Marc Aurel Schnabel

Professor Marc Aurel Schnabel is a recognised expert in digital transformation, -design, -heritage, intelligent cities, and extended reality environments. With over 30 years of experience spanning Germany, China, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, his career bridges academia and the creative fields. Now, as the Dean of the Design School at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, he guides four departments – Architecture, Civil Engineering, Industrial Design, and Urban Planning and Design – and their research centres.

Previously, he was the Founding Director of the FORUM8 Research Lab, the Japanese leader in virtual city/building simulation, at the Cambridge Innovation Center in Tokyo. Trained as an Architect, Professor Schnabel has held leadership roles, including the Deanship of a New Zealand University, Presidencies of the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA), the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), and the Autodesk Industry Advisory Board, and Principal Investigator of New Zealand's National Science Challenge, 'Better Homes, Towns, and Cities'.

He has been awarded Fellowships by the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA), CAADRIA, and Salzburg Global. He is a member of the Austrian Science Fund's PEEK - Arts-Based Research Board as an expert in design and a partner of the European Union's REACH (RE-designing Access to Cultural Heritage). He has curated several digital architectural exhibitions, including Ars Electronica Aotearoa, and founded the Digital Architecture Research Alliance (DARA) and the online network Urban Digitalics, connecting professionals and researchers in innovative digital design.

Throughout his career, Professor Schnabel has combined academic leadership with interdisciplinary research to contribute to developing sustainable, intelligent, and innovative design practices.