Current Positions

• Professor of Sustainable Architecture and Building Technology, University of Liège, Belgium
• Head and Founder of the Sustainable Building Design Lab (SBD Lab), University of Liège (since 2014)
• Adjunct Professor, Southwest Jiaotong University, China (since 2024)
• Research Council Member, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) (since 2024)

Professional Profile

Shady Attia is an internationally recognized researcher and educator in sustainable architecture, building technology, urban climate adaptation, resilient cooling, net-zero carbon buildings, circular construction, and building performance simulation. He founded and leads the Sustainable Building Design Lab (SBD Lab) at the University of Liège.

His work focuses on decision-support tools for high-performance buildings and cities, integrating energy efficiency, thermal comfort, life-cycle assessment, circularity, climate resilience, and urban heat mitigation. He has extensive experience in research innovation, technology transfer, international capacity building, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Education

PhD in Sustainable Architecture

Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Belgium

MSc in Landscape Architecture and Planning

Wageningen University, The Netherlands (cum laude)

Bachelor of Architectural Engineering

Helwan University, Egypt
Ranked 1st in class (1/315) and recipient of the Best Graduation Project Award.

Research Expertise

• Sustainable Architecture
• High-Performance Buildings
• Net-Zero Energy Buildings
• Net-Zero Carbon Buildings
• Whole-Life Carbon Assessment
• Circular Construction
• Building Performance Simulation
• Urban Climate and Urban Heat Islands
• Resilient Cooling
• Adaptive Thermal Comfort
• Building Energy Renovation
• Building Integrated Renewable Energy Systems
• Climate Change Adaptation
• Sustainable Building Materials
• Building Digitalization and Decision Support Systems

International Leadership and Service

International Energy Agency (IEA)

Active contributor to multiple IEA Technology Collaboration Programmes, including:

• IEA EBC Annex 97: Sustainable Cooling in Cities
• IEA EBC Annex 89: Net-Zero Whole-Life Carbon Buildings
• IEA Annex 80: Resilient Cooling in Buildings
• IEA ES Task 43: Thermal Building Mass Storage
• IEA SHC Task 51: Solar Energy and Urban Planning
• IEA SHC Task 40: Towards Net-Zero Energy Buildings
• IEA SHC Task 41: Solar Energy and Architecture

International Standardization

Representative of Belgium in several ISO standardization activities related to sustainability, buildings, and circular economy.

Professional Associations

• International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA)
• U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
• LEED Accredited Professional

Research Funding and Project Leadership

Principal Investigator, Co-Investigator, and Researcher on more than 29 international research projects with cumulative funding exceeding €5 million.

Major themes include:

• Sustainable Cooling
• Circular Economy in Construction
• Net-Zero Carbon Buildings
• Building Renovation
• Urban Heat Mitigation
• Adaptive Facades
• Thermal Energy Storage
• Timber Construction
• Earth Construction
• Climate Resilience

Awards and Recognition

• Ranked among the World's Top 2% Scientists (Stanford University rankings, multiple consecutive years)
• Top Reviewer in Architectural Engineering (Clarivate / Web of Science)
• Publons Top 1% Reviewer in Engineering
• Elsevier Outstanding Reviewer Award
• World Sustainable Energy Days Scientific Committee Award
• Multiple international best paper, best poster, and scientific excellence awards

Consulting and Professional Practice

More than 15 years of international consulting experience in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, including:

• Building Performance Simulation
• LEED Certification
• Net-Zero Energy Design
• Sustainable Building Assessment
• Building Energy Audits
• Building Commissioning
• Product Sustainability and Environmental Declarations

Projects have included work for:

• Google
• Mastercard Europe
• NATO
• Pfizer
• Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
• L'Oréal
• ArcelorMittal

International Collaboration

Research and educational cooperation projects in: Belgium, Switzerland, China, Chile, Poland, Jordan, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Iraq, UAE, Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, and Turkey.

Keynote and Invited Speaker

Frequent keynote speaker and invited lecturer at leading universities, international conferences, government agencies, and professional organizations worldwide, with presentations across Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.

Editorial Leadership

Professor Shady Attia serves in several editorial leadership and editorial board positions for international peer-reviewed journals covering building science, sustainability, energy, construction engineering, urban climate, and building performance simulation.

Executive Editor

• MethodsX (Elsevier), Executive Editor, Energy Sector (2025-Present)
• Data in Brief (Elsevier), Executive Editor, Engineering & Materials Science (2023-Present)

Associate Editor

Green Technologies and Sustainability (KeAi / Elsevier) (2025-Present)

Urban and Building Science (Scilight Press) (2025-Present)

Editorial Board Memberships

• Building and Environment (Elsevier), Editorial Board Member (2023-Present)

• Data in Brief (Elsevier), Editorial Board Member (2022-Present)
• Journal of Building Performance Simulation (Taylor & Francis), Editorial Board Member (2020-2025)
• Sustainability (MDPI), Editorial Board Member (2021-Present)
• Atmosphere (MDPI), Editorial Board Member (2019-Present)
• Frontiers in Sustainability, Editorial Board Member (2022-Present)

Guest Editor and Special Issues

Professor Attia has served as Guest Editor and Lead Guest Editor for numerous special issues dedicated to:
• Net-zero and climate-neutral buildings
• Whole-life carbon assessment
• Circular construction and circular economy
• Resilient cooling and overheating mitigation
• Building performance simulation
• Adaptive façades
• Climate adaptation of buildings and cities
• Sustainable construction materials
• Indoor environmental quality and thermal comfort

Editorial Leadership

Professor Shady Attia serves in several editorial leadership roles for international peer-reviewed journals and has reviewed more than 450 scientific manuscripts for leading publishers, including Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, MDPI, and Sage. He was recognized as a Top Reviewer in Architectural Engineering by Clarivate Web of Science and ranked among the Top 1% of Reviewers in Engineering by Publons.

Peer Review and Scientific Evaluation

Professor Attia has reviewed more than hundreds of research proposals and funding applications for leading journals, research councils, and international funding agencies worldwide. His scientific evaluation activities include the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), European Commission, European Innovation Council, National Science Centre Poland, French National Research Agency (ANR), Innoviris, VLAIO, Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the Belgian National Science Foundation (FNRS).

Research Profiles

• ORCID: 0000-0002-9477-5098
• Scopus Author ID: 54889787300
• University of Liège Profile
• Sustainable Building Design Lab (SBD Lab)