Farzad is a Professor of Digital Engineering at the School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies at Teesside University. He leads the Centre for Sustainable Engineering, the Open Research and Output Quality group. He is Editor in Chief of Smart and Sustainable Built Environment and Associate Editor of Automation in Construction. He has 4600 citations for over 200 publications with a strong emphasis on adopting cutting-edge technologies to serve the net zero and sustainability agenda, including energy policies, data-driven digital twins, demand response optimisation, smart energies, circular construction and social innovation. Farzad supervised 13 successful academics during their PhD study as their director of studies and is the mentor of 12 academics at CSE. This is demonstrated through a sustained strong research record that includes 19 funded industry-led research projects and four consultancies (principal investigator in 14 projects and four consultancies with an overall value of £2.4m) from the H2021, InnovateUK, AHRC, ERDF, CSIC, SFC, and Data Lab. He is a member of the International Council for Building (CIB) and building SMART International.