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It is not evident that practitioners have kept pace with latest research developments in building occupant behaviour modelling; nor are the attitudes of practitioners regarding occupant behaviour modelling well understood. In order to guide research and development efforts, researchers, policy-makers, and software developers require a better understanding of current practice and acceptance of occupant modelling. This paper provides results, analysis, and discussion of the results of a 36-question international survey on current occupant modelling practice and attitudes in building performance simulation. In total, 274 valid responses were collected from BPS users (practitioners, educators, and researchers) from 37 countries. The results indicate that most assumptions made about occupants vary widely and are considerably simpler than what has been observed in reality. Most participants cited lack of time or understanding as their primary reason for not delving deeply into occupant modelling, but responded that they are receptive to further training.

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Occupant behaviour (OB) is recognized as a leading source of uncertainty in building performance predictions. Neglecting the potential influence of uncertainties on building performance could result in erroneous decision-making during the design phase. Therefore, it is essential that uncertainties are appropriately considered within building performance simulation (BPS) models. As for OB, there are various approaches to model occupant presence and actions in BPS tools. Literature shows that the appropriate modelling approach depends on the object and purpose of the simulation, which makes it difficult to favour a method over another a priori. Moreover, there is very little support for selecting the most appropriate modelling approach. As a result, OB is modelled in practice in various ways, mostly dictated by intuition and habit. This study builds on previous literature to introduce and test a complete approach for appropriate OB modelling. The method can be generalized and readily applied to design questions.