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Andrei Hodorog BSc, PhD

Andrei Hodorog

(he/him)

BSc, PhD

cymraeg
Welsh speaking

Teams and roles for Andrei Hodorog

Overview

Dr Andrei Hodorog is a Lecturer at Cardiff University's School of Engineering. He drives innovation at the intersection of computer science and built environment applications, developing integrated solutions for BIM, digital twins, and sustainable construction. His research at Cardiff University combines advanced computational techniques with domain-specific applications to address critical challenges in building performance, energy efficiency, and user experience.

His academic background shows a progressive specialisation in computer science applications for the built environment. After earning his BSc in Computer Science with Security and Forensics (First-class Honours) from Cardiff University in 2018, he completed his PhD in 2023 with a thesis titled:

The Role of Semantics in Enhancing User Experience in Building and City Web Applications

Dr. Hodorog's research expertise spans multiple domains, positioning him uniquely at the intersection of computer science and engineering. His core competencies include:

  • Social media mining and text analytics for extracting knowledge about BIM practices, skills, and requirements;

  • Machine learning and natural language processing for smart city applications and event detection;

  • Neural network-based predictive control systems for building energy management;

  • User experience design for built-environment web applications;

  • Semantic approaches to enhancing digital representations of buildings and cities.

His professional activities extend beyond academic research, including organising roles at the ICE IEEE Conference (2020-2021) and the 19th IFIP/SOCOLNET Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises (2018). 

Dr Hodorog's research significantly contributes to several emerging digital construction and sustainable engineering areas. His work is notable for its interdisciplinary approach, combining computer science methods with built environment applications.

One of Dr Hodorog's most substantial contributions is developing novel approaches to extracting and analysing BIM-related knowledge from social media and other digital sources. His 2021 paper "Building Information Modelling Knowledge Harvesting for Energy Efficiency in the Construction Industry" introduced innovative text-mining methods to analyse social media alongside secondary sources, establishing correlations between BIM roles and skills for energy efficiency applications.

This work addresses a critical industry challenge: identifying evolving skill requirements for BIM implementation, particularly for energy efficiency applications. By creating a semantic web-based mining environment, Dr Hodorog's research provides practical tools for understanding the dynamic nature of BIM adoption and its workforce implications.

Dr. Hodorog's work on neural network-based predictive control systems represents another key contribution, particularly in optimising building performance. His co-authored 2022 paper in Applied Energy demonstrated a model predictive control system that achieved up to 46% energy reduction while maintaining thermal comfort and indoor air quality in sports facilities.

This research directly connects to the growing field of digital twins for building management, demonstrating how advanced computational methods can optimise real-world building performance. The work was conducted as part of the SPORTE3.Q project, a collaboration between Cardiff University and Qatar University funded by the Qatar National Research Fund, which aimed to address the energy and water nexus in stadiums and sports facilities.

Building on his earlier work in social media analysis, Hodorog has pioneered applications of natural language processing and machine learning for smart city contexts. His 2022 paper "Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing of Social Media Data for Event Detection in Smart Cities" demonstrated how social media data analysis can inform urban decision-making through real-time automated event detection.

This research connects to broader smart city initiatives and shows how digital tools can enhance urban sustainability through improved information flow and decision support.

Publication

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

  • Hodorog, A., Alhamami, A. H. S., Petri, I., Rezgui, Y., Kubicki, S. and Guerriro, A. 2019. Social media mining for BIM skills and roles for energy efficiency. Presented at: 2019 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC), Valbonne Sophia-Antipolis, France, 17-19 June 2019Conference Proceedings ICE/IEEE ITMC 2019: Co-creating our Future: Scaling-up Innovation Capacities through the Design and Engineering of Immersive, Collaborative, Empathic and Cognitive Systems. IEEE pp. 1-10., (10.1109/ICE.2019.8792571)

2017

2015

Articles

Conferences

Thesis

Research

Dr Hodorog's publication record demonstrates both productivity and impact across several domains. His most notable publications include:

  1. Building Information Modelling Knowledge Harvesting for Energy Efficiency in the Construction Industry (2021) - Explores how BIM adoption impacts construction industry roles and skills using a novel text-mining approach.

  2. Machine learning and Natural Language Processing of social media data for event detection in smart cities (2022) - Applies NLP techniques to social media data for real-time event detection in urban environments.

  3. Neural network-based model predictive control system for optimising building automation and management systems of sports facilities (2022) - Presents an MPC system for HVAC optimisation that achieved substantial energy reductions.

