Jesus Lizana BSc, MSc, PhD, FCIBSE, CEng

Jesus Lizana is Associate Professor in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, with an experience profile in architecture and engineering. He leads the research on Zero-Carbon Heating and Cooling at the ZERO Institute and serves as a Governing Body Fellow at Wolfson College.

Professor Lizana has an international and interdisciplinary career, having worked across Spain, Germany, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. At Oxford, he is engaged in a wide range of research initiatives and has secured several prestigious competitive grants, including a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (MSCA). His research focuses on climate change mitigation and adaptation, heating decarbonisation, and sustainable cooling, using novel materials, numerical modelling, climate analysis, real-world experimentation, and strategic planning. He also serves as Co-Chair of the Sustainable Cooling Group at CIBSE, Student Activities Chair of the ASHRAE UK Chapter, and is a member of the scientific and technical committees of major international conferences, including CICSE and SDEWES. He also acts as a board member and scientific reviewer for leading journals, conferences, and research programmes.

Alongside his academic work, Professor Lizana is a consultant and UK Chartered Engineer (FCIBSE CEng) on building engineering projects across the United Kingdom, India, Spain, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia. He advises on building performance, zero-carbon energy systems, data analytics, risk assessment, and sustainable and resilient cooling solutions. He has provided strategic guidance to international organisations, including UNEP, CIBSE, and the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

His career has received wide recognition, including the SRUK/CERU Emerging Talent Award (2025) for outstanding scientific achievement, the MPLS Teaching Award (2025) at the University of Oxford, the ASHRAE Award (2025) for Zero-Carbon Education, and the CIBSE Award (2025) for Learning and Development. Earlier distinctions include first prize for Best PhD Thesis (GECAT 2020) awarded by the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry and the Royal Spanish Physical Society, the Young Prize for Scientific Culture (2018) in experimental sciences, the International Year Award (2018) from Young European Associated Researchers, and multiple awards for best scientific publications.

Professor Lizana earned his PhD in low-carbon buildings from the University of Seville, Spain, following a five-year integrated degree in Architecture and Building Engineering and an MSc in Building Engineering. Prior to joining Oxford, he held academic and research positions at the University of Seville, the University of Edinburgh, the Technical University of Munich, the University of Lisbon, and the Spanish National Research Council.

Professor Jesus Lizana’s research addresses the cross-disciplinary challenge of delivering zero-carbon, climate-responsive buildings under current and future climate conditions. His work integrates engineering science, climate analysis, and building performance to support the transition towards resilient and sustainable built environments. His research is structured around three interconnected themes:

• Heating decarbonisation, including low-carbon thermal systems, energy flexibility, low-temperature thermal energy storage, and the integration of renewable and electrified heating technologies in buildings and districts.
• Climate analysis and risk assessment, focusing on climate change modelling, high-resolution urban climate observations, citizen science, climate-related building diagnosis, and climate-responsive design strategies for present and future climates.
• Sustainable cooling, encompassing passive and hybrid cooling approaches, novel materials, advanced construction systems, indoor environmental quality, and ultra-low-cost cooling technologies.

Across these themes, Professor Lizana combines experimental research, numerical modelling, advanced building simulation, real-world testing, strategic planning, and knowledge transfer, working closely with industry, policymakers, and international organisations to ensure practical impact.

Current research projects:

• SMART-DRI. Scenario Modelling and Assessment for Research Transition in Digital Research Infrastructure. UKRI NetDRIVE second call. 2026-2027
• IEA EBC Annex 97. Sustainable Cooling in Cities. A working group coordinated by the International Energy Agency, Energy in Buildings and Communities Programme. 2025-2029
• openBES. Open software for building energy diagnosis to support cost-effective zero-carbon interventions. IAA EPSRC. 2025-2026
• The future of ZERO buildings - A Strategic Industry-Academia Alliance. Oxford Estates Services. 2025-2026
• ML-UrbanClimate. Novel machine learning techniques to generate high spatio-temporal resolution urban climate observations for climate adaptation. EPSRC. 20254-2028

Finished research projects:

• ResCOOL. Resilient cooling towards climate change adaptation of cities and buildings. H2020 programme - MSCA. 2021-2023
• The Future of Cooling Programme. Innovating for Sustainable Development: A Multidimensional Study of the Future of Cooling. Oxford Martin School programme.

