Diana Lemian, representing REHVA and Europe from the Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest, has won the 2026 HVAC World Student Competition with her work on the Development of a Digital Twin for a thermal manikin used in the evaluation of indoor environmental quality.
The competition, held on 29 June in Austin, TX, in collaboration with ASHRAE and sponsored by Eurovent Certita Certification, brought together five finalists selected by their respective regional associations: SHASE (Japan), CAHVAC (China), SAREK (Korea), ASHRAE (USA), and REHVA (Europe). Each candidate presented their research to a jury chaired by Livio Mazzarella, followed by a poster session and a live Q&A.
Final results:
- Diana Lemian (REHVA, Europe) — Development of a Digital Twin for a thermal manikin used in the evaluation of indoor environmental quality
- Chenwei Peng (CAHVAC, China) — Dynamic inversion-enabled smart drilling for enhanced heat extraction in medium-depth geothermal borehole systems
- Mana Kobayashi (SHASE, Japan) — Comprehensive Multi-objective Optimization of Flexible Photovoltaic Façades considering Pedestrian Wind, also awarded Best Poster
Rounding out the finalists were Sang Yoon Kim (SAREK, Korea), presenting a self-powered occupant-centric airflow control system, and Felix Ekuful (ASHRAE, USA), presenting a comparative study of occupancy-based dynamic ventilation reset strategies.
The jury evaluated each submission on technical relevance, clarity of objectives, methodology, validity of results, innovation, quality of communication (written and oral), graphic quality of the poster and presentation, and the candidate's ability to defend their work under questioning.
This year's competition once again showcased how the next generation of HVAC engineers is tackling the field's core challenges; from indoor environmental quality to renewable heat extraction and building-integrated photovoltaics, with rigor and ambition.
