President’s message
President’s message Dear IBPSA Colleagues and Friends
The International Building Performance Simulation Association exists to advance and promote the science of building performance simulation in order to improve the design, construction, operation and maintenance of new and existing buildings worldwide.
President Lori McElroy University of Strathclyde, UK lori.mcelroy@strath.ac.uk Vice-President Drury Crawley Bentley Systems Dru.Crawley@bentley.com Secretary & Director at Large Pieter De Wilde Plymouth University, UK pieter.dewilde@plymouth.ac.uk Treasurer Wangda Zuo University of Colorado, USA Wangda.Zuo@colorado.edu Directors-at-Large: Clarice Bleil de Souza bleildesouzac@cardiff.ac.uk Carrie Brown carrie@resourcerefocus.com Andrea Gasparella andrea.gasparella@unibz.it Matthias Haase mathaase@gmail.com Christina Hopfe C.J.Hopfe@tugraz.at Danielle Monfet Danielle.Monfet@etsmtl.ca Immediate Past President & Director-at-Large Charles “Chip” Barnaby chipbarnaby@gmail.com
ibpsaNEWS
As we move into the autumn season, it would appear that there is a little more certainty around the pandemic and although, with so many remaining unvaccinated, I would hesitate to say that we are getting things under control, they do seem calmer. For those who attended the Building Simulation Conference BS2021 in Bruges – in presence or on line – I think that we can all agree that it was a great success and a triumph of determination over uncertainty. We were delighted that the Board was able to support the Organising Committee in making it possible for absent authors to present their work in an online track at the conference. The whole thing was immensely challenging to deliver, and I am extremely grateful to all the Board members who volunteered to chair the online sessions. By doing this, they not only made the conference as inclusive as we could under the circumstances, but gave us the opportunity to test new ideas for the future. One thing I would like us to take forward is the need to strike a balance between having a large-scale event every two years and making it possible for everyone to attend. This is something we will look into for future conferences. Daily reports from people on site in Bruges confirmed that the conference was well received and that combining live, online and live streaming worked well. The surprise inclusion of screens around the venue showing the online tracks – which people could join via Zoom - and also the provision of spaces where all activities, live streamed and online, were available in one space, was welcomed. This also gave an added sense of safety to those who were less comfortable sitting close to others in a conference room. So, thank you to IBPSA NVL - in particular to Lieve Helsen, Wim Boydens, and Wim Plokker - and the wider Organising Committee, for all their hard work and for agreeing to work with us on the online elements. Thanks also to the Conference Committee led by Paul Strachan for their coordinating efforts, the IBPSA Board and the joint sub-committee of the Board and OC without whom the online tracks would not have happened. Success relied on everyone pulling in the same direction – but I would like to give a special mention to Andrea Gasparella and Veronica Soebarto who managed the technical, organisational and communication aspects of the online zoom sessions, and the members of the IBPSA Board who volunteered to Chair the online sessions. We couldn’t have done any of this without the technical team in Bolzano and I have already written to everyone to thank them on our behalf.
volume 31 number 2
