Lan Ding is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Built Environment. She received her PhD at the University of Sydney's Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning. Prior to joining the Faculty of Built Environment at UNSW, Lan held the position of Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO (2000-2011) and Senior Lecturer at the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre at the University of Wollongong (2011-September 2013).
Lan is a Member of STANDARDS Australia Committee, IT-268 Sustainable Cities and Communities, Convenor of High Performance Architecture (HPA) Research Cluster in Built Environment, and was UNSW Node Leader at CRC for Low Carbon Living, and Co-Chair of SBE16 International High-Performance Built Environment Conference (SBE 16 Sydney | International High-Performance Built Environment Conference).
Lan has over 20 years research experience in sustainable building design, regulation, energy efficiency, sustainable urban development and environmental analysis, intelligent building systems, smart cites and communities, urban heat mitigation and adaptation, decision-making models, building information modelling (BIM), urban informatics, multi-agent modelling, GIS, building life cycle assessment, as well as the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to built and urban environments.
Lan has won various awards for research innovation and leadership, including Award for Excellence from the City of Port Phillip, national and state awards from the Australian Institute of Building, the Fresh Innovators Award and the CSIRO Divisional Award for excellence in a successful project providing an invaluable information resource to help the land development industry create more sustainable neighbourhoods.
My Grants
Recent Grants:
Delivering Net-Zero Energy Buildings: A Next-Generation Hybrid Energy System with Demand Side Management. 2025 - 2026
Sponsor/Grant: Traiblazer Program "Recycling & Clean Energy", Advanced United Technologies, L&H Consulting, Sungrow Australia Group, Dubbo Regional Council
Value: $2,493,712
Role: CI and Project Manager
National Heat Vulnerability Observatory Phase 1: Smart and Cool Places in NSW. Jan 2023 - June 2024
Sponsor/Grant: Smart Place Acceleration Program, NSW Government Digital Restart Fund, NSW Department of Planning and Environment, Dubbo Regional Council, Maitland City Council.
Value: $551,471
Role: Project Leader
Project website
UNSW News
Designing Prefabricated Timber POD for Optimal Indoor Environmental Performance and User Comfort. 2022
Sponsor/Grant: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources and Elan Construction
Value: $59,739.84
Role: Project Leader
NABERS Embodied Emissions – Technical analysis. 2022
Sponsor/Grant: NSW Department of Planning and Environment
Value: $40,510
Role: Co-investigator
Smart Community Pilot Study. 2021
Sponsor/Grant: UNSW DGFI Interdisciplinary Seed Funding Award
Value: $60,000
Role: Project Leader
Thermal Data Collection and Modelling. 2020
Sponsor/Grant: City of Port Phillip
Value: $90,200
Role: Project Leader
Post-CRC Node, 2019 - 2020.
Sponsor/Grant: CRC for Low Carbon Living
Value: $216,000
Role: Co-Leader
Assessment of Impact of Urban Development on Urban Heat Island (UHI) Coupled with UHI Effect of Solar PV, 2019.
Sponsor/Grant: NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and CRC for Low Carbon Living
Value: $86,500
Role: Project Leader
Partner Organisations: UNSW, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), Greater Sydney Commission, CRC for Low Carbon Living
A Strategic Report for Cool Sydney 2050, 2019
Sponsor/Grant: City of Sydney and CRC for Low Carbon Living
Value: $20,000
Role: Project Leader
Partner Organisations: UNSW, City of Sydney, CRC for Low Carbon Living
Project Report
Urban Heat Amelioration Design Guideline and Standards, 2019
Sponsor/Grant: VIC Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
Value: $60,750
Role: Co-Investigator
Partner Organisations: UNSW, VIC Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
EEDMN BASIX: Mapping the Decision-Making Processes to Identify Barriers and Drivers to Meet or Exceed the BASIX Requirements of New Builds, March 2018-February 2019.
Sponsor/Grant: NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and CRC for Low Carbon Living
Value: $116,000
Role: Project Leader
Partner Organisations: UNSW, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), CRC for Low Carbon Living
UHI-DS: Microclimate and Urban Heat Island Mitigation Decision-Support Tool, January 2017-December 2018.
