Dr Mahsan Sadeghi
Research Scientist – Building Energy, Overheating, Heat & Health
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Biography
Dr Mahsan Sadeghi is a Research Scientist in CSIRO's Energy Research Unit, where she leads research on building overheating, thermal comfort, heat stress and healthy, climate-resilient housing. Her research brings together building science, thermal comfort, climate science and occupant behaviour to understand and mitigate overheating risks in Australian homes. The research is informing the development of regulations for residential building performance, including consideration within the National Construction Code and the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS).
Building on this work, Mahsan has established a new CSIRO research program focused on healthy buildings, investigating the relationship between indoor heat exposure and occupant health. Supported by Australian Government funding from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), this interdisciplinary program brings together expertise from building science, public health, human physiology and climate adaptation to develop evidence for healthier and more resilient Australian homes.
Mahsan works closely with Australian universities, government agencies and international research organisations. Her research has been recognised internationally through her involvement with the International Energy Agency’s Energy in Buildings and Communities (IEA EBC) Programme, where she represents Australia in Building Energy Code working group. She has also provided expertise to the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment in the development of New Zealand’s residential overheating assessment methodology, drawing on the Australian research framework.
Mahsan’s research focuses on translating scientific evidence into practical outcomes for government, industry and the community, with particular interests in residential overheating, adaptive thermal comfort, heat and health, building performance, passive cooling and climate-resilient housing.
Beyond her research outputs, Dr Sadeghi actively contributes to the scientific community through leadership roles, including Conference Session Chair and Scientific Committee Member. Her contributions include serving as a Scientific Committee Member for the Green Digital Intelligent (DGI) Built Environments Conference (2026), New Zealand; the Comfort at the Extreme (CATE) Conference(2026), United States.
and the International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality (CONVER) Conference (2024), Australia. She also served as Session Chair at the CATE Conference (2023), India. She is also engaged with professional networks, representing CSIRO internationally through memberships such as the IBPSA Women Network (International Building Performance Simulation Association).
Mahsan joined Australia’s national science agency in 2021, when she was awarded a CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) fellowship. Dr Sadeghi also carries the title of Honorary Senior Research Fellow at The University of Sydney's School of Architecture, Design, and Planning. In addition, she is affiliated with NHMRC Centre for Safe Air as a Senior Research Scientist.
With a background in architecture, Dr Sadeghi received her PhD. degree from The University of Sydney's School of Architecture, Design, and Planning for a thesis examining the potential for advanced ventilation design strategies to enhance residential thermal comfort.
Prior to joining CSIRO, Mahsan was awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) fellowship through the Centre for Air pollution, energy, and health Research (CAR). During that fellowship Mahsan held conjoint postdoctoral appointments with UNSW School of Built Environment (2020-21) and The University of Sydney's Indoor Environmental Quality Laboratory (2019-20). Mahsan’s research was an inter-disciplinary project on healthy built environment, focusing on greening infrastructures (such as green roof and urban trees) and their impacts on urban overheating, energy demand, and associated health benefits.
Academic Qualifications
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2018
PhD Degree – Researching the potential for advanced ventilation design strategies to enhance residential thermal comfort.
The University of Sydney
Achievements and Awards
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2019-2021
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Postdoctoral Fellowship
NHMRC Centre for Air pollution, energy, and health Research (CAR). Participating Institutions: The University of Sydney; University of New South Wales; University of Melbourne; University of Tasmania; University of Western Australia; Queensland University of Technology -
2019-2020
Climate Change, Human Health, and Social Impacts Node Grant
NSW Department of Planning, Industry, and Environment (DPIE) -
2019-2020
National Postdoctoral Training Grant
NHMRC Centre for Air pollution, energy, and health Research (CAR) -
2019-2020
Government Housing Air-conditioning New Policy – Commissioned Research Grant
Government of Western Australia, Department of Communities
Current Roles
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Research Scientist
Building Energy Efficiency | Overheating | Heat & Health | Thermal Comfort | Climate-Resilient Housing -
Honorary Senior Research Fellow, The university of Sydney
PhD student co-supervisory | Thermal comfort in buildings -
Senior Research Scientist / Affiliate, NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence for Safe Air
Buildings for safe air working group
Grants
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2023-2026
School of Medicine and Psychology, Australian National University. “Investigating relationship between indoor environment and sleep during summertime heat stress in Australia”. Role: Chief Investigator (CI)
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2019-2020
Industry grant, Orosi Construction PTY LTD. “Optimised Zero Energy Residences in Sydney”. Role: Chief Investigator (CI)
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2018-2019
Funded by CRC for Low Carbon Living in partnership with industry. “Indoor Environmental Quality and Natural Ventilation in St Spridon College”. Role: Chief Investigator (CI)
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2017-2018
Funded by Sydney Water, and CRC for Low Carbon Living. “Application of Urban Heat Island Mitigation Technologies in west Sydney”. Role: Chief Investigator (CI)
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2015-2016
Funded by industry in partnership with Centre for Infrastructure Engineering (CIE), Western Sydney University. “Energy Efficient Design of Wind Towers for Australian Residential Context”. Role: Chief Investigator (CI)
Other highlights
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2025-2026
Scientific Committee member – Comfort at the Extreme (CATE) Conference 2026, Arizona, USA
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2024-2024
Scientific Committee member _ Construction Applications of Virtual Reality (CONVR) Conference 2024, Sydney, Australia
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2023-2023
Keynote speech – Darwin Living Lab Symposium 2023, Darwin, Australia. "Health impacts of greening strategies to cool urban environments".
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2023-2023
Session Chair – Comfort at the Extreme (CATE) Conference 2023, Ahmedabad, India
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2020-2021
Co-authored a position paper in response to Parliament of NSW Inquiry on “Submission on the New South Wales Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment (Clean Air) Bill 2021”. Jalaludin, B., Zosky, G., Cowie, C., Workman, A., Sadeghi, M., Morgan, G. (2021).
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2019-2020
Lead-authored a response and attended a public hearing in Parliament of NSW on “Electric buses in regional and metropolitan public transport network in NSW”, on behalf of Centre for Air pollution, energy and health Research (CAR). Sadeghi, M., Porta Cubas, A., Cole-Hunter, T., (2020). https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/submissions/66977/Submission%20-%2013.pdf
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2019-2020
Developed a new policy for Government of Western Australia, Department of Communities on “Government Housing Air-Conditioning Policy”. Translation of research into policy.
Professional Experiences
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2024-Date
Research Scientist
CSIRO -
2021-2024
CSIRO Early Research Career Postdoctoral Fellow ( CERC)
CSIRO -
2020-2021
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
The University of New South Wales -
2019-2020
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
The University of Sydney -
2018-2019
Architect Consultant
Renson Ventilation NV (Head quarter in Belgium)
Community and Corporate Citizenship
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2025-Current
International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA) Women Network
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2025-2025
PhD examination for Monash University
Professional Areas
Attachments
Related links
- ABC News interview around impact of ventilation on CO2 level and the potential solutions to improve air quality
- Response to Parliament of NSW on “Electric buses in regional and metropolitan public transport network in NSW”
- The New Daily interview: Why ventilation is important concerning spread of COVID-19?
- Response to Parliament of NSW Inquiry on “Submission on the New South Wales Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment (Clean Air) Bill 2021”.
Publications
ORCID 0000-0002-3155-7376
We have publications by Dr Mahsan Sadeghi