Dusan Licina

EPFL Smart Living Lab HOBEL
HBL 2 4C (Halle Bleue)
Pass. du Cardinal 13b
1700 Fribourg

EPFL Smart Living Lab HOBEL
HBL 2 4C (Halle Bleue)
Pass. du Cardinal 13b
1700 Fribourg

EPFL Smart Living Lab HOBEL
HBL 2 4C (Halle Bleue)
Pass. du Cardinal 13b
1700 Fribourg

Expertise

Indoor air pollutant dynamics and exposure science 
Building ventilation and environmental control 
Continuous IAQ/IEQ sensing and performance-based assessment
Energy–IAQ trade-offs and nexus
Health-oriented building standards and certifications

Mission

HOBEL advances fundamental and applied knowledge at the intersection of people and buildings. Our mission is to ensure healthy indoor environments while minimizing energy use by uncovering the dynamics and fate of indoor air pollutants, quantifying human inhalation exposures, and developing smart, performance-based ventilation and control strategies. We pursue this through integrated laboratory and field experiments, mechanistic modeling, data-driven analysis, and multi-scale simulations spanning the human, building, and urban scales. 
Dusan Licina, is an associate professor at the école polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and serves as the director of the Human-Oriented Built Environment Laboratory. He conducts fundamental and applied research in the field of sustainable and healthy built environment, with a specific focus on indoor air pollutant dynamics, exposure science and building ventilation.
Dusan holds MSc. and BSc. degrees in mechanical engineering (University of Belgrade). He completed his joint Doctorate degree at the National University of Singapore and Technical University of Denmark, followed by a postdoctoral appointment at the University of California Berkeley. Prior to joining EPFL, he also served as the director of the Standard Development team at the International WELL Building Institute.
Dusan is the recipient of several honors and awards, including Yaglou award by the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ) for significant research accomplishments on sustainable healthy buildings, and Ralph G. Nevin's award by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) given in recognition of significant accomplishment in the study of human response to the environment. He is editorial board member of the highly acclaimed Indoor Air journal. He is passionate about raising awareness about the air quality issues worldwide and developing buildings that are not only energy efficient, but that also contribute to «Michelin Star» indoor air quality.

Awards

Yaglou award

International Conference of the International Society of Indoor Air Quality & Climate (ISIAQ)

2022

Ralph G. Nevins Physiology & Human Environment Award

2018

Journal articles

Teaching & PhD

PhD Students

Taylor Oran Medina, Tianqi Liu, Khadija Sharaf Din, Ruijie Zhu, Enes Gusinjac, Maria Loizou, Hui Dong

Past EPFL PhD Students

Evangelos Belias, Maria Viviana Gonzalez Serrano, Seoyeon Yun, Joan Rey, Han-Yun Jhang

Courses

Energy and comfort in buildings

CIVIL-407

The course presents the fundamentals of energy demand in buildings while emphasizing the need for the comfort and well-being of occupants. In addition, prioritizations and trade-offs between energy and comfort are discussed.

Fundamentals of indoor climate

CIVIL-212

The indoor climate impacts building performance and human well-being. This course covers fundamental knowledge of indoor air quality and thermal environment, with their assessment methods. It also outlines strategies for creating comfortable, healthy, and energy-efficient spaces.

Indoor air quality and ventilation

CIVIL-460

This course covers the fundamentals of indoor air quality and ventilation strategies for optimal building air quality. Through lectures, discussions, modeling software, a hands-on group project, students explore indoor air pollutants, their properties, emission sources, and control mechanisms.