Sponsor/Grant: CRC for Low Carbon Living
Value: $420,389
Role: Project Leader
Partner Organisations: UNSW, Swinburne University, City of Sydney, Greater Sydney Commission, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, Landcom, NSW Spatial Services, BlueScope Steel, AECOM, Stockland, Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, Parramatta Council, Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, Waverley Council, Inner West Council, Campbelltown Council, Sydney Water, PSMA Australia
Microclimate and Urban Heat Island Mitigation Decision-Support Tool
Project Report; Video; UHI Mitigation Index
NSW Government Open Data Visualisation for Urban Island Mitigation, October 2018-May 2019.
Sponsor/Grant: CRC for Low Carbon Living
Value: $69,791
Role: Project Leader
Partner Organisations: UNSW, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), CRC for Low Carbon Living
CPD - Managing Urban Heat, August 2018-March 2019.
Sponsor/Grant: CRC for Low Carbon Living
Value: $18,000
Role: Project Leader
Partner Organisations: UNSW, CRC for Low Carbon Living
Validating and Improving the BASIX Energy Assessment Tool for Low-Carbon Dwellings, July 2014-June 2017.
Sponsor/Grant: CRC for Low Carbon Living
Value: $519,388
Role: Project Leader
Partner Organisations: NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure; Australian Government Department of Industry; NSW Office of Environment and Heritage; and Council of the City of Sydney.
Project Report
Validating and Improving the BASIX Energy Assessment Tool for Low-Carbon Dwellings - Phase 2, July 2016-June 2018.
Sponsor/Grant: CRC for Low Carbon Living
Value: $131,653
Role: Project Leader
Partner Organisations: NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
Project Report
CRC LCL Node of Excellence in 'High Performance Architecture', July 2015-December 2018.
Sponsor/Grant: CRC for Low Carbon Living
Value: $500,000
Role: Project Leader
Partner Organisation: UNSW Australia
Sustainable Smart Cities, 2017
Lan Ding, Mat Santamouris, Deo Prasad, Kathryn Merrick, Hussein Abbass, Matt Garratt, Sreenatha Anavatti
Sponsor/Grant: Built Environment Faculty Research Grant
Value: $12,000
Development of an Immersive 3D Virtual Environment to Support Team Collaboration of Students, 2017
Lan Ding and Chris Pettit
Sponsor/Grant: 2016 Scholarship of Learning and Teaching (SoLT) Grant
Value: $3,000
SBE 16 Sydney | International High-Performance Built Environment Conference 2016
Lan Ding and Paul Osmond
Sponsor/Grant: UNSW Faculty of Built Environment Research Symposia/Exhibition Grant
Value: $5,000
Items to Support Field Research in High Performance Architecture and Informatics at Building, Landscape/Site and Precinct Scale, 2015
Paul Osmond, Lan Ding and Anir Upadhyay
Sponsor/Grant: UNSW Major Research Equipment and Infrastructure Initiative (MREII)
Value: $109,842
PIM: An Open Digital Information Standard for the Exchange of Precinct Information Supporting Carbon Management throughout the Urban Development Lifecycle, July 2014-June 2015.
Sponsor/Grant: CRC for Low Carbon Living
Role: Co-investigator
Partner Organisations: University of Melbourne; Brookfield Multiplex; Renewal SA; AECOM; and Aurecon.
My Qualifications
PhD (USYD), MArch, BArch, Affiliate RAIA
My Awards
ADA Award for Outstanding Achievements to Research (High Performance Architecture). 2024
Cooling South Melbourne Strategy. Award for Excellence. The City of Port Phillip. 2022.
Sustainable consumption and climate adaptation: priority research area for PhD scholarship in CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship, 2009-2011.
CSIRO Divisional Awards 2008 Sustainable Ecosystems: For excellence in a successful project providing an invaluable information resource to help the land development industry create more sustainable neighbourhoods, 2008.
Sydney Opera House FM Exemplar Project (CRC for Construction Innovation). The Gold Award of Special Merit and Project of the Year for “Adopting BIM for Facilities Management: Solution for the Sydney Opera House” at ACEA. 2007.
Sydney Opera House FM Exemplar Project (CRC for Construction Innovation). The Facilities Management Australia and Rider Hunt Terotech Industry Achievement Award. 2007.
National and NSW state professional awards from the Australian Institute of Building. DesignCheck Project. 2006.
The Fresh Innovators Award. 2005.
