As the founding head of KAUST’s Office of Sustainability, Professor Ana MargaridaCosta steers the university’s sustainability agenda, advancing policyimplementation, research integration, strategic partnerships and climate action.She oversees institutional sustainability performance and reporting, ensuringalignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. With over 25years of experience, she has worked at the intersection of academia, industry andgovernment, translating research into sustainability strategies and solutions thatsupport decision-making in climate and environmental matters. Prior to KAUST,she led the Environmental and Air Quality Unit at the Institute of Environment andDevelopment in Portugal, overseeing multimillion dollar R&D and consultancyprojects worldwide. As an academic, Prof. Costa has lectured multipleenvironmental and engineering courses and supervised undergraduate andgraduate students. ​

Professor Costa’s research explores environmental sustainability, air qualitymodeling and urban atmospheric systems. She specialized in numerical modelingof atmospheric flows, pollutant dispersion and human exposure, with applicationsin sustainable urban planning and environmental impact assessment. Her work onair quality management, climate action and urban resilience bridges science withpolicy to support decision-making. She has authored over 70 peer-reviewedresearch articles, conference papers, book chapters and technical reports.​