Briefing

I am an assistant professor at the Sustainability group of Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM), Maastricht University. 

I did my PhD in Engineering on "Sustainable prefabricated composite housing" under the framework of MIT Portugal program (University of Porto, Massachusetts Institute of Technology-MIT) and hold a master degree in Mechanical Engineering (Chalmers University of Technology, Polytechnic University of Catalunya-UPC). 

Fields of interest

My fields of interest are Sustainability, Sustainability assessment, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Biobased materials.

 

I currently work on the following research projects:

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- LCA of biobased materials with focus on plastic additives (colorants, flame retardants, etc.)
- LCA of textile applications
- Models for integrating LCA, Circular Economy and SDGs
- Models for integrating good health and well-being (SDG 3) in LCA
- Models for addressing good health and well-being (SDG 3) of the occupants of buildings

- Greenwashing and responsible consumption and production (SDG 12)
- Sustainable decision making

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Career development

2021-Present: Assistant professor, Sustainability group, Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands

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​2019-2021: Postdoctoral researcher in sustainability with focus on "LCA of biobased materials”, Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands

 

2016-2018: Postdoctoral researcher in sustainability with focus on “health, comfort and energy in the built environment”, Energy group, Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (INEGI), Porto, Portugal

 

2012-2016: PhD researcher/Project leader, Composite materials and structures group, Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (INEGI), Porto, Portugal

 

2011: Research Assistant, Metal Cutting Research and Development Centre (MCR), Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

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Education

​2011-2016: PhD in Engineering, MIT-Portugal Program “Leaders for Technological Industries” with focus on “Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing”, Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto (FEUP) in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Porto, Portugal & Cambridge, MA, United States
         - PhD thesis: Sustainable pre-fabricated composite housing

 

2008-2010: MSc in Mechanical Engineering, Program: Prodction Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

- Master thesis, Polytechnic University of Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain

 

Teaching 

• University Teaching Qualification-UTQ Certificate (Basiskwalificatie Onderwijs-BKO in Dutch), Maastricht University, Netherlands

• Course coordinator

2020-Present: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Basic principles and uses, Maastricht University & Chemelot InSciTe, Netherlands

• Lecturer

2020-Present: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Basic principles and uses, Maastricht University & Chemelot InSciTe, Netherlands

• Tutor

2020-Present: Sustainability of Biobased Materials, 6 ECTS, Biobased Materials master program, Maastricht University, Netherlands

2019-Present: Biobased Materials, 6 ECTS, Biobased Materials master program, Maastricht University, Netherlands

 

Invited talks

​2021:

• "Life Cycle Assessment, for or against greenwashing?", Lecture series on Sustainable Development Goals, Studium Generale, Maastricht University, Netherlands

• "Greenwashing: Why did you give me the wrong number?", Green office, University of Groningen, Netherlands

2018: 

• "Sustainability and renewable energy", National Taipei University, Taiwan

 

Honors & Awards

2011-2016: MIT-Portugal PhD Scholarship, The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal

2010: Erasmus Mundus European Exchange Scholarship as an exceptional case, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden

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Courses & Workshops

2021: 7.5 ECTS Master's course “Introduction to Sustainability Science”, Stockholm University, Sweden

2020: Five-week course “Circular Economy and the 2030 Agenda”, United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC), Online

2015: Two-week workshop "Innovation”, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, United States

2011: Two-week summer course "Sustainability", University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

2010: Two-week spring course "Theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ)", Saint Petersburg State Polytechnic University, Saint Petersburg, Russia

2008: Two-week winter course "Control & Robotics", University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

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Memberships

2021-Present: Board of Admissions, Master of Biobased Materials, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands

2011-2016: Board of European Students of Technology (BEST), Porto, Portugal

2010-2011: Board of European Students of Technology (BEST), Gothenburg, Sweden

 

Reviewer

• Elsevier: 

  • Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews

  • ​Journal of Cleaner Production

  • Energy

  • Applied Energy

  • Energy and Buildings

  • Energy Policy

  • Energy Conversion and Management

  • Sustainable Production and Consumption

  • Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries

  • European Journal of Operational Research

  • Safety Science

• Springer:

  • The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment

  • Energy, Ecology and Environment

  • Waste and Biomass Valorization

 

Scientific committee

2021:​

• The 6th International Conference on Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development (CEESD 2021), December 2021, Singapore

• The 7th International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE 2021), November 2021, Xi’an, China

• International Conference on Frontiers of Smart Materials and Structures (CFSMS 2021), January 2021, Singapore

2020:​

• The 5th International Conference on Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development (CEESD 2020), December 2020, Xishuangbanna, China

• The 3rd International Conference on New Energy and Environment Engineering (ICNEE), June 2020, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

• The 1st International Conference on Frontiers of Smart Materials and Structures (CFSMS), Athens, Greece

2019:

• The 2nd International Conference on New Energy and Environment Engineering (ICNEE), May 2019, Singapore

2018:

• The 2nd International Conference on Sustainability, Human Geography and Environment, November & December 2018, Kraków, Poland

• The 1st International Conference on New Energy and Environment Engineering (ICNEE), May 2018, Singapore

• The 3rd International conference on the New Horizons in the Civil Engineering Architecture and Urbanization, 2018, Iran

2017:

• Chairman of the Energy/Biomechanics session, IV LAETA young researchers conference, November 2017, Covilhã, Portugal

 

Computer skills

• LCA::SimaPro

• ENERGY: EnergyPlus, OpenStudio, SketchUp, HOMER

• PHOTOVOLTAICS: PVsyst

• MATERIALS: CES Selector

• General: MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), MS Project, Visual PROMETHEE

 

Publications

• Samani, P., García-Velásquez, C., Fleury, P., & van der Meer, Y. (2021). The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on climate change and air quality: four country case studies. Global Sustainability. Accepted manuscript

• Samani, P., & van der Meer, Y. (2020). Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies on flame retardants: A systematic review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 123259. Download

• Samani, P., Gregory, J., Leal, V., Mendes, A., & Correia, N. (2018). Lifecycle cost analysis of prefabricated composite and Masonry buildings: comparative study. Journal of architectural engineering, 24(1), 05017012. Access

• Samani, P., Mendes, A., Leal, V., & Correia, N. (2017). Pre-fabricated, environmentally friendly and energy self-sufficient single-family house in Kenya. Journal of Cleaner Production, 142, 2100-2113. Access

• Samani, P., Leal, V., Mendes, A., & Correia, N. (2016). Comparison of passive cooling techniques in improving thermal comfort of occupants of a pre-fabricated building. Energy and Buildings, 120, 30-44. Access

• Samani, P., Mendes, A., Leal, V., Guedes, J. M., & Correia, N. (2015). A sustainability assessment of advanced materials for novel housing solutions. Building and Environment, 92, 182-191. Access

• Samani, P. (2016), Sustainable pre-fabricated composite housing, PhD thesis, MIT Portugal, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto. Download

• Santos, H., Samani, P., & de Oliveira Fernandes, E. (2018). Energy sufficiency in buildings, a synonym for passive and low energy architecture (PLEA). Architectural Science Review, 61(5), 292-297. Access

• Samani, P., Guedes, J. M., Mendes, A., Leal, V., & Correia, N. (2014). Assessment of sandwich-structured composite as green building material. 4th Congress of Innovation on Sustainable Construction–CINCOS, Porto, Portugal. 

• Samani, P., Santos, H., & de Oliveira Fernandes, E. (2017). Energy sufficiency, a synonym for passive and low energy architecture (PLEA), PLEA conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.

• Sousa, S., Samani, P., Gomes, C., & Correia, N. (2018). Compósitos avançados aplicados no setor da construção (in Portuguese), Construção 2018, Porto, Portugal

• Sans, J., Samani, P. (2010). Riesgo y territorio,¿una cuestión pendiente? (in Spanish and Catalan), Revista Catalana de Seguretat Pública, 1, 1-24