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2026-darmstadt

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3rd International Conference on Net-Zero Built Environment: Innovations in Materials, Structures, and Management Practices

30 Sep – 2 Oct 2026

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The Net-Zero Future 2026 Conference is a landmark international event focused on advancing research, innovation, and best practices to achieve a sustainable, net-zero, carbon-built environment. As part of the broader “Net-Zero Future” project, this third annual conference will be held in the dynamic city of Darmstadt, Germany, from September 30th to October 2nd, 2026.

Check out the Conference Topics

The Net-Zero Future conference series rotates its location annually, providing a global perspective and highlighting regional innovations and challenges. By holding the 2026 edition in Darmstadt, the conference will spotlight Europe’s unique contributions to the global net-zero movement while also providing a platform to discuss the continent’s specific sustainability challenges and opportunities.

Join us in Darmstadt for an inspiring and transformative event where we will work together to accelerate the transition towards a net-zero carbon future, shaping a sustainable built environment for future generations.

Chairs of the Net-Zero Future 2026

Eduardus Koenders
Technical University Darmstadt, Germany
Mahdi Kioumarsi
Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
Behrouz Shafei
Iowa State University, The USA

Important Dates

Abstract Submission Opens15 November 2025
Special Session Proposals Deadline31 March 2026
Registration Opens (Early-Bird)1 February 2026
Early-Bird Registration Closes 15 March 2026
Full Paper Submission Open1 February 2026
Full Paper Submission Closes15 April 2026

Commitees

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Committees

Conference Chair

Eduardus Koenders (Chair),
Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
Mahdi Kioumarsi (Chair),
Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
Behrouz, Shafei (Chair),
Iowa State University, The USA

Organizing Committee

Mahdi Kioumarsi, Norway
Behrouz Shafei, The USA
Hans Beushausen, South Africa
Eduardus, A.B. Koenders, Germany
Samitt Ray Chaudhari, India

International Scientific Committee

Aleksejs Prozuments, Latvia
Ali Zaoui, France
Alisa Machner, Germany
Anya Vollpracht, Germany
Behrouz Shafei, The USA
Branko Šavija, Netherlands
Carl Haas, Canada
Claudiane Ouellet, Canada
Dimitrios Angelis, Belgium
Dimitrios Vamvatsikos, Greece
Enrique Montes, Spain
Enzo Martinelli, Italy
Frank Dehn, Germany
Gaurav Sant, The USA
Guang Ye, Netherlands
Hans Beushausen, South Africa
Henk Jonkers, Netherlands
Jan Arve Øverli, Norway
Jiaolong Zhang, China
Kim Hung Mo, Malaysia
Laurence Habib, Norway
Liberato Ferrara, Italy
Ling Tung Chai, China
Luciano Sambataro, Germany
Mahdi Kioumarsi, Norway
Manu Santhanam, India
Marc Otelle, Netherlands
Mark Alexander, South Africa
Max Hendriks, Netherlands
Nadja Bishara, Germany
Paula Folino, Argentina
Romildo Toledo Filho, Brazil
Sylvia Keßler, Germany
Tamon Ueda, Japan
Terje Kanstad, Norway
Thomas Matschei, Germany
Tor Arne Martius-Hammer, Norway
Vagelis Plevris, Qatar
Viktor Mechtcherine, Germany
Weizhuo Shi, China
Wolfram Schmidt, Germany

Local Committee – Technical University of Darmstadt

Ms. Nita Morina
Mr. Johannes Lobert
Mr. Maximilian Mayer
Ms. Donglin Cao
Ms. Liliya Dubyey

Conference Awards

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Students and Industry Projects Awards 2026

Student Awards

The Net-Zero Future 2026 Conference is delighted to unveil a series of awards dedicated to Exceptional Student 
Presentations and Papers, details of which will be provided at a later stage. 

– Student Presentation Awards: For up to 5 best student presentations
– Student Paper Awards: For up to 5 best papers presented by students

Industry Projects Awards

The Industry Project Award will recognize the most innovative and impactful project presented by industry participants at the Net-Zero Future 2026 Conference. This award highlights excellence in applying research, technology, or best practices to real-world challenges in achieving a net-zero built environment.
The winning project will be selected during the conference based on its originality, practical relevance, and potential contribution to sustainability and carbon reduction in the construction and infrastructure sectors.

In addition to the above awards, the Net-Zero Conference will also offer Graduate Student Support: a full registration fee waiver for up to 10 PhD students who submit high-quality papers.
To be considered for the waiver, eligible students should send a request via our Contact page.

