Dr Mahsan Sadeghi

Architectural Scientist & CSIRO Early Research Career Fellow

https://people.csiro.au/s/m/mahsan-sadeghi

Biography

Dr Mahsan Sadeghi is a CERC research fellow in Energy Business Unit. She joined Australia’s national science agency in 2021, when she was awarded a CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) fellowship. Mahsan also carries the title of Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the university of Sydney's School of Architecture, Design, and Planning.

Dr Sadeghi’s research focuses on residential overheating and occupant thermal comfort. Overheating in residential buildings is becoming an increasingly common problem in Australia; during the summer months temperatures can soar to dangerous levels in people’s homes. This can lead to discomfort, health problems, and in extreme events it can contribute to mortality. Dr Sadeghi’s current research into residential overheating aims to inform a climate sensitive model for a future Australian overheating standard.

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.

Dr Sadeghi's other project was funded by NSW Department of Planning, Industry, and Environment (DPIE) in conjunction with NSW Health. Here, she studied the impact of adaptation strategies on mitigating urban heat, energy consumption, and their impact on population mortality.

Prior to her postdoctoral studies, Mahsan was commissioned by the Government of Western Australia in 2019 to develop a rational and evidence-based “Government Housing Air-Conditioning Policy” (WA Department of Communities), based on an analytical methodology developed in her PhD thesis (Sadeghi et al., 2018).

Academic Qualifications

2018

PhD Degree – Researching the potential for advanced ventilation design strategies to enhance residential thermal comfort.
The University of Sydney

Achievements and Awards

2019-2021

National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Postdoctoral Fellowship
Centre for Air pollution, energy, and health Research (CAR)
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
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

CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) Fellow
Building overheating; Occupant thermal comfort

Grants

2019-2020

Industry grant, Orosi Construction PTY LTD. “Optimised Zero Energy Residences in Sydney”.
2018-2019

Funded by CRC for Low Carbon Living in partnership with industry. “Indoor Environmental Quality and Natural Ventilation in St Spridon College”.
2017-2018

Funded by Sydney Water, and CRC for Low Carbon Living. “Application of Urban Heat Island Mitigation Technologies in west Sydney”.
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”

Other highlights

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).
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
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

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)