Dilshan Ossen

Dilshan Remaz Ossen is an Associate Professor at the University of Kansas School of Architecture and Design, Kansas, USA. He previously taught at Kingdom University- Bahrain and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, where he earned a doctorate. He obtained his professional qualification as a Chartered Architect and Associate membership from the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects in 2000 and completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture at the University of Moratuwa, Colombo, Sri Lanka. He believes that global warming and climate change remain one of the greatest challenges humanities has faced, and the problems vary depending on the region and the context. Throughout his career as a designer, researcher, and academic, he has focused on finding ways to address global warming challenges. His research interests centered on issues related to energy consumption in buildings, climate responsive design, and the impact of climate change on urban environments, urban ecologies, and urban heritage. Dr. Ossen was involved in several research projects, including one in Putrajaya Administrative City, which led to the development of an urban geometry strategy to reduce urban heat island intensity in newly developed city centers. His research in Melaka World Heritage City examined the effects of climate change on cultural heritage and suggested adaptation strategies. Furthermore, he and his doctoral students created a passive bio-inspired cooling unit that adapts the traditional "wind catcher" architectural feature to address comfort issues in hot, arid regions. He partnered with a UTM research team and Malaysia's Public Works Department (JKR) to develop a daylight design guideline for all JKR-designed government buildings. These findings have been published in several high-impact, peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Building and Environment, International Journal of Biometeorology, Theoretical and Applied Climatology, American Journal of Environmental Science, Applied Thermal Engineering, Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, and Environmental Science and Pollution Research. During his academic tenure, he has published over 30 high impact journal articles and presented in several international and regional seminars. His contributions to UTM and the larger community were recognized with the “Excellent Service Award" in 2012 and 2015. In addition, his commitment to higher education was recognized in 2019 when he completed the UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning support in higher education and was recognized with the status of Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.