On 5 June 2025, the 15th CLIMA World Congress in Milan, Italy, hosted the finals of the REHVA Student Competition and the HVAC World Student Competition. Organized with the support of Eurovent Certification, the events brought together top HVAC students from Europe and around the world to present their thesis-based research in front of international judging panels.
Each year, REHVA (the Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Associations) organizes a student competition with national nominations from member associations. Finalists present bachelor’s or master’s thesis projects, covering various topics in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. A separate ‘Best Poster’ award is also granted.
Karolina Prusicka (University of Sheffield, UK, selected by CIBSE) – Facade trade-offs between embodied and operational carbon for future climate: A case study of a high-rise residential building in the UK.
Jakub Černák (Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic, selected by STP) – Revitalization of traditional cottage in Kopanice.
Ana Pilar Gimeno Sobreviela (University of Zaragoza, Spain, selected by AYECYR) – Analysis of Indoor Air Quality and ventilation in the industry: a case study of the textile sector.
Mathilde Pourrat (INSA of Strasbourg, France, selected by AICVF) – Analysis of nature-based design tools impact on microclimates. A pre-study to raise awareness among urban planners.
Jessica Stoller (Lucerne School of Engineering and Architecture HSLU, Switzerland, selected by DIE PLANER) – Optimisation of refrigeration systems in supermarkets operating with carbon dioxide.
Artturi Junttila (Aalto University, Finland, selected by FINVAC) – Utilization of district heating return water and backup heating in new apartment buildings.
Zahra Tabatabaei Mirhosseini (Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, selected by TVVL) – Increasing self-consumption of PV power with load shifting by smart indoor temperature control.
Hans Kristjan Aljas (Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, selected by EKVU) – CO2 sensors: quantifying challenges of large-scale indoor air quality assessment.
Mandea Bianca-Nicoleta and Barbu Daniel-Constantin (Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest, Romania, selected by AIIR) – Eco-friendly heat: solar air collectors crafted with recycled materials for low-income housing.
Dejan Lepojević (University of Belgrade Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Serbia, selected by KGH-Smeits) – Integration of a solar thermal system into a district heating system.
Lukáš Michalák (Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia, selected by SSTP) – Ventilation and partial air-conditioning of classrooms and local exhaust ventilation of laboratories in an educational building.
Beniamino Fambri (Politecnico di Milano – Energy Engineering, Italy, selected by AiCARR) – Detection and diagnosis of operating faults of a water-to-water heat pump using artificial neural networks.
Zoltán Takács (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary, selected by MMK) – The impact of HVAC electrification and grid decarbonization on building-level CO2 emissions.
The judging panel included Livio Mazzarella (AiCARR), Uwe W. Schulz (DIE PLANER), Maja Todorovic (KGH-Smeits), Tim Dwyer (CIBSE), Tiberiu Catalina (AIIR), and Frank Hovorka (AICVF).
1st Prize: Beniamino Fambri (Italy)
2nd Prize: Mandea Bianca-Nicoleta and Barbu Daniel-Constantin (Romania)
3rd Prize: Mathilde Pourrat (France)
Best Poster: Jessica Stoller (Switzerland)
As winner of the REHVA competition, Beniamino Fambri advanced to the HVAC World Student Competition.
Held every three years during the CLIMA Congress, the HVAC World Student Competition features finalists selected by REHVA and its MoU partners: ASHRAE (USA), CAHVAC (China), FAIAR (South America), ISHRAE (India), SAREK (South Korea), and SHASE (Japan).
Da-Sung Jung and Se-Hyeon Kim (Pukyong National University, Korea, selected by SAREK) – Evaluation of the effectiveness of transfer learning-based optimal control algorithms.
Mokshika Arora (CEPT University, India, selected by ASHRAE) – Addressing solar heat gain, daylight access and visual comfort with fixed external shading devices: A simplified approach.
Hidetoshi Maruyama (Waseda University, Japan, selected by SHASE) – Improving building envelope performance during retrofit for building decarbonization.
Dongjia Han (Tsinghua University, China, selected by CAHVAC) – Air purifiers in residences: cost-effectiveness and optimization strategies.
Beniamino Fambri (Politecnico di Milano, Italy, selected by REHVA) – Detection and diagnosis of operating faults of a water-to-water heat pump using artificial neural networks.
The judging panel included Livio Mazzarella (REHVA), Vikrant Aute (ASHRAE), Junta Nakano (SHASE), Jin Kyun Cho (SAREK), and Junjie Liu (CAHVAC).
HVAC World Student Champion: Beniamino Fambri (Italy)
Eurovent Certification remains a committed sponsor of both competitions, supporting the development of future professionals in the HVAC sector.