Speaker: Anson Chan, PhD Candidate at University of Cambridge

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Abstract: Artificial intelligence together with digital twins are transforming the built environment by enabling data-driven decision-making in a virtual replica of physical assets. However, the green retrofitting decision-making process is often convoluted by siloed data, complexities of stakeholder relationships and inherent risks. Drawing from her PhD project, Anson will share her research on how an Agentic AI-based digital twin platform can advance sustainability in the built environment. Key challenges, including data fragmentation, lack of standardized datasets and legacy infrastructure to adopting technologies in the construction industry will also be discussed. Additionally, this presentation will introduce LLM+, an AI research community co-founded by Anson and 4 other Cambridge PhD students to push forward AI4Science and organizational innovation. Founded in 2025, LLM+ now has 7000+ subscribers and 10+ research collaborators from the world's top universities. Apart from investigating human-AI-interaction research topics, LLM+ has applied AI frontier technologies to develop 3 award-winning prototypes and has forged academic-industry partnerships with companies such as, Alibaba, AWS and Deutsche Bank. Together, this seminar offers a glimpse into the transformative potential of digital technologies for creating a sustainable built environment.

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Speaker Bio: Anson Chan is a PhD student at the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on digital technologies and sustainability in the built environment, including building information modeling (BIM), digital twin, and artificial intelligence (AI). During her undergraduate study here at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, she was the most outstanding student at the Department of Building and Real Estate. She also received several prestigious awards, including HSBC Scholarship, For Our Future Scholarship and The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors Scholarship. Before starting her PhD research at Cambridge, Anson worked as an Assistant Quantity Surveyor at Gammon Construction Limited, where she was involved in Hong Kong's largest Modular-integrated Construction (MiC) student hostel project with the City University of Hong Kong.

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