Jan Carmeliet completed his undergraduate degree in Engineering Architecture at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U. Leuven) and earned his PhD in Civil Engineering from the same institution in 1992. His academic journey includes successive advancements from Assistant Professor (1998) to Associate Professor (2001) and ultimately to Full Professor (2004) at K.U. Leuven. Additionally, he held a part-time professorship at T.U. Eindhoven from 2001 to 2008. During a sabbatical in 2007, he pursued research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at Los Alamos Governmental Laboratories. Carmeliet’s research is centred around the intricacies of the multiscale behaviour of porous and granular materials, the complexities of heat-air-moisture flow in the urban environment, and the dynamics of energy systems at the building and urban scale. A lot of his research is based on advanced computer modelling methods like atomistic, discrete element, lattice Boltzmann, CFD, and FEM. He also uses sophisticated experimental methods, such as time-resolved imaging in wind and water tunnels, to back up these methods.

In addition to his academic contributions, Carmeliet serves as an expert for the Commission of Technology and Innovation Switzerland (CTI/engineering). He has held key roles within ETH Zürich, including membership in the research commission, the Board of Energy Science Centre, and the scientific commission of the CCEM (Centre of Competence Energy and Mobility). He has also been instrumental in the development and oversight of the Master of Science in Integrated Building Systems programme at ETHZ and is the coordinator of the SCCER-efficiency (Swiss Centre of Competence for Energy Research).