Honorary associate at the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney, 2003-2005.
My Research Activities
Research Projects
Delivering Net-Zero Energy Buildings: A Next Generation Hybrid Energy System with Demand-Side Management (CI and Project Manager)
National Heat Vulnerability Observatory Phase 1: Smart and Cool Places in NSW (Project Leader).
Designing Prefabricated Timber POD for Optimal Indoor Environmental Performance and User Comfort (Project Leader).
Smart Community Pilot Study. UNSW DGFI Interdisciplinary Seed Funding Award (Project Leader).
Thermal Data Collection and Modelling. City of Port Phillip (Project Leader).
Assessment of Impact of Urban Development on Urban Heat Island (UHI) Coupled with UHI Effect of Solar PV. NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and CRC for Low Carbon Living (Project Leader).
NSW Government Open Data Visualisation for Urban Heat Island Mitigation. NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and CRC for Low Carbon Living (Project Leader).
A Strategic Report for Cool Sydney 2050. City of Sydney and CRC for Low Carbon Living (Project Leader). Project Report
Urban Heat Amelioration Design Guideline and Standards (Co-Investigator).
EEDMN BASIX: Mapping the Decision-Making Processes to Identify Barriers and Drivers to Meet or Exceed the BASIX Requirements of New Builds, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and CRC for Low Carbon Living (Project Leader).
UHI-DS: Microclimate and Urban Heat Island Mitigation Decision-Support Tool, CRC for Low Carbon Living (Project Leader ). Project Report; Video; UHI-DS Tool; UHI Mitigation Index
Validating and Improving the BASIX Energy Assessment Tool for Low-Carbon Dwellings - Phase 2, CRC for Low Carbon Living (Project Leader). Project Report
Validating and Improving the BASIX Energy Assessment Tool for Low-Carbon Dwellings, CRC for Low Carbon Living (Project Leader). Project Report
Node of Excellence in High Performance Architecture, CRC for Low Carbon Living (UNSW Node Leader).
Sustainable Smart Cities, Built Environment Research (Project Leader)
Development of an Immersive 3D Virtual Environment to Support Team Collaboration of Students, Built Environment Learning and Teaching (Project Leader).
Closing the Loop on Evidence-Based Low Carbon of Non-Residential Buildings, CRC for Low Carbon Living (Project Leader during 2014 - 2015).
3D Collaborative Virtual Sustainable Buildings Research Centre, University of Wollongong (Project Leader).
Building Life Cycle Assessment Case Studies, University of Wollongong and Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia (Research Leader).
Sustainability Advisor (AccuRate Based), CSIRO and Federal Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (Project Leader)
Agent-based Consumption Behaviour Modelling and Simulation to Support Climate Adapted Urban Development, CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship (Project Leader).
Planning the Sustainable Urban Renewable of East Lake - Integrated Sustainability Assessment Platform (ISAP), CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship and ACT Planning and Land Authority (ISAP Research Leader).
Planning the Sustainable Urban Renewable of East Lake - Scoping 3D Visualisation Interface, CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship and ACT Planning and Land Authority (Project Leader).
Agent-based Urban Metabolism and Sustainability Platform, CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship (Research Leader).
DesignCheck (BIM-Based), CSIRO, University of Sydney, Woods Bagot and Building Commissions VIC (Project Leader)
Sydney Opera House FM Exemplar Project, CSIRO, University of Sydney, Sydney Opera House, et al (Research Leader)
LCADesign Commercialisation Activities, CSIRO and CRC for Construction Innovation (Project Leader)
PIM: An open digital information standard for the exchange of precinct information supporting carbon management throughout the urban development lifecycle, CRC for Low Carbon Living (Co-Investigator).
Enhancing Resilience of Aged Care Systems to Climate Change: Retrofitting Buildings and Sociocultural Systems, University of Wollongong (Co-Investigator).
Your Development, CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship (Co-Investigator).
Managing Information Flows with Models and Virtual Environments, CSIRO and University of Sydney (Co-Investigator).
Life Cycle Modelling and Design Knowledge Development in 3D Virtual Environments, University of Sydney and CSIRO (Co-Investigator).
DesignWorld: A Tool for Team Collaboration in High Band Virtual Environemnts, University of Sydney, CSIRO, Woods Bagot and Arup (Co-Investigator).
