Biography
Dr Pippa Soccio is a Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO specialising in residential building performance, indoor environmental quality and the use of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to understand how homes perform in real-world conditions. With a background in architecture and building science, her research examines the intersection of building design, occupant behaviour and climate, and how these interactions influence household energy use and occupant comfort.
Pippa leads CSIRO's Social Impact & Living Labs team within the Energy Systems Transition Program and is Project Leader of the $3.2 million Apartment Energy Behaviour Study, a national longitudinal study monitoring energy use, indoor environmental quality and occupant behaviour in 450 apartments across Melbourne, Sydney, south-east Queensland and Darwin. The research is generating empirical evidence about how apartments actually perform in use and how household behaviour compares with assumptions used in residential energy modelling.
A key focus of Pippa's work is advancing CSIRO's capability to undertake scalable, context-sensitive monitoring in occupied homes using low-cost IoT technologies. Her work brings together energy monitoring with measures of thermal comfort, air quality, lighting and acoustics to better understand the relationship between energy efficiency and the experience of people living in homes. She applies this capability across diverse housing contexts, from high-density apartments to remote housing in the Northern Territory.
Pippa is particularly interested in translating complex building science into practical and accessible information for government, industry, researchers and communities. She regularly contributes to national discussions on residential energy performance, indoor environmental quality and real-world building monitoring, and collaborates across disciplines to strengthen the evidence available to inform housing policy and design.
Other Interests
Pippa's broader interests centre on holistic approaches to design and problem-solving, drawing on her architectural background to explore how buildings can simultaneously support human health and comfort, energy efficiency and connection to nature. She is particularly interested in nature-first design principles, healthy buildings and biophilic design, and in moving beyond single-metric approaches to consider buildings as interconnected environmental and human systems. Pippa applies these principles in practice through architectural design, including her home renovation, Pavone House, which received the Australian Living Futures Institute's National Biophilic Design Award for Interiors and Renovations in 2023.
Academic Qualifications
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2015
PhD Architecture
The University of Melbourne -
2007
Bachelor of Architecture (Hons)
The University of Melbourne -
2004
Bachelor of Planning and Design
The University of Melbourne -
2019
Graduate Certificate University Teaching
The University of Melbourne
Achievements and Awards
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2023-2023
Biophilic Design National Awards (Renovation and Interiors)
Living Futures Institue of Australia -
2010-2013
Australian Postgraduate Award (Industry) - PhD scholarship
University of Melbourne -
2011-2012
Pam Todd Research Scholarship
St Hildas College -
2009-2009
Future Markers Fellowship
Centre for Sustainable Leadership (CSL)
Current Roles
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Team Leader, Social Impact & Living Labs (SILL)
Pippa leads a multidisciplinary team investigating the interaction between people, buildings and energy systems, with research spanning residential energy performance, indoor environmental quality, occupant behaviour and the social dimensions of the energy transition. -
Project Leader, Apartment Energy Behaviour Study (AEBS)
Pippa leads the $3.2 million national Apartment Energy Behaviour Study, investigating energy use, indoor environmental quality and occupant behaviour in 450 apartments across Melbourne, Sydney, south-east Queensland and Darwin. The study is generating real-world evidence to inform residential energy policy and building design. -
Chief Investigator, NHMRC Coming Home, Making Home, Valuing Home Activity
Pippa contributes building science and IoT monitoring expertise to this NHMRC-funded research investigating culturally and climate-responsive Aboriginal housing. Her work focuses on understanding how homes perform in use through monitoring energy, indoor environmental conditions and occupant experience.
Fields of Research
Grants
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2025-2030
Pippa is a Chief Investigator on the NHMRC-funded Coming Home, Making Home, Valuing Home project (2025–2030), which brings together Indigenous knowledge, housing research and building science to investigate culturally and climate-responsive Aboriginal housing. Pippa contributes expertise in building performance, indoor environmental quality and IoT monitoring, leading the development of approaches to measure how homes perform in real-world conditions and how these conditions are experienced by residents.
Professional Experiences
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2019-2023
Lecturer
Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning (University of Melbourne) -
2015-2019
Research Fellow
Learning Environments Applied Research Network
Community and Corporate Citizenship
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May 2024-Dec 2024
Clayton Activity Based Workspace (ABW) Design User Group
Professional Areas
- Judging Panel, Victorian School Building Authority Design Awards
- Member, City of Casey Design Excellent Review Panel
- Expert Reference Group (Health), Green Building Council of Australia
- Deputy Chair, St Hilda’s College Board, University of Melbourne
- Judging Panel, School Architecture Awards, Association of Learning Environments