Proceedings

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Conference 2026 Proceedings
Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering

Check previous proceedings book
All accepted papers from the Net-Zero Future 2026 Conference will be published in an open-source academic book series by Springer under the title Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering.

Scopus and Web of Science Indexing

Your research will receive global recognition, as it will be indexed in Scopus (all accepted papers) and Web of Science (a selected number of papers).

Open Access

We are committed to open access, ensuring your work is freely accessible to researchers and professionals worldwide, fostering collaboration and innovation.

Individual DOI

Each paper will be assigned a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which will enhance its visibility and make it easily citable in scholarly publications.

Conference Venue

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Conference Venue

The conference venue will be darmstadtium, the modern, light-filled congress and event centre in the heart of Darmstadt. Set beside the city’s historic castle walls and a short walk from Luisenplatz and the university district, the venue offers flexible auditoriums, bright foyers for exhibitions and posters — an ideal setting for plenaries, parallel sessions, and networking with views across the old town.

Public transport connects the venue smoothly to Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof and onward to Frankfurt Airport, making arrivals and departures straightforward for international participants.

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Accomodation

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Accommodation

We have reserved room contingents at several hotels within easy reach of the conference venue in Darmstadt.

Important note: Reservations can be made directly with the hotel via the hotel website, always quoting the keyword “Net-Zero Future”. Once all booking links are available, they will be added to this page for your convenience.

Welcome Hotel Darmstadt

We have reserved 30 rooms at a reduced rate at Welcome Hotel Darmstadt, located about a 1-minute walk from the venue. Breakfast is included.

Visit Hotel website

Maritim Hotel Darmstadt

We have reserved 30 rooms at Maritim Hotel Darmstadt (with the option to increase the contingent if many rooms are booked).

Visit Hotel website

Best Western City

We have reserved 20 rooms at Best Western City Darmstadt, located in the city center within easy walking distance to the venue.

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IntercityHotel Darmstadt

We have reserved 30 rooms at IntercityHotel Darmstadt, located near Darmstadt main station with easy connections to the venue.

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Conference Activities

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Conference Activities

Conference Dinner – Primus-Line Frankfurt

The conference dinner will take place on a boat cruise along the Main in Frankfurt, offering a unique evening with panoramic views of the city’s skyline. Transportation from Darmstadt, drinks, and traditional Hessian food are included. The standard conference ticket includes the dinner; additional tickets for family members or partners can be purchased separately via our Registration Page.

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Brewery Evening – braustüb’l – Additional Ticket required

Our additional event will be a brewery evening at Braustüb’l, featuring locally brewed beers and traditional food in a cozy, authentic setting on Wednesday the 30.09.2026.
Located close to the central station, you can take several bus and tram options to get there. You can board, for example, at the tram stations Schloss or Luisenplatz and get off at Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof. For more information visit the website of public transport RMV.

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Welcome Ceremony – Haus der Geschichte

The conference welcome ceremony will take place at Haus der Geschichte (Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt), located at Karolinenplatz 3, 64289 Darmstadt. The building, a listed monument in the historic city centre between the palace and the Herrngarten park, brings together several archives and cultural institutions under one roof.

The venue is easy to reach on foot from the city centre and by public transport from Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof. Clear signposting at Haus der Geschichte will guide you to the welcome ceremony area on arrival.

Keynote Speakers

Nele De Belie

President of RILEM
Ghent University
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Nele De Belie is the current President of RILEM, where she plays a key role in shaping international research agendas and fostering collaboration in the field of construction materials and structural engineering.

She is Professor of Durability of Cement Bound Materials at Ghent University (UGent) and Director of the Magnel-Vandepitte Laboratory for Structural Engineering and Building Materials. In addition, she leads the Concrete and Environment research group, focusing on durability, sustainability, and environmental interactions of concrete.

Her research covers sustainable and smart concrete, circular economy and life cycle assessment, concrete durability in aggressive environments, and concrete–microorganism interactions. She has coordinated more than 60 national and international projects and has published over 350 peer-reviewed papers. Since 2022, she has been a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts.

Jan Wörner

Technical University Darmstadt
European Space Agency (ESA)
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Professor Jan Wörner is a German civil engineer and university professor for structural engineering who served as Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) from 2015 to 2021. He was President of the Technical University of Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt) from 2007 to 2014 and later Chairman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), where he played a key role in strengthening international research cooperation and interdisciplinary orientation. Prof. Wörner holds a doctorate in structural engineering and is Professor emeritus at TU Darmstadt. He is also President of acatech, the German National Academy of Science and Engineering.

