REHVA presented its 2026 Professional, Fellow and Supporter’s Awards during the Gala Dinner of the REHVA Annual Meeting 2026 in France, hosted by its Member Association AICVF. REHVA President Livio Mazzarella presented the awards to individuals recognised during the event.
Catalin Lungu of AIIR, Romania, and Luca Alberto Piterà of AiCARR, Italy, received the Education Professional Award. Arash Rasooli of TVVL, the Netherlands, received the Fellowship Award.
The Special Recognition Award was presented to Claudio Zilio of AiCARR, Italy, Luca Alberto Piterà of AiCARR, Italy, and Livio Mazzarella of AiCARR, Italy. Timo Karvinen of Granlund, Finland, received the Supporter’s Award, which REHVA said recognised 15 years of loyal support.
REHVA also announced the winners of the REHVA Student Competition 2026. Thirteen teams gathered in Nice on Monday, 20 April, during the REHVA Annual Meeting to present their research papers before a jury. The competition has aimed to honour and recognise outstanding HVAC students since 2005.
Diana Lemian, selected by AIIR Romania, took first place with her presentation, “Development of a Digital Twin for a thermal manikin used in the evaluation of indoor environmental quality”. Serra Ardor, from CIBSE in the UK, received second place for “Beyond Passive Cooling: Testing Hybrid Strategies to Reduce Overheating in Epilepsy Care Homes”. Wei Wei, from TVVL in the Netherlands, placed third with “Office Desks as Diffuser of Ceiling Fan Airflow and Collective Comfort”.
The jury awarded the best poster to Marie Odehnalová, from STP in the Czech Republic, for “Decarbonizing Educational Buildings: The role of LCA and earthen materials in nZEB design”. Jury members were Risto Kosonen, Uwe W. Schulz, Francis Allard, Ilinca Nastase and Dejan Mumovic. The event was sponsored by Eurovent Certification.
