RESEARCH PATHWAY: personal reflections on a career in research
Mat Santamouris (University of New South Wales) reflects on a research journey explaining how an early fascination with solar energy and building physics evolved into research on urban overheating, cool materials, and city-scale heat mitigation. The social imperative for research to address now is: Who is most exposed to extreme heat, and what can science do to protect them?
My research career evolved in close alignment with changing societal agendas to address energy scarcity, climate change, and thermal discomfort in buildings and cities. What began as an inquiry rooted in the physics of buildings and passive cooling strategies progressively expanded in scale, first to encompass urban microclimates and urban overheating, and later to the development of innovative materials and large-scale heat mitigation strategies aimed at protecting cities from extreme heat.
Throughout this trajectory, a consistent objective has been to translate scientific understanding into solutions that enhance thermal comfort, reduce energy demand, and promote environmental and social equity. At the same time, this process has not been without constraints: significant barriers frequently emerged in translating research into practice, including limited engagement frameworks with policymakers, institutional inertia, regulatory constraints, and the challenge of communicating complex scientific concepts to non-specialist audiences.
