Diana Ürge-Vorsatz

Diana Ürge-Vorsatz is a professor of Environmental Sciences at Central European University. She is also the Director of the Center for Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Policy. Her research is in Environmental and Energy Studies, namely Climate Change Mitigation.

Early life and education

Diana Ürge-Vorsatz was born in 1968 in Budapest, Hungary. There, she attended and graduated from the Radnóti High School.

Ürge-Vorsatz acquired a Master’s degree in physics with specialization in both Astrophysics and Environmental Physics from Eötvös Lóránd University of Sciences in Budapest from 1986-1992. During this period, Ürge-Vorsatz was a visiting student at Brunel, the University of West London from 1990-1991, where she took graduate courses in Environmental Pollution Science and did research in Environmental Physics. In the summer of 1992, following her Master’s graduation, Ürge-Vorsatz attended a Post-Grad program in Environmental Science with Central European University. From 1992-1996, Ürge-Vorsatz obtained her PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles and Berkeley. During this period, she was a Fulbright Scholar within the Energy and Resources Group. Ürge-Vorsatz acted as a Research Assistant in the Energy and Environment Division in 1993. During the spring quarter of 1993, Ürge-Vorsatz was a Teaching Assistant in the UCLA Department of Physics.

Employment and research

Ürge-Vorsatz acted as a research assistant of Astro Physics in the summer 1989, a Teaching assistant in the Astronomy Department from1988-1990, and was an assistant for the Cechtel Corporation at the Nuclear Power Plant in Paks, Hungary in the summer of 1990. She was also honored in 1990 with The Brief Award.
She also served as a Teaching Assistant in a Summer Graduate Program in Environmental Science and Policy (Central European University Summer 1993). During the winter and spring of 1994, Ürge-Vorsatz was a Research Assistant with the Heat Islands Project. She worked 1994-1996 as a Research Assistant in the Energy Forecasting Group in the Energy and Environment Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Ürge-Vorsatz has instructed and lectured at CEU, UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and the Word Affairs Council between 1994-1996.

Ürge-Vorsatz did her PhD dissertation is entitled “Evaluating US Residential and Commercial Electricity Conservation Potentials: an Analysis of the Lighting Sector.”

Ürge-Vorsatz has been employed at Central European University (CEU) since 2001, where she is now a Full Professor. Ürge-Vorsatz has also held the position of Director for the Center for Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Policy since 2007.

Selected publications

In 2007, Ürge-Vorsatz was a Coordinating Lead Author in the Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Albert Arnold Gore Jr. for their effort to bring climate change information to the public in order to counter it. Urge-Vorsatz served as a Coordinating Lead Author for the chapter “Climate Change Mitigation in Buildings.”

• Güneralp, Burak; Zhou, Yuyu; Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana; Gupta, Mukesh; Yu, Sha; Patel, Pralit L.; Fragkias, Michail; Li, Xiaoma; Seto, Karen C. (2017). "Global scenarios of urban density and its impacts on building energy use through 2050". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (34): 8945–8950. doi:10.1073/pnas.1606035114. PMC 5576775. PMID 28069957.
• Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana; Cabeza, Luisa F.; Serrano, Susana; Barreneche, Camila; Petrichenko, Ksenia (2015). "Heating and cooling energy trends and drivers in buildings". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 41: 85–98. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2014.08.039.
• Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana; Tirado Herrero, Sergio (2012). "Building synergies between climate change mitigation and energy poverty alleviation". Energy Policy. 49: 83–90. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2011.11.093.
• Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana; Novikova, Aleksandra (2008). "Potentials and costs of carbon dioxide mitigation in the world's buildings". Energy Policy. 36 (2): 642–661. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2007.10.009.

Awards and honors

• Leader, Scientific review of Sustainable Development Goal “7” in the new UN Development goals development process. 2014
• Member of the Scientific Committee of the high-level conference, “Our Common Future under Climate Change”, Paris, 2015.
• Invited to contribute to a high-level report to for UN Secretary General in Sept 2014.
• Coordinating Lead Author, Chapter on Building Sector GHG Mitigation, Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Working Group III. 2011 – 2014
• Convening Lead Author, Energy End-use: Buildings, Global Energy Assessment. 2007 – 2012
• Recepient of the Award “Példakép” founded by Pannon. 2009
• Recepient of the Hungarian Presidential recognition “A Magyar Köztársasági Érdemrend Középkeresztje”, 2008. (Medium Cross Medal of the Hungarian Republic)
• Member of the United Nation’s Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change, 2004 – 2007.
• Coordinating Lead Author, Chapter on Residential and Commercial GHG Mitigation, Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Working Group III. 2003 - 2007
• Expert reviewer, Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC, Working Group I.
• Contributed to the scoping process Assessment Report for the IPCC
• International Policy Fellowship from the Center for Policy Studies, Academic Year 2003- 2004.
• Delta Omega Honorary Society selection for outstanding public health professionals.
• FULBRIGHT Fellowship, Academic Year 1993-94 and 1994-95.
• Nominated for the Outstanding Graduate Student Award by the UCLA Environmental Sciences and Engineering Doctorate Program.
• Fellowship of the Central European University for graduate studies in the USA, 1992-93;
• Pro Renovanda Cultura Hungariae Award, 1991
• EEC TEMPUS Scholarship, Academic Year 1990-91, Brunel University, UK
• EEC PECO (Pays de l'Europe Centrale et Orientale) grant for organizing a workshop for East- ern Europe on East-West environmental harmonisation, 1993-94.
• The Brief Award, 1990, UK.

Public engagement

Ürge-Vorsatz engages with the public through regular writing on environmental issues for Hungarian and European newsletters and papers. She has also participated in workshops, such as the Fulbright Workshop on the Environment in San Francisco in 1994. She is also the founder and moderator of "HIX KÖRNYÉSZ", which is an electronic environmental science periodical.

Personal life and interests

Ürge-Vorsatz is fluent in English, German, Hungarian, and speaks intermediate Russian. Her hobbies include hiking, sports, reading, classical music, art, and bridge. In 1984, Ürge-Vorsatz won the Hungarian National Championship in orienteering.

Funding and grants

Ürge-Vorsatz has received several hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding and grants from over 30 different sources, including the World Energy Council and the International Energy Agency.