Jesus Lizana BSc, MSc, DPhil

Jesus Lizana is Associate Professor in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, with a unique experience profile in architecture and engineering. He leads the research on Zero-Carbon Space Heating and Cooling at ZERO Institute.

At Oxford, Lizana is engaged in many research initiatives and has received several prestigious and extensive grants, including a Marie Curie Fellowship and a Juan de la Cierva. He supports the interdisciplinary research in the Future of Cooling Programme of the Oxford Martin School. He also serves as a board member and scientific reviewer for many leading journals, conferences and research programmes.

Alongside his academic career, Lizana serves as a consultant on many building energy-related projects, data science, and sustainable cooling across various global locations, including the United Kingdom, India, Spain, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia. He has provided strategic guidance to international institutions such as UNEP, CIBSE, and the Department for Energy in the UK (DESNZ).

Lizana earned his PhD in low-carbon buildings at the University of Seville in Spain, after completing a BSc in Architecture and an MSc in Building Engineering. Previously to his appointment at Oxford, he has lectured and conducted research at the University of Seville (Spain), the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), the Technical University of Munich (Germany), Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal), and the Spanish National Research Council (Spain). 

Jesus Lizana’s research is mostly concerned with the cross-disciplinary challenges towards zero carbon climate-responsive buildings. Previous works have focused on urban heat islands, sustainable cooling, climate change modelling, climate risk identification, advanced building simulation, thermal energy storage, heating decarbonisation, energy flexibility, low-carbon energy technologies, indoor air quality, and advanced construction systems. His research activity involves experimental work, numerical research, real environment testing, strategic planning, and knowledge transfer.

At Oxford, Dr Jesus Lizana is involved in the following research projects:

-Future of Cooling. An interdisciplinary research to understand and shape the future of Sustainable Cooling. Oxford Martin School programme.

Dr Jesus Lizana has more than 30 scientific articles, 1 book, 4 book chapters, and 26 communications in International Conferences, highlighting the following publications:

