Climate change isn’t happening somewhere far away. It’s happening outside our front door. Professor Marina Neofytou shares how science can help us rethink our cities and create places that are more resilient, sustainable and better for the people who live in them.

Prof. Dr. Marina Neophytou is Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Cyprus, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering (2023–2026), and Head of the Environmental Fluid Mechanics (EFM) Laboratory – Isle of Excellence. Her research focuses on environmental fluid dynamics, climate change, air quality, urban microclimates, and sustainable built environments. She currently leads the University of Cyprus EFM team in several major European-funded projects, including TRIGGER, EnerCMed, and CiROCCO, and has attracted more than €3 million in external research funding. She previously served as Head and Vice-Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and was instrumental in establishing Cyprus’s first undergraduate Environmental Engineering programme.

Prof. Neophytou studied Engineering at the University of Cambridge, where she obtained her BA (Hons), MEng, MA and PhD in Environmental Fluid Dynamics, supported by academic scholarships and industry funding. She has held visiting research positions at ETH Zurich, MIT, and Los Alamos National Laboratory and has developed extensive international research collaborations with leading institutions including Cambridge, MIT, ETH Zurich and Eindhoven University of Technology. She joined the University of Cyprus in 2005 and became a full Professor in 2020, combining academic leadership with internationally recognised research addressing the effects of climate change and the built environment on citizens and society.