Lehmann began his full-time academic career in December 2002 with the appointment as Chair, Full Professor of Architecture and Head of Discipline at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane — teaching architectural design and urban sustainability at undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels.
Since then, he has been continuously employed at research-active universities across three continents, with his hands-on practice experience consistently informing his teaching and mentorship, equipping students to apply theoretical concepts to real-world challenges in sustainable built environments.
From 2006 to 2010, he held a second full professorship at the University of Newcastle (NSW) as Endowed Chair in Architectural Design and UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Urban Development for Asia-Pacific. During this period, he developed innovative curricula in green urbanism, supervised research theses on low-carbon design strategies, and worked with his students on the urban regeneration plans of Newcastle.
Academic Appointments: 25 Years Full-Time in Academia
From 2010 to 2014, he served as Research Centre Director and tenured Full Professor of Sustainable Design at the University of South Australia (UniSA) in Adelaide — founding two research centres during his tenure. From 2014 to 2016, he was Head of School and Professor of Architecture at Curtin University in Perth.
From 2016 to 2018, he held a tenured Full Professorship in Sustainable Architecture at the University of Portsmouth, UK, where he promoted the urban regeneration of the city and founded the interdisciplinary Cluster for Sustainable Cities.
In September 2018, he joined the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) as Executive Director of the School of Architecture and tenured Full Professor of Architecture and Urbanism — leading interdisciplinary teaching in urban design and resilience, with a growing research focus on the urbanisation of desert cities and arid regions.
Teaching since 1991, he shaped a generation of architects attuned to environmental imperatives and thinking beyond architecture.
List of Academic Appointments
Professor Lehmann has been competitively appointed to more than ten prestigious academic positions across institutions worldwide, consistently selected as the leading candidate. This sustained record of appointments reflects not just scholarly recognition, but a career built on cross-cultural collaboration, meaningful relationships, and the ability to lead complex research and design agendas in diverse institutional contexts.
1991-1992
Design Studio Instructor, School of Architecture, North London Polytechnic, London, UK
1991
Design Studio Instructor with Hans Hollein and Arata Isozaki, Sommerakademie Salzburg, Austria
1997-1998
Visiting Professor for Building Typologies and Design Methods, Kunsthochschule Weissensee, Berlin, Germany
2003-2006
Chair, Head of Department and Full Professor of Architecture, School of Design, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia
2004
Visiting Full Professor “Global Studio Leader”, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, Tongji University, China
2005
Visiting Full Professor “Global Studio Leader”, Technical University of Berlin (TUB), Germany
2006
Visiting Full Professor “Global Studio Leader” at School of Architecture, University of Technology (UniTech), Lae, Papua New Guinea
2006-2010
Endowed Chair, Full Professor of Architectural Design, The University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
2008-2010
UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Urban Development for Asia-Pacific, The University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
2009
DAAD Visiting Full Professor, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Faculty of Architecture (Studio with Richard Horden), Munich, Germany
2009
Visiting Full Professor, The National University of Singapore (NUS), School of Environmental Design, Singapore
2010-2014
Research Centre Director and Tenured Full Professor of Sustainable Design; Director of the Zero-Waste Centre for Sustainable Design; Director of the China-Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, at the University of South Australia (UniSA), Adelaide, Australia
2012
Visiting Fellow, the University of California, Berkeley, School of Environmental Design, USA
2012-2013
Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney, Australia
2013-2014
Visiting Full Professor and Director of the China-Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, Tianjin University, Tianjin China
2014-2016
Head of School and Full Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
2016-2018
Tenured Full Professor in Sustainable Architecture and Research Centre Director, Cluster for Sustainable Cities, Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, University of Portsmouth (UoP), UK
2017
Visiting Full Professor “Global Studio Leader” at School of Architecture & Planning, Anant National University (ANU), Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
2018-2019
Distinguished Visiting Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
2018-2020
Executive Director of the School of Architecture and Tenured Full Professor of Architecture & Urbanism, The University of Nevada (UNLV), Las Vegas, USA
2018-
Tenured Full Professor of Architecture & Urbanism and Director of the interdisciplinary Urban Futures Lab, The University of Nevada (UNLV), Las Vegas, USA
2022-2024
Global Professor in the Graduate School, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
WITH A PURPOSE-DRIVEN AND PRINCIPLE-LED APPROACH TO DESIGN TEACHING.
Visiting Appointments
Beyond his tenured positions, Lehmann has held visiting professorships and invited academic appointments at leading institutions across Germany, the United States, Singapore, China, and Australia. This international presence has directly informed his research agenda and design practice, embedding cross-cultural perspectives on urbanism, sustainability, and city making into his work.
These include a DAAD Visiting Professorship at the Technical University of Munich (2009) and at Technical University of Berlin (2005); a visiting fellowship at UC Berkeley (2012) focused on resilient urban systems and low-carbon urban futures; Visiting Professor positions at the National University of Singapore (2009) and Tianjin University (2013–2014); a Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Xi'an Jiaotong University (2018), funded by the National Science Foundation of China; and a research fellowship at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney (2012–2013), exploring circular economy concepts.
