Aicha Diakité-Kortlever

Dr. Diakité-Kortlever is a researcher and lighting engineer working in the field of daylighting, sustainable urban planning and environmental modelling. She works currently as a Lecturer at the Department of Lighting Technology at the Technical University of Berlin, having previously served as a Guest Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels and as a Lighting Engineer at Lighteam Gustavo Aviles, Kardorff Ingenieure Lichtplanung, Hellux Construktions-Licht, and OSRAM. Aicha studied Electrical Engineering at the Technical University of Berlin (Germany) and the Poznan University of Technology (Poland). She went on to study Architecture and Industrial Design at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where she obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Architectural Lighting Design. During her Ph.D., Aicha was a visiting Ph.D. student at the Laboratory of Integrated Performance in Design (LIPID) at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. Aicha earned her Master’s degree from the Department of Lighting Technology at the Technical University of Berlin (Germany), graduating with distinction (top 3) and three awards for her thesis. Dr. Diakité-Kortlever has received several awards for her work including the H.-J.-Helwig-Prize from the German Lighting Technology Association, the Hans-Peter-Willumeit-Award from the Foundation Committee of the Center of Human-Machine Systems (ZMMS), the Clara-von-Simson-Prize honouring women in science and engineering from the Technical University of Berlin, and the VDI Recognition from the Association of German Engineers. Aicha obtained her Ph.D. with honours from the Technical University of Berlin. Her research proposes new spectral sky models to enable the integration of daylighting strategies into the design of urban structures that support people’s well-being. Her Ph.D. thesis was fully funded by the Velux Foundation and was awarded the AIC Student Paper Award Runner-Up Prize.