  4. Blockchain for energy efficiency training in the construction industry (2024) - Examines blockchain applications for energy efficiency training, addressing educational approaches in construction.

 

His research has evolved from early work on social media analysis (2015-2017) toward specialised applications in the built environment (2019-2024), showing a clear trajectory of increasing domain specialisation and impact.

Dr. Hodorog has contributed to several significant research projects, including (but not limited to):

SPORTE3.Q Project - Addressing energy and water optimisation in sports facilities through smart performance management solutions, with implementations at stadiums in Qatar ( https://www.sporte3q.com )

CUSP (Computational Urban Sustainability Platform) - Development of a computational platform for urban sustainability ( https://www.cuspplatform.com )

BIMEET/INSTRUCT - Training and education projects focused on BIM implementation for energy efficiency ( https://www.energy-education.com )

Dr Hodorog's research positions him at the nexus of three rapidly evolving fields:

  • Building Information Modelling;

  • digital twins;

  • sustainable construction.

His work gains significance when viewed within the current research landscape:

Evolution beyond traditional BIM

As BIM has evolved beyond its origins as a 3D modelling tool to become a comprehensive methodology spanning the entire building lifecycle, Hodorog's work on semantic approaches and knowledge harvesting addresses the growing need for interoperability, data integration, and extended BIM capabilities. 

His research helps bridge technical challenges identified as barriers to BIM implementation, including data management complexities and standardisation issues.

Digital twin technology represents the next evolutionary step beyond BIM, enabling real-time monitoring, analysis, and optimisation of built assets. Hodorog's work on neural network-based predictive control systems contributes directly to this emerging field, aligning with what researchers have identified as key research frontiers: semantic digital twins, lifecycle digital twins, and human-building interaction.

His PhD thesis on "The role of semantics in enhancing user experience in building and city web applications" connects exceptionally well with the growing focus on semantic digital twins that understand relationships between building components, systems, and their functions.

The construction sector faces urgent sustainability challenges, with research increasingly focused on carbon reduction, resource efficiency, and performance optimisation. Hodorog's energy management and optimisation work contributes practical approaches to these challenges, mainly through his involvement with the BRE Trust Centre for Sustainable Engineering.

His research exemplifies the intersection of digital technologies with sustainable construction goals – a convergence identified as one of the most promising areas of current research. Through applications in energy performance optimisation and building management, his work demonstrates how computational approaches can deliver measurable sustainability improvements.

Future research directions and potential impact

Based on the trajectory of his research and current field trends, Hodorog is well-positioned to make continued contributions in several promising directions:

  1. Semantic interoperability for BIM and digital twins, building on his expertise in semantic web technologies and user experience design;

  2. AI-enhanced digital twins that leverage his experience with neural networks and predictive control for building optimisation;

  3. Human-centred approaches to digital construction technologies, connecting his user experience background with built environment applications;

  4. Blockchain applications for construction, expanding on his recent work examining blockchain for training and education

The UK research landscape offers substantial opportunities for these directions, with significant funding available through UK and EU initiatives supporting digital transformation in construction. Cardiff University's BRE Trust Centre for Sustainable Engineering provides an institutional framework that aligns well with Hodorog's research focus.

Andrei Hodorog's research represents a valuable contribution to the construction industry's digital transformation, bringing advanced computational methods to bear on pressing challenges in sustainability and building performance. His interdisciplinary approach, combining computer science expertise with domain-specific applications in construction engineering, positions him uniquely within the research landscape.

By developing practical solutions at the intersection of BIM, digital twins, and sustainable construction, Hodorog's work exemplifies the growing convergence of these fields. As digital technologies continue to reshape construction practices, research that bridges technical innovation with practical applications becomes increasingly vital – making Hodorog's contributions both timely and significant.

 

Journal papers published

Blockchain for energy efficiency training in the construction industry

October 2022 - Education and Information Technologies, Volume 29, pages 323–349

This article provides a case study that highlights the successful use of computer technology to provide digital solutions to advance energy education and promote more informed energy practices in the construction industry. The use of digital technologies can improve collaborative efforts in energy efficiency training, which is of critical importance in ensuring the security, sovereignty, transparency, immutability, and decentralisation of interventions related to energy education. This paper presents a framework that uses blockchain technology to facilitate training labelling and authenticity based on smart contracts and mobile passports to provide a secure and efficient solution for the delivery of training and education in the energy domain.

