Rate My Professor Daniel Schien

Dr Daniel Schien is an Associate Professor in Sustainable ICT in the School of Computer Science at the University of Bristol, where he earned his PhD. His research focuses on quantifying and reducing the environmental impacts of information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly energy consumption in Internet-based services and the carbon footprint of digital media. Schien has developed pioneering methods and tools, such as the DIMPACT tool employed by major international media companies to assess digital service impacts. He investigates complex interactions between ICT service use, infrastructure, and design, integrating software engineering, human-computer interaction, and environmental science. Additionally, his work includes developing sensing infrastructure for urban environments to track energy consumption and air quality. Affiliated with the Systems Centre and Cabot Institute for the Environment, he leads the Sustainable Computing Group.

Schien's career at Bristol includes prior roles as University Research Fellow and Lecturer in Computer Science. He serves as Principal Investigator on projects including CQuanDRI (Quantifying the Carbon Emissions of Digital Research Infrastructure, 2022–2023) and CANDISE (Change-Oriented Assessments for Net-Zero Digital Services, 2024–2027), and as Co-Investigator on the ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures (CenSoF, 2022–2028). Key publications encompass 'Global Datacentre Electricity Consumption is not correlated with Data Demand: Responding to Implausible Assumptions and Flawed Modelling in Castro et al. 2024' (Energy Policy, 2026), 'Guidelines for assessments of the global information and communication technology sector's direct energy use and climate impact: Key Aspects and Future Scenarios' (Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2026), and 'Causal allocation of fixed impacts in product systems: Assessing the effect of data demand on network energy consumption' (Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2025). Earlier works include evaluations of sustainable interaction design for services like YouTube (CHI, 2019) and approaches to the energy intensity of the internet (IEEE Communications Magazine, 2014). With over 1,080 citations on Google Scholar, his contributions significantly influence green ICT and sustainability research. In teaching, he leads the software engineering unit, where students prototype solutions for real-world clients from local nonprofits to global corporations.