Dr Patel’s research and teaching aims to better understands clients and users of built environment. She is interested in themes of learning, socio-material practices, holistic building performance and adaptation of buildings. Having trained as an architect from India and practiced in the UK, her work has spanned from research, developing business processes, managing projects to technical building design. Her PhD research theorises the practices of adapting academic library buildings and her current research focuses on learning environments in the higher education sector. Her research around the DEGW archive explores the linkages between organisational practices and the built environment to help understand the changing nature of ‘work’.