Research paper link: doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-12261-y

 

Machine learning and Natural Language Processing of social media data for event detection in smart cities

October 2022 - Sustainable Cities and Society Journal, Volume 85, pages 104-126

The manuscript strives to leverage the power of Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques applied to Twitter messages using supervised learning to achieve real-time automated event detection in smart cities. A semantic-based taxonomy of risks is devised to discover and analyse associated events from data streams, with a view to (i) read and process, in real-time, published texts, (ii) classify each text into one representative real-world category, (iii) assign a citizen satisfaction value to each event.

Research paper link: doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2022.104026

 

Neural network-based model predictive control system based on neural networks to optimise the automation and management systems of sports facilities buildings

July 2022 - Applied Energy Journal, Volume 318, pages 119-153

A predictive control (MPC) management and optimisation system based on neural networks (NN) is proposed for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system of a sports hall in the sports and events complex of Qatar University (QU). The proposed approach provides an integrated dynamic optimisation method that accounts for future system behaviour in the decision-making process, consisting of a prediction element and an optimiser.

Research paper link: doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.119153

 

Building information modelling knowledge harvesting for energy efficiency in the Construction industry

November 2020 - Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy Journal, Edition 23, pages 1215-1231

This paper adopts a novel text-mining approach which analyses social media alongside secondary sources of evidence to establish a level of correlation between BIM roles and skills. The use of ontological dependency analysis has helped to understand the degree of correlation of skills with roles as a method to inform training and educational programmes. A key outcome from the research is a semantic web-based mining environment which determines BIM roles and skills, as well as their correlation factor, with an application for energy efficiency.

Research paper link: doi.org/10.1007/s10098-020-02000-z

 

Multi-class machine classification of suicide-related communication on Twitter

August 2017 - Online Social Networks and Media, Edition 2, pages 32-44

In this paper, we report the results of a number of machine classifiers built with the aim of classifying text relating to suicide on Twitter. The classifier distinguishes between the more worrying content, such as suicidal ideation, and other suicide-related topics, such as reporting suicide, memorial, campaigning and support. It also aims to identify flippant references to suicide. We built a set of baseline classifiers using lexical, structural, emotive, and psychological features extracted from Twitter posts.

Research paper link: doi.org/10.1016/j.osnem.2017.08.001

 

Analysing the connectivity and communication of suicidal users on Twitter

July 2015 - Computer Communications Journal, Edition 73(B), pages 291-300

In this paper, we aim to understand the connectivity and communication characteristics of Twitter users who post content subsequently classified by human annotators as containing possible suicidal intent or thinking, commonly referred to as suicidal ideation. We achieve this understanding by analysing the characteristics of their social networks. Starting from a set of human-annotated Tweets, we retrieved the authors' followers and friends lists and identified users who retweeted the suicidal content.

Research paper link: doi.org/10.1016/j.comcom.2015.07.018

 

Neural Network-based Predictive Control System for Energy Optimisation in Sports Facilities: A Case Study

October 2021 - Presented at the 38th CIB W78 Conference on Information and Communication Technologies, Luxembourg

In this manuscript, the theory of model predictive control (MPC) is combined with neural networks for temperature setpoint selection to achieve energy and performance optimisation of sports facilities. It is demonstrated using the building information model (BIM) of a sports hall in the sports complex of Qatar University. The proposed approach was able to achieve a total energy savings of around 33%.

Research paper link: itc.scix.net/pdfs/w78-2021-paper-073.pdf

 

Building Energy Management Systems for Sports Facilities in the Gulf Region: A Focus on Impacts and Considerations

October 2021 - Presented at the 38th CIB W78 Conference on Information and Communication Technologies, Luxembourg

This paper aims to emphasise the importance of energy management in sports facilities, especially in hot climatic regions. It presents a review of the works to optimise the operation of building management systems (BMS), anomaly diagnosis, and mitigation. It indicates their application scarcity for sports facilities compared to other types of buildings and for regions with hot and humid weather conditions compared to friendly and cold ones.

Research paper link: itc.scix.net/pdfs/w78-2021-paper-072.pdf

 

Social media mining for BIM skills and roles for energy efficiency

June 2019 - Presented at ICE/IEEE ITMC 2019 - International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation, Sophia-Antipolis, France

In this paper, we explore the dynamic nature of BIM with associated skills and roles and demonstrate how engagement and training can be informed by social media analysis to identify roles, skills and training needs. We conduct a data mining process by analysing the Twitter data of various companies and institutions involved in the BIM construction sector to discover new skills and roles for energy efficiency.

