CURA Lab proudly celebrates the successful Ph.D. defense of Nazanin Azimi Fereidani, marking the first doctoral completion within the Laboratory’s doctoral training pathway. The defense took place on December 5th, 2025, at the University of Coimbra.
Nazanin’s dissertation—Thermal Envelope Recommendations for Climate-Resilient Residential Buildings: A Case Study Under Present and Future Scenarios in Iran—advances the understanding of how building envelopes can be designed to improve energy efficiency today while enhancing resilience to projected climatic conditions. Her work identifies key envelope parameters driving cooling and heating demand across diverse climate regions and demonstrates how their influence evolves under future climate pathways. The findings contribute to ongoing discussions on updating building standards to ensure long-term performance under climate change pressure, particularly in hot regions with escalating cooling needs.
The thesis was supervised by Professor Eugénio Rodrigues and Professor Adélio Rodrigues Gaspar, whose guidance was instrumental in shaping this research journey.
The defense was chaired by Professor Manuel Carlos Gameiro da Silva, with scholarly examination provided by Professor Marta Panão and Professor Luka Pajek, alongside additional contributions from Professor Manuela de Almeida, Professor Carla Rodrigues, and Professor Eugénio Rodrigues.
This milestone recognizes Nazanin’s academic achievements as well as CURA Lab’s mission to foster impactful doctoral research in sustainable energy systems. We congratulate Nazanin for her outstanding accomplishment and wish her continued success in advancing the science of climate-responsive buildings.