My Research Supervision
Areas of supervision
PhD Supervision
Energy Efficiency and Sustainability
Smart Cities and Buildings
Climate Adaptation and Mitigation
Currently supervising
PhD Supervision
Jin, T. Development of Collective Intelligence for Smart Demand Response to Support the Net Zero Carbon Built Environment. (PhD)
Yang, S. A Causal Bayesian Network-Based Assessment Framework of Heat Vulnerability, Coupling with Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies at Neighbourhood Scale. (PhD)
Shen, K. Integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Digital Twin Technology to Support Decision-Making in Zero Carbon Buildings. (PhD)
Mahsa Zarrabi. Assessing and Forecasting Urban Heat Vulnerability in Smart Cities Through a Collective Data Driven and Machine Learning Approach. (PhD)
Salman Oukati Sadegh. Development of a Novel Real-Time Adaptation Framework for Adaptive Facades that Respond to Extreme Heat and Support Net-Zero Goals in Smart Cities. (PhD)
Completion
Craft, W. A Decision-Making Framework for Regenerative Precinct Development. (PhD)
Samaratunga, M. Development of an Evidence-based Post-Occupancy Behaviour Framework for BASIX-compliant Dwellings in Sydney, Australia. (PhD)
Qi, J. A Decision-Making Framework to Support Urban Microclimate Mitigation by Local Governments. (PhD)
He, B. Mitigating Urban Heat Island Effects: An Analysis of Precinct Ventilation Performance and its Impact on Urban Heat Islands and Outdoor Thermal Comfort. (PhD)
Munsami, K. A Building Envelope Diagnostic Approach to Residential Building Thermal Performance Assessment at Post-Occupancy Stage. (PhD)
Marzban, S. Development of a Self-Adaptive Evolutionary Model to Optimise Single-Sided Ventilated Facade Design . (PhD)
Xiao, P. Development of Collective Intelligence for Building Energy Efficiency. (PhD)
Craft, W. Towards 'Proactive' Retrofitting: Developing a Regenerative Framework for Building Retrofits. (Master by Research)
Shen, K. Development of a Framework to Support Whole Life Net-Zero Carbon Buildings through Integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Digital Twin Technology. (M.Phil)
Wang, C. Vertical Greenery Systems and the Indoor Setting: A Review of Well-Being Outcomes and Related Perceptions (First Class Honours)
Bradshaw, S. The Development of a Construction Green Purchasing Framework. (First Class Honours)
My Engagement
In the Media
- Ding, L. (2024). Interview by Sky News (TV). Heat exhaustion is a risk for the elderly | Sky News Australia
- Santamouris, M. and Ding, L. (2024). Video. UNSW Built Environment - Urban Heat Mitigation Research
- Ding, L. (2020). SBS Radio (Chinese). Climate Change and Bushfires. Retrieved from https://www.sbs.com.au/language/mandarin/zh-hans/audio/experts-australia-s-future-fire-risk-will-be-higher?fbclid=IwAR1tZOujVTZ45RgCj1Fqu3nhQVcKJnB6W6ReIlX_YP4ibLiyONTZx2DvGHQ
- Ding, L. (2019). NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (SPIE). Sustainable Cities - Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/356574311
- Ding, L. (2019, June 6). In The Fifth Estate. Retrieved from https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/articles/an-online-tool-to-help-urban-planners-drop-the-heat/
- Ding, L. (2019, June 12). In Architecture and Design. Retrieved from https://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/new-online-tool-to-mitigate-rising-temperatures
- CRCLCL (2019, June). Towards Zero Carbon: Cooling Our Cities. In YouTube (Video). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHBielUELbc&t=43s&fbclid=IwAR1FIMLoamW-ujxAdHME-sAhIC1Jf-MEJ8vIIMpgZ_ZH9W-If_spUU6ES0s
- Ding, L. (2015, June 11). In brief. Penrith Star.
- Ding, L. (2015, June 23). Homeowners are sought for survey. St George Leader.
- Ding, L. (2015, June 23). Take part in energy study. Inner West Courier. Retrieved from http://newslocal.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
Membership
- STANDARDS Australia Committee Member, IT-268 Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Affiliate Member, The Royal Australian Institute of Architects
My Teaching
Building Information Modelling, Computational Sustainability, Urban Modelling
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7495-8068