Research paper link: doi.org/10.1109/ICE.2019.8792571

Teaching

Assisting the delivery of the following modules:

  • EN2091 Building Modelling

  • EN2026 Engineering Analysis
  • EN4102 Integrated Building Design

  • EN3300 Research Methods

Biography

Lecturer

April 2025 - Present

 

Research Associate

Cardiff University, Cardiff School of Engineering

April 2022 - March 2025

Automated compliance checks for construction, renovation or demolition works (ACCORD)

Contributed to the research and development of automated methods for verifying compliance with construction or retrofit projects; performed data analysis and integrated Building Information Modelling (BIM) approaches for accurate and efficient assessments.

 

Teaching and Student Support

November 2023 - March 2025

Served as a teaching assistant for EN2091 Building Modelling and EN2026 Engineering Analysis, conducting practical demonstrations, supervising students, and performing assessments.

 

Decarbonising seaports using Digital Twins: a CUSP platform feasibility study - Funded by EPSRC

November 2023 - September 2024

Utilised Digital Twin technologies integrated with the Computational Urban Sustainability Platform (CUSP) to explore decarbonisation strategies in seaport operations. Involved in data modelling, analysis, and the development of interactive decision-support dashboards.

 

Scalable Circular Supply Chain for the Built Environment - Funded by EPSRC

April 2022 - November 2023

Investigated digital workflows and platforms to support resource-efficient and sustainable supply chains in construction. Contributed to data analysis, prototyping circular economy concepts, and integrating solutions within industry workflows.

 

Water Quality Monitoring Pilot Project - Shared Water Quality Monitoring Gateway - Funded by the Welsh Government

September 2024 - October 2024

Assisted in designing and validating a shared gateway for continuous water quality monitoring. Supported the integration of sensor data, performed analytics on water quality metrics, and contributed to reporting for stakeholders.

 

Research Proposal Contributions

Actively contributed to research proposals, including AntifragiCity - GAP-101203052 (Effects of disruptive changes in transport: towards resilient, safe and energy-efficient mobility), in response to call HORIZON-CL5-2024-D6-01-11 - proposal granted funding.

 

Research Assistant

Cardiff University, Cardiff School of Engineering

Cardiff, United Kingdom

July 2017 - March 2022

 

SPORTE.3Q: Smart Integrated Urban Systems to Manage Energy-Water Nexus in Sports Facilities - Funded by Qatar National Research Fund

March 2020 - March 2022

Developed and integrated user interfaces for monitoring energy and water usage, assisted in data collection and analysis, and contributed to multi-stakeholder reporting to optimise resource consumption in sports facilities.

 

Building and District Thermal Retrofit and Management Solutions - Funded by the European Commission

December 2019 - February 2020

Supported the design of holistic thermal retrofit approaches, helped build user-facing dashboards for performance analysis, and assisted in integrating real-time energy monitoring into building management systems.

 

Unlocking European Grid Local Flexibility Through Augmented Energy Conversion at District Level - Funded by the European Commission, Horizon 2020

May 2019 - November 2019

Contributed to the development of interactive tools and interfaces enabling real-time management of local energy generation and consumption at the district level. Performed user-centric design, data visualisation, and backend integration.

 

BIM-based EU-wide Standardized Qualification Framework for Achieving Energy Efficiency Training, Funded by the European Commission, Horizon 2020

November 2018 - May 2019

Focused on user interface design for BIM-based applications, integrated RESTful APIs, and facilitated data exchange between stakeholders to encourage standardised energy efficiency training frameworks.

 

H2020 BIMEET project - Funded by the European Commission, Horizon 2020

November 2018 - May 2019

Performed research on BIM-oriented training methodologies, contributed to platform development, and supported dissemination of results across European partner institutions.

 

FP7 WISDOM Project - Funded by European Union, FP7

August 2017 - November 2018

Assisted in implementing water-smart solutions for integrated resource management, contributed to data collection and stakeholder engagement, and supported the testing of pilot platforms.

Additional Technical Contributions

  • Taught, marked and provided student support for modules including (but not limited to):
    • EN3201 Integrated Building Design
    • EN3300 Research Methods
    • ENT4380 Big Data & AI in Civil Engineering

  • Developed and maintained user interfaces (UI) and design patterns for large-scale built-environment applications.

  • Integrated RESTful APIs with UI components in high-impact projects such as the Computational Urban Sustainability Platform (cuspplatform.com) and Energy-BIM (energy-bim.com).

  • Deployed and monitored web services and implemented security enhancements through solutions such as Google Analytics and Cloudflare.

  • Built and maintained infrastructure using Docker containers and live data centres, focusing on high availability, fault tolerance, and automated resource scaling.

  • Conducted research on user experience and semantics related to the above projects, contributing to improved platform usability and stakeholder engagement.

