050); future city visions (Reading 2050).

Research centres and groups

University of Reading Urban Living Research Group

Research projects

Tim has worked on collaborative research projects with UK and overseas academics and practitioners, including the EPSRC programme of research into brownfield issues (SUBR:IM 2004-2007).

He has also worked on a range of funded sustainability-based research programmes, including European Investment Bank EIBURS (social sustainability and urban renewal), RICS Green Gauge project, and RICS Education Trust/Kajima Foundation ("A Comparative Study of UK-Japan Brownfields").

He also contributed to the evidence review for the Foresight Land Use Futures programme and was a former steering group member of Oxford University’s Martin School Future Cities programme.

Tim is currently working on a number of projects at city and community/building level, for example, Reading 2050, Building Research Establishment (BRE) Collaborative Award in Science and Engineering (CASE) studentship on urban design and value, and Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC).

He is also working in a consultancy role with a number of key players in the property sector to operationalise the measurement of social sustainability in property development and regeneration projects, building on the OISD's EIB work, which he developed and led. The EIB work led to the book, Urban Regeneration and Social Sustainability in which he was principal co-author. 

Since 2001 more than £2m in research income has been secured. These include the following projects:

  • Climate – KIC. ‘Smart and Sustainable Districts.’ Led by Institute for Sustainability. UoR year one budget (£23,605). PI - Dr Stefan Smith. CIs – Prof Janet Barlow (School of Meteorology), Prof Peter Clark (School of Meteorology), Prof Tim Dixon, Prof Sue Grimmond (School of Meteorology), Dr Michael Peters, Prof Li Shao, Dr Jacopo Torriti. Project period 1 January 2015 – 31 December 2015
  • Climate – KIC Innovation Pathway. €150,000 overall award value (UoR £23,321). Institute for Sustainability (lead partner), University of Reading, Valencia Institute of Buildings, Econitor. Prof. Tim Dixon.
  • BRE Trust. ‘Recognising mutual benefits of sustainable homes to all stakeholders.’ Award value £25,100. PI – Prof Martin Sexton. CIs - Prof Tim Dixon, Prof Peter Wyatt (REP). Project period 15 September 2014 – 14 August 2015.
  • RICS Education Trust (2011–12): 'Hotting Up?: An Analysis of Low Carbon and Energy Reduction Plans in UK Cities' – £6,975
  • EPSRC RETROFIT 2050 (Re-engineering the City) Programme (2010-2014) (with Cardiff, Salford and Cambridge Universities) - £350,000 in total grant of £2.4m
  • Kajima Foundation/RICS Trust (2009-10) - Brownfield Regeneration in UK and Japan - £16,900
  • RICS Green Gauge Research (Annual Survey: 2009-2011) – £26,750
  • IPF Occupier Demand for Sustainable Offices (2007-08) – £49,500
  • European Investment Bank (EIB) Social Sustainability and Urban Renewal (2006-2009) – £200,000
  • IPF EPBD Situation Review (2007) – £8,750
  • RICS Green Profession (2006/07) – £50,000
  • EPSRC SUBR:IM (2003–2006) Development Industry and Climate Change Projects – £110,000

He is also jointly supervising (with Dragana Nikolic) Rosalie Callway for a three and a half year BRE CASE studentship on "urban design and value", and this also links with ongoing work on social sustainability, partnering with Social Life (for example Countryside Properties and the Acton Gardens development).

Background

Tim Dixon is a Professor of Sustainable Futures in the Built Environment, with more than 30 years' experience of education, training and research in the built environment. He leads the Sustainability in the Built Environment network at the University of Reading.

He has co-led major UK research council projects on brownfield land and urban retrofit, and is currently working with local and regional partners to develop a "Reading 2050" smart and sustainable city vision, which is also connected with the UK BIS Future Cities Foresight Programme.

Recently he has worked on funded research projects on smart cities and big data; smart and sustainable districts; and social sustainability for housebuilders. Tim is a member of the Climate Change Berkshire Group, and was a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smart Cities and UK Stakeholders' Group on Smart Cities.

He is also a member of the editorial boards of four leading international real-estate journals; a member of the Advisory Board for Local Economy; a member of the review panel for Commonwealth Scholarship Commission; a member for the Villiers Park Educational Trust; and a member of the review panels of EPSRC and the RICS Research Paper Series.

He was also a member of the international scientific committee for the national "Visions and Pathways 2040 Australia" project on cities. He has written more than 100 papers and books about the built environment.

Academic qualifications

  • BA(Hons)
  • PhD
  • DipDistEd(AECS)
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  • Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Fellow (FRICS)
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).

Professional bodies/affiliations

  • Member, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smart Cities
  • Member, editorial boards of four leading international real-estate journals 
  • Member,Advisory Board for Local Economy 
  • Member, review panel for Commonwealth Scholarship Commission 
  • Mentor, Villiers Park Educational Trust Member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Peer Review Council 
  • Member, review panels of EPSRC and the Royal Insitution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Research Paper Series
  • Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  • Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS)
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).

 

Publications