Prof. Wörner is internationally recognized for his contributions to science management, higher education policy, and European space strategy. During his tenure at ESA, he strongly promoted international cooperation, innovation, and the integration of space activities with societal and industrial needs. He has served on numerous advisory boards at national and international level and is widely respected for bridging academia, large research organizations, and policy-making.

Viktor Mechtcherine

CARE – Climate-Neutral and Resource-Efficient Construction
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Viktor Mechtcherine has been a Professor and the Director of the Institute for Construction Materials at TUD Dresden University of Technology in Germany, since 2006. He is a member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering and the Science Academy of Saxony.

Prof. Mechtcherine is also Editor of the Journals “Cement and Concrete Composites” and “Sustainable Cement-Based Materials” as well as Speaker of the Cluster of Excellence “CARE – Climate-neutral and resource-efficient construction” funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Furthermore, he is a RILEM Fellow and has been honored with the Wason Medal for Materials Research by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and Innovation Awards from both bauma and fib. 

Claudia Hedwig van der Laag

OsloMet
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Claudia van der Laag is a Full Professor of Urban Analytics at Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet), TKD-BE. She is an architect and urban planner with recognised expertise in transport and land-use planning, focusing on people’s behaviour in cities. Her work integrates advanced analytical approaches, including method and tool development at the forefront of virtual and computational urban modelling. With a background as a project consultant, she excels at translating theoretical innovation into practice-oriented solutions and has contributed to numerous international research and applied projects.

In 2015, she was awarded the prestigious Michael Breheny Prize for her work on multiscale and multifractal urban planning models. Claudia serves on the editorial board of Springer’s The Urban Book Series and acts as a reviewer for national research funding agencies across Europe and the Middle East. She holds a PhD in Architecture from TU Wien, bridging architecture, urban planning and computer science, and a PhD in Geography and Regional Planning from Université de Franche-Comté (nowadays known as University Marie-and-Louis-Pasteur), specialising in complexity-based modelling. Her work is dedicated to advancing sustainable cities and regions.

Sophia Villmow

Heidelberg Materials
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Sophia Villmow is a Research Scientist in the Scientific Coordination team within the Global Research & Development and Innovation department at Heidelberg Materials.

Her work focuses on the development of innovative low‑carbon binder systems, CCUS technologies, and collaborative research initiatives with academic and industrial partners. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in applied Mineralogy from Friedrich‑Alexander-Universität Erlangen‑Nürnberg, where she graduated with her master’s degree in 2020. During her PhD at FAU, she specialized in circular economy concepts and CO₂ utilization through mineral carbonation, with a particular emphasis on carbonation hardening in emerging binder systems.

Anna Braune

DGNB – German Sustainable Building Council
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Dr. Anna Braune studied Environmental Engineering at the Technical University of Berlin, where she completed her diploma thesis on life cycle assessments of wastewater treatment plants in cooperation with the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. She subsequently worked for several consulting companies in the fields of sustainability and building services engineering.

From 2004 to 2007, she was a research associate at the University of Stuttgart, at the Institute of Building Physics, Department of Life Cycle Assessment. She was the initiator and, until the end of 2008, the founding managing director of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB).

Afterwards, she joined the sustainability consulting and software company PE International, which was renamed thinkstep in 2014. As Principal Consultant, she was responsible for the “Sustainable Building” team within the consulting division. Since September 2015, Anna Braune has been working again for the DGNB as Head of Research and Development.

Dr. Anna Braune is an experienced DGNB auditor and was for many years a member and head of the DGNB expert group on life cycle assessment. As an environmental engineer, she possesses extensive expertise in the ecological impacts of human activities.

Bassem Andrawes

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
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Bassem Andrawes is a Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and an Excellence Faculty Fellow. He is also the Founding Director of the TRANS-IPIC University Transportation Center, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

A licensed Professional Engineer and Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Prof. Andrawes received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2011. He earned his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech in 2005.

With more than 28 years of experience in engineering, education, and research, his work focuses on earthquake engineering and resilient infrastructure systems. He is internationally recognized for pioneering research on the application of Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) in civil infrastructure. He is the author of the book Shape Memory Alloys in Civil Engineering and the founder of SMA CORES, Inc., the first U.S. startup focused on developing SMA-based solutions for the construction industry.
Prof. Andrawes has contributed extensively to the field with over 175 journal papers, conference papers, books, technical reports, and patents.
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