Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia

There are moments in life when words simply do not seem enough. This is one of those moments for me.
To be appointed a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia is an honour of a magnitude that I find difficult to express. I receive it with profound humility, deep emotion and, above all, immense gratitude.
For me, this recognition carries a very special meaning. Australia is a remarkable country, a country that respects and values the efforts and contributions of its people, including those who, like me, have had the privilege of calling Australia home for only a relatively small part of their lives.
To feel embraced and honoured in this way by a country that welcomed me only a few years ago touches me very deeply.

Contribution to a Deutsche Welle Documentary

 

Cooling Down Earth’s Cities

With recent record-breaking summer heat waves, spiking urban temperatures have become a major concern for cities tackling climate change. Densely populated areas are warming far faster than their rural and suburban surroundings, creating dangerous “urban heat islands” that threaten public health, increase energy consumption, and disproportionately impact city dwellers with lower incomes.

Meanwhile, designing buildings to protect occupants from climate extremes—while managing energy demand—has become increasingly complex, and especially challenging in the developing world.

“Closing the skills and capacity gap in those markets is one of the most important levers the sector has,” Hanane Hafraoui, GlobalABC lead program manager at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), told The Earth & I.

Guest Lecture 'Cooler and Fairer Cities: Heat Mitigation, Adaptation and Inclusive Urban Greening

 

Heatwaves spark interest in Gulf-style extreme cooling (Interview in Financial Times)

At sunrise, before Dubai’s megamalls open their doors to the general public, people are already bounding along marbled corridors past the luxury boutiques that forged the city’s reputation as a shoppers’ paradise. But these are not customers looking for bargains: the emirate’s cavernous shopping centres double as air-conditioned running tracks during the summer, with runners gathering at 6am to escape outside temperatures approaching 40C and compete in races of up to 10km. 

The race to cool buildings with less electricity

America's answer to hotter summers has overwhelmingly been more air conditioning, and engineers are now looking for ways to keep people cool without driving up electricity demand.

Why it matters: The need for cooling is surging. The issue isn't just how to generate more electricity — it's how to use less of it and ease demand when grids are most strained.

Interview to Discover Magazine

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Discover Magazine about the growing impact of air conditioning on cities, its implications for energy use and urban heat, and the exciting opportunities offered by innovative passive cooling technologies. We discussed how sustainable cooling solutions can help create more resilient, comfortable, and climate-responsive urban environments. Many thanks to Discover Magazine for the invitation and for highlighting this important topic.