Paola is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture of The University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia), where she coordinates the Master of Architecture Program. She studied architecture with a focus on green technologies in Milan, Berlin, Leicester and Copenhagen, and holds a PhD in building energy efficiency and environmental quality from the Politecnico di Milano (Italy). Her doctoral work was undertaken under the guidance of Prof P. Ole Fanger, one of the world’s leading experts in the field of thermal comfort. Dr Leardini has worked as an ESD designer and consultant, and taught in tertiary institutions in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and New Zealand, before joining the University of Queensland in 2015. As a certified Passivhaus designer, in 2012 Dr Leardini became a founding member of the Passive House Institute New Zealand (PHINZ), and in 2018, joined the Australian Passive House Association (APHA). Since 2015, Dr Leardini has been a member of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, a government-funded, interdisciplinary research initiative, and she has also been an active research member of the UQ Centre for Future Timber Structure, a Centre of Excellence to generate knowledge-based innovations and accelerate engineered timber products uptake by the building industry. Dr Leardini serves as a reviewer of scientific journals, has been invited to join judging panels of prestigious sustainable architecture competitions, including the Climate CoLab by the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, and is a member of the Design Excellence Panel: Queensland social and affordable housing, recently established by the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy in partnership with the Office of the Queensland Government Architect. Her current professional and academic work aims at dissolving the apparent dichotomy between design and performance in architecture and urban design, promoting smart and resilient built environments through integrated water and energy design strategies for engaged communities and multifunctional public spaces.