Dr Jesus Lizana has more than 40 scientific articles, 1 book, 5 book chapters, and 30 communications in International Conferences, highlighting the following publications:

Scientific articles

• Franken, L., Hackett, A., Lizana, J., Riepin, I., Jenkinson, R., Lyden, A., Yu, L., & Friedrich, D. (2025). Power system benefits of simultaneous domestic transport and heating demand flexibility in Great Britain’s energy transition. Applied Energy, 377(PB), 124522. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124522
• Arcenegui-Troya, J., Lizana, J., Sánchez-Jiménez, P. E., Perejón, A., Vañes-Vallejo, A., & Pérez-Maqueda, L. A. (2024). Sodium acetate-based thermochemical energy storage with low charging temperature and enhanced power density. Journal of Energy Storage, 86(January), 111310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2024.111310 
• 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
• 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., 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

Datasets

• Lizana, J., Miranda, N. D., Sparrow, S. N., Wallom, D. C. H., Khosla, R., & McCulloch, M. (2025). Global gridded dataset of heating and cooling degree days under climate change scenarios. Nature Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01754-y
• Lizana, J., Miranda, N. D., Sparrow, S. N., Watson, P. A. G., Zachau Walker, M., Wallom, D. C. H., & McCulloch, M. D. (2024). Ensemble of global climate simulations for temperature in historical, 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C scenarios from HadAM4. Scientific Data, 11(1), 578. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03400-2

Books

• Lizana, J. et al. (2022). The Pathway Towards Low Carbon Schools: Criteria, Targets and Solutions. Nova Science Publishers. https://doi.org/10.52305/XVSQ6757 

2025 – SRUK/CERU Emerging Talent Award, Society of Spanish Researchers in the UK (SRUK/CERU) and Banco Santander Foundation

2025 – MPLS Teaching Award, University of Oxford

2025 – ASHRAE Award for Zero-Carbon Education

2025 – CIBSE Award for Learning and Development

2021 – First Prize for Best PhD Thesis (GECAT 2020), Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry and Royal Spanish Physical Society

2020 – Extraordinary Doctorate Award, University of Seville

2020 – Honourable Mention, Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, University of Seville

2018 – Young Prize for Scientific Culture (Experimental Sciences), Seville City Council

2018 – First Prize, International Year Award, Young European Associated Researchers

2012 – Second Prize, Solar Decathlon Europe 2012 (Project Patio 2.12), Andalucía Team

2012 – First Prize, ANfhARQ–FYM Award for Sustainable Solutions in Architectural Concrete

2025. Talk. The Future of Net-Zero Buildings. Maurice Lubbock Lecture.

2025. Talk. Innovations for zero-carbon heating and cooling: the path to net-zero buildings by 2050. Oxford Energy Network Seminar.

2024. Interview. Build Up portal.

2023. Media article. How to make homes cooler without cranking up the air conditioning. The Conversation

2023. Media article. Northern Europe faces biggest relative increase in uncomfortable heat and is dangerously unprepared – new research. The Conversation

2021. Media article. UK net zero strategies are overlooking something vital: how to cool buildings amid rising temperatures. The Conversation

Prospective MSc and DPhil students are very welcome to contact me by email before submitting an application. I am happy to arrange an informal conversation to discuss potential research ideas, comment on a draft proposal, or provide further information about our work at the ZERO Institute.

Details of application requirements and the latest deadlines for the MSc by Research and DPhil in Engineering Science are available on the University of Oxford admissions webpage:

MSc by Research in Engineering Science

DPhil in Engineering Science