Teaching and Supervision

Undergraduate Course: Principles of Environmental Design, University of Cambridge, Feb 2026

Postgraduate Course: Urban Physics, ETH Zürich, Nov 2025

Supervisor, Undergraduate: Mathematics and Programming I, University of Cambridge, 2024-2025

Co-Supervisor of Postgraduate Student, University of Cambridge, 2023

Publications

(Working paper) Li, H., Carmeliet, J., and Bardhan, R. Global-scale nature-based and nature-inspired cooling for urban heat adaptation. (2026)

(Working paper) Li, H., Carmeliet, J., and Bardhan, R. A nature-inspired evaporative shading approach for urban microclimate regulation: design thinking-informed experiments and CFD-HAM modelling. (2026)

(Working paper) Li, H., Sen Sharma, K., Tiwari, A., Kapoor, R., Prabhu, J., Debnath, R., Bardhan, R. Co-creating retrofit-led interventions provide gender-specific heatwave adaptation in vulnerable communities. (2026)

[1] Li, H., Raman, H., Abong, B., Bange, T., Zhao, Y., Brayne, C., Bardhan, R. (2025). Mosquito prevention strategies can improve indoor heat stress in hot climates: A case of traditional Kenyan homes. Environmental Research: Health, 3, 035004. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2752-5309/adedab

[2] Li, H., Zhao, Y., Wang, C., Ürge-Vorsatz, D., Carmeliet, J., & Bardhan, R. (2024). Cooling efficacy of trees across cities is determined by background climate, urban morphology, and tree trait. Communications Earth & Environment, 5(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01908-4

[3] Li, H., Bardhan, R., & Debnath, R. (2024). Heatwave interventions must reduce invisible gendered challenges in the Global South. PLOS Global Public Health, 4(10), e0003625. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0003625

[4] Alexandrou, G., Mouzourides, P., Li, H., Zhao, Y., Carmeliet, J., & Neophytou, M. K. A. (2024). Impact of trees with varying size on street canyon flow under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions using water channel PIV measurements. Urban Climate, 58, 102188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2024.102188

[5] Zhao, Y., Li, H., Kubilay, A., Bardhan, R., Derome, D., & Carmeliet, J. (2024). Lesser-known facts about tree-centric heat mitigation. International Association of Building Physics. Multiphysics and Multiscale Building Physics. IABP 2024, vol 553. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8309-0_46

[6] Li, H., Zhao, Y., Bardhan, R., Chan, P. W., Derome, D., Luo, Z., Ürge-Vorsatz, D., & Carmeliet, J. (2023). Relating three-decade surge in space cooling demand to urban warming. Environmental Research Letters, 18(12), 124033. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad0a56

[7] Zhao, Y., Li, H., Bardhan, R., Kubilay, A., Li, Q., & Carmeliet, J. (2023). The time-evolving impact of tree size on nighttime street canyon microclimate: Wind tunnel modeling of aerodynamic effects and heat removal. Urban Climate, 49, 101528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101528

[8] Li, H., Zhao, Y., Bardhan, R., Kubilay, A., Derome, D., & Carmeliet, J. (2023). Time-evolving impact of trees on street canyon microclimate. Journal of Physics, Vol. 2654, No. 1, p. 012145. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2654/1/012145

[9] Li, H., Zhao, Y., Sützl, B., Kubilay, A., & Carmeliet, J. (2022). Impact of green walls on ventilation and heat removal from street canyons: Coupling of thermal and aerodynamic resistance. Building and Environment, 108945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.108945

[10] Li, H., Zhao, Y., Liu, J., & Carmeliet, J. (2021). Physics-based stitching of multi-FOV PIV measurements for urban wind fields. Building and Environment, 108306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108306

[11] Zhao, Y., Li, H., Kubilay, A., & Carmeliet, J. (2021). Buoyancy effects on the flows around flat and steep street canyons in simplified urban settings subject to a neutral approaching boundary layer: Wind tunnel PIV measurements. Science of The Total Environment, 149067. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149067 

Conference Presentations

[1] Insights into tree-centric urban cooling: A global meta-analysis of 182 studies across 17 climate zones. 12th International Conference on Urban Climate, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 7–11 Jul 2025,

[2] (Invited talk) Heat, health, and inequality: overheating challenges and climate solutions in the global south. Domestic overheating: What now? Why now? College of Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK, 1 Jul 2025.

[3] (Best presentation award) Nature-based solutions and nature-inspired solutions for urban heat mitigation. Architecture PhD Conference 2024-2025, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, 14 Nov 2024.

[4] Addressing climate change impacts and vector-borne diseases through architectural design: a case study in Kenya. Beating the Heat Conference 2023, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland, 15 Sep 2023.

[5] Wind tunnel modeling of buoyant flow in street canyons of different building heights, with trees and vegetated facades. 11th International Conference on Urban Climate, Sydney, Australia, 28 Aug -1 Sep 2023.

[6] Indoor heat stress mitigation in low-income Kenyan homes with mosquito prevention intervention. Cambridge Infectious Diseases Annual Symposium 2023, University of Cambridge, Queens’ College, Cambridge, UK, 4 Apr 2023.

[7] Effect of fire on the drying process of soils. The 6th Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference, Sydney, Australia, 29 April - 3 May 2019.