 

Research Assistant Internship

Cardiff University

Cardiff, United Kingdom

July (2014). - September 2014

  • Used various APIs to collect information about users, applying data mining and data warehousing techniques in PHP, MySQL, and Python

  • Employed database optimisation and parsing techniques

  • Determined the age and gender of users using intelligent tag cloud word analysis and LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count)

  • Produced two research papers: doi.org/10.1016/j.comcom.2015.07.018 and doi.org/10.1016/j.osnem.2017.08.001

Education

PhD: The role of Semantics for enhancing User Experience of Applications in the Built Environment

Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University

Granted in March 2024

This thesis explores Building Information Modelling (BIM) and City Information Modelling (CIM) within web applications, aiming to significantly uplift citizen engagement and satisfaction. At its core, the thesis proposes an innovative framework that uses semantics to intricately weave contextual information into user experience (UX), fostering innovative applications tailored to the built environment.

The intellectual pursuit is meticulously structured around three pivotal research questions, each unfolding a distinct but interconnected inquiry stage. The first research question delves into Enhancing Learning UX with Semantics. It seeks to uncover how semantics can amplify the learning experience within existing web applications. This stage is marked by the development of a semantic web-based mining environment meticulously designed to unravel and map the intricate web of roles and skills pivotal in BIM.

Thesis ORCA link: orca.Cardiff.ac.uk/id/print/166628

 

BSc. Computer Science with Security and Forensics (First-Class Honours degree)

Cardiff School of Computer Science, Cardiff University

September 2010 - July 2017

Final year project: Crowdfunding platform for civic projects involving a full front-end stack and Java REST APIs (Spring MVC) for the backend.

 

Programme and Project Committees

  • Organising Committee and session chair, ICE/IEEE ITMC International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation, Cardiff, UK. (2018-2021)

  • School representative, COMENIUS EU-funded project (Travel Online, Understand Routes, Itineraries and Sustainable Tourism through TIC), Nicosia, Cyprus (2011)

  • School representative, Leonardo Da Vinci EU-funded project (LLP-LdV/IVT/09/RO/101), Karlsruhe, Germany (2010)

Honours & Awards

  • Best Paper Award - Douglas Award contest by South Wales Institute of Engineers Educational Trust, Cardiff, UK (2019)

  • First-Class Honours, Undergraduate degree in Computer Science with Security and Forensics, Cardiff, UK (2017)

  • Cardiff Award, For outstanding academic and volunteering performance, Cardiff, UK (2014)

 

Extracurricular Activity & Volunteering

Continuing Professional Education / Pathways to a Second Degree Courses

Psychology and Philosophy courses at Cardiff University

January 2017 - Present

  • Abnormal Psychology (topics: cluster A, B and C personality disorders and malfunctions of the brain through various conditions and chemical imbalances)

  • Developmental Psychology (topics: Eriksson psycho-social developmental stages, Piaget stages, Freud psycho-sexual developmental stages)

  • Philosophy of Religion (topics: teleological argument, ontological argument, design argument, religious experience argument)

Volunteer neurodiversity advocate

About ADHD (aboutadhd.com)

2023 - present

HIV advocate and DotCom officer

Cardiff University Sexual Health Awareness Group

January (2014). - June 2014

  • Designing and distributing HIV awareness and prevention materials
  • Holding HIV prevention talks
  • Designing and maintaining the website

Radio Show Presenter

Radio Iasi Romania (radioiasi.ro)

Online & FM Airwaves

November (2011). - Present

  • Presenting a weekly IT news radio show and giving IT advice to the population, helping to develop industry awareness

Honours and awards

Douglas Award - 2019 for the "Social media mining for BIM skills and roles for energy efficiency" conference paper

Academic positions

Academic positions

  • Research Associate, Cardiff University, Cardiff School of Engineering, April 2022 - March 2025

  • Research Assistant, Cardiff University, Cardiff School of Engineering, July 2017 - March 2022

  • Research Assistant Internship, Cardiff University, July 2014 - September 2014

Committees and reviewing

Organising Committee and session chair of the 2020 and 2021 edition of the ICE IEEE Conference, Cardiff, UK

Organising Committee and session chair of 19th IFIP / SOCOLNET Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises, PRO-VE 2018, 17-19 September 2018 – Cardiff, UK

Contact Details

Email HodorogA@cardiff.ac.uk

Research themes

Specialisms

  • BIM
  • Collaborative and social computing
  • Renewable energy
  • Machine learning
  • Natural language processing

External profiles