In September 2024, Rafael Bartsch has started his employment as a doctoral candidate in the department. Rafael Bartsch completed his Master of Science in Architecture at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Already during his master's studies, he worked on the application and development of programs for thermal building simulation. He has been intensively involved with simulations for about 4 years now, particularly in relation to outdoor areas. In his most recent work at RPTU, he is working as a PhD student on how to develop improved methods for considering light and heat radiation in urban contexts. These methods for more accurate representation of thermal radiation are being developed and researched in the ray-tracing program Radiance.  Coupling the radiation impact, calculated through Radiance, with building simulation programs, such as EnergyPlus, is also part of his research.