• Lizana, J., Wheeler, S., Azizi, E., Halloran, C., Wheeler, J., Wallom, D. C. H., & McCulloch, M. (2024). Integrated post-occupancy evaluation and intervention that achieve real-world zero-carbon buildings. Energy & Buildings, 303, 113766. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2023.113766
• Halloran, C., Lizana, J., Fele, F., & McCulloch, M. (2024). Data-based, high spatiotemporal resolution heat pump demand for power system planning. Applied Energy, 355, 122331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.122331
• Miranda, N., Lizana, J., Sparrow, S., Zachau-walker, M., Watson, P., Wallom, D., Khosla, R., & McCulloch, M. (2023). Change in cooling degree days with global mean temperature rise increasing from 1.5° to 2.0° Nature Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01155-z.
• Lizana, J., Halloran, C. E., Wheeler, S., Amghar, N., Renaldi, R., Killendahl, M., Perez-Maqueda, L. A., McCulloch, M., & Chacartegui, R. (2023). A national data-based energy modelling to identify optimal heat storage capacity to support heating electrification. Energy, 262, 125298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2022.125298
• Lizana, J., Miranda, N. D., Gross, L., Mazzone, A., Cohen, F., Palafox-Alcantar, G., Fahr, P., Jani, A., Renaldi, R., McCulloch, M., & Khosla, R. (2022). Overcoming the incumbency and barriers to sustainable cooling. Buildings and Cities, 3(1), 1075–1097. https://doi.org/10.5334/bc.255
• Lizana, J., Sanchez-Jimenez, P. E., Chacartegui, R., Becerra, J. A., & Perez-Maqueda, L. A. (2022). Supercooled sodium acetate aqueous solution for long-term heat storage to support heating decarbonisation. Journal of Energy Storage, 55, 105584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2022.105584
• Mehmood, S., Lizana, J., Núñez-Peiró, M., Maximov, S. A., & Friedrich, D. (2022). Resilient cooling pathway for extremely hot climates in southern Asia. Applied Energy, 325, 119811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.119811
• Lizana, J., Manteigas, V., Almeida, S. M., Chacartegui, R., Becerra, J. A., Lage, J., Blondeau, P., Berthier, C., Barrios-Padura, A., Gil-Baez, M., Serrano-Jimenez, A., Silva, F., Rato, R., Gomes, M., Giorgetti, G., Gamarra, A. R., Lechon, Y., Herrera, I., Fernandez, A., … Rouquette, H. (2022). The Pathway Towards Low Carbon Schools: Criteria, Targets and Solutions (J. Lizana, V. Manteigas, S. M. Almeida, & R. Chacartegui (eds.)). Nova Science Publishers. https://doi.org/10.52305/XVSQ6757
• López-García, E., Lizana, J., Serrano-Jiménez, A., Díaz-López, C., & Ángela Barrios-Padura. (2022). Monitoring and analytics to measure heat resilience of buildings and support retrofitting by passive cooling. Journal of Building Engineering, 57(July), 104985. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2022.104985
• Lizana, J., López-Cabeza, V. P., Renaldi, R., Diz-Mellado, E., Rivera-Gómez, C., & Galán-Marín, C. (2022). Integrating courtyard microclimate in building performance to mitigate extreme urban heat impacts. Sustainable Cities and Society, 78(December 2021), 103590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103590
• Lizana, J., Perejón, A., Sanchez-Jimenez, P. E., & Perez-Maqueda, L. A. (2021). Advanced parametrisation of phase change materials through kinetic approach. Journal of Energy Storage, 44(August), 103441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2021.103441
• Lizana, J., Manteigas, V., Chacartegui, R., Lage, J., Becerra, J. A., Blondeau, P., Rato, R., Silva, F., Gamarra, A. R., Herrera, I., Gomes, M., Fernandez, A., Berthier, C., Gonçalves, K., Alexandre, J. L., Almeida-silva, M., & Marta, S. (2021). A methodology to empower citizens towards a low-carbon economy. The potential of schools and sustainability indicators. Journal of Environmental Management, 284(October 2020), 112043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112043
• Becerra, J. A., Lizana, J., Gil, M., Barrios-Padura, A., Blondeau, P., & Chacartegui, R. (2020). Identification of potential indoor air pollutants in schools. Journal of Cleaner Production, 242, 118420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118420
• Lizana, J., De-Borja-Torrejon, M., Barrios-Padura, A., Auer, T., & Chacartegui, R. (2019). Passive cooling through phase change materials in buildings. A critical study of implementation alternatives. Applied Energy, 254, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113658
• Lizana, J., Friedrich, D., Renaldi, R., & Chacartegui, R. (2018). Energy flexible building through smart demand-side management and latent heat storage. Applied Energy, 230, 471–485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.08.065
• Lizana, J., Serrano-Jimenez, A., Ortiz, C., Becerra, J. A., & Chacartegui, R. (2018). Energy assessment method towards low-carbon energy schools. Energy, 159, 310–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.06.147
• Lizana, J., Chacartegui, R., Barrios-Padura, A., & Valverde, J. M. (2017). Advances in thermal energy storage materials and their applications towards zero energy buildings: A critical review. Applied Energy, 203, 219–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.06.008
• Lizana, J., Barrios-Padura, Á., Molina-Huelva, M., & Chacartegui, R. (2016). Multi-criteria assessment for the effective decision management in residential energy retrofitting. Energy & Buildings, 129, 284–307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.07.043

• 1st Prize for the best PhD Thesis GECAT 2020 of the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry and the Royal Spanish Physical Society
• The 1st Young Prize for Scientific Culture 2018 in the field of experimental sciences
• The 1st International YEAR AWARD 2018 by the Young European Associated Researchers (YEAR)
• Four awards to the best scientific publications by different institutions.