Gisella Calcagno Editor

Dr. Ali Sayigh UK Citizen, Graduated from London University, & Imperial College, BSC.AWP, DIC, PhD, in 1966. He is Fellow of the Institute of Energy, and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering & Technology, Chartered Engineer, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Prof. Sayigh taught in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Reading University and University of Hertfordshire from 1966 – 2004. He was Head of Energy Department at Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) and Expert in renewable energy at AOPEC, Kuwait from 1981-1985.

He started working in solar energy in September 1969. In 1972, he established with some colleagues in Saudi Arabia “The Journal of Engineering Sciences” in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and in 1984 he established International Journal for Solar and Wind Technology, as an Editor-in-Chief. This has changed its name in 1990 to Journal of Renewable Energy. He is editor of several international journal published in Morocco, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, and India. He established WREN and the World Renewable Energy Congress in 1990. Member of various societies related to climate change and renewable energy.

He was consultants to many national and international organizations, among them, the British Council, ISESCO, UNESCO, UNDP, ESCWA, UNIDO and UN.  He run conferences and Seminars in 54 different countries, published more than 600 papers. He edited, written and associated in more than 100 books. He supervised more than 82 MSc. and 36 PhD students. He is editor-in- chief of the yearly Renewable Energy Magazine, 2000-2016. He is the founder of WREN and Renewable Energy Journal published by Elsevier & was the Editor-in-chief for 30 years from 1984 – 2014. 

He is the Editor-in-chief of Comprehensive Renewable Energy coordinating 154 top scientists, Engineers and researchers’ contribution in eight volumes published in 2012 by Elsevier which won 2013 PROSE award in USA. He is the founder of Med Green Buildings and Renewable Energy Forum since 2011. In 2016 he established peer review international open access journal called “Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability” – REES, which is published in English on - line by EDP publisher in Paris. Winner of the Best Clean Energy Implementation Support NPO – UK. In 2018 WREN was rated globally is one of the best Organization in the UK promoting renewable energy. In November 2018, Prof. Sayigh was elected fellow of the Royal Society of Art, (FRSA). Prof. Sayigh is working with Springer Nature in publishing books and proceedings since 2014 and up to now.

Dr. Antonella Trombadore Architect, PhD and Professor of Environmental Design at the University of Florence, since 1999 she works at the Department of Architecture exploring several aspects of Sustainable Architecture and different scale of application: from Responsive Design, Green Architecture for Resilient Cities, Innovative solutions for Deep Renovation of buildings, Architectural integration of Renewables to the innovative materials for Textile. She also teaches in several international universities such as UIR University international the Rabat and University of Tirana. From 2020 she is the director of Research Laboratory beXLab building environmental eXperience, stimulating interdisciplinary approach of Living Lab and participatory process for building retrofit and renovation, as well as human centered/adaptive architectural design, oriented to the green and digital transition (BIM - Digital Twin). Team leader of several European Research Projects in the field of energy retrofitting actions of cultural heritage, nearly zero buildings as well as of integrated smart process in Mediterranean climatic and cultural context. She collaborates with Local and Regional Administrations for the planning and design of national and international proposals, to support the definition of innovative measures and local development actions, in the field of material and immaterial data mapping for responsive tourism, conscious and sustainable use of fragile territories. Technical coordinator of International Post-Graduated Master Course SUARCH - Sustainable Architecture she is especially involved in the bioclimatic design in the different Mediterranean context, North Africa, Middle East, with a focus on Nature-based solutions for climate and environmental responsive design. She is member of international networks as PLEA and WREC, member of scientific committee of International conferences, workshops and seminars, as Med Green Forum; author of more than one hundred scientific contributions, papers and books.

Dr. Gisella Calcagno Architect, MSc, and PhD, expert in green and social architecture. She graduated from the University of Florence (Unifi), where she also obtained a postgraduate interuniversity master’s degree in bio-ecological architecture and innovative technologies for the environment (ABITA). She holds a PhD focused on the impact of architectural and urban quality on vulnerable populations, particularly asylum seekers. During her PhD, she completed a research period abroad at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, attended an advanced course at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, Unifi. She collaborated with the THESIS research center (Unifi), focusing on process innovation for post-earthquake housing emergencies.

Since 2020, she has been working at beXLab (building environmental eXperience laboratory, Unifi), a pilot Living Lab established as part of the Med-EcoSuRe project (Mediterranean University as Catalyst for Eco-Sustainable Renovation, ENI CBC MED - EU). Her work primarily focuses on the use of Digital Twins to support data-driven, integrated, and collaborative design processes in sustainable building and urban renovation projects. She participated in several international conferences and contributed to numerous publications. Involved in various ERASMUS+ projects (HANDS, COSMO), and is primarily responsible for DIGITAL DECATHLON on digitalization in architectural university training. Lecturer in traditional/innovative bioclimatic architecture and technologies at the School of Architecture (Unifi) and at the international Master SUArch (Sustainable Architecture - with International University of Rabat, Morocco). Contract professor in traditional/innovative textile fibers for the Textile and Fashion Design degree course (Unifi).