Prof. Behzad Najafi is an Associate Professor at the Energy Department of Politecnico di Milano and the head of Science at DataOptima Lab. His research activities have been focused on the application of artificial intelligence-based modelling and optimization in the energy sector. He has specifically worked on physics-inspired machine learning-based thermal behaviour modelling of indoor environments and HVAC systems to facilitate real-time optimization aiming at providing demand flexibility, PV self-consumption enhancement, and energy saving. He has also carried out activities on smart meter-driven remote auditing of buildings and HVAC load disaggregation, along with physical modelling and long-term performance optimization of energy systems. In the context of these activities, he has collaborated with several industrial firms and academic institutions, has supervised 2 PhD theses and over 40 M.Sc. thesis projects, and has published over 40 journal publications.