Judging committee

Rebecca Morley is an expert in improving the health of underserved places and populations. The substance of her work is on the factors outside of the healthcare system that affect health, such as the places people live, work, and play, and people’s ability to access the services and supports they need to thrive. Over five years, Rebecca helped the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) develop $55 million in grant programming for gender equity; community power; sustainable and equitable urban development; water; parks and urban greening; green infrastructure; and food justice. Before launching her consulting practice, Rebecca was director of the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the RWJF and the Pew Charitable Trusts. She was director of the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) between 2002 and 2014, where she led efforts to create safer and healthier environments for all people, with a special focus on children and communities who are disproportionately burdened by environmental public health risks. Ms. Morley also worked for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and in the United States Senate.

Sunand Prasad is a principal at Perkins&Will. While designing across several sectors, he has been consistently engaged in healthcare and sustainability for four decades. At the core of his architectural practice, alongside interdisciplinary collaboration, Sunand holds a passionate belief that expertise and aesthetic judgement are most effective in creating truly successful environments when they are catalysed by the everyday experience of people. Sunand has been active in the wider built environment industry, particularly championing low-carbon, regenerative design, and until recently, as chair of the UK Green Building Council. He was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) from 2007 to 2009, campaigning for action on climate change. He was founding member of the UK Government’s Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment; a London Mayor’s design advocate; a trustee of the Centre for Cities; and chair of the Trustees of Article 25, the humanitarian architecture charity. He currently chairs the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architecture and the External Advisory Board of TRUUD, a major research project on the fundamental links between health and urban development. He has written widely on architecture, sustainability and healthcare design, such as the book 'Changing Hospital Architecture'.

Mario is a leader with 20 years’ experience rooted in an entrepreneurial approach to business growth. He has shown a high degree of flexibility, adaptability, organisational awareness and resilience in growing and sustaining a business, all within complex and ambiguous internal and client environments. Mario has a natural aptitude for continuous learning, operating a business with dexterity, and is able to integrate and organise ideas into coherent strategies and operational plans. He has a collaborative style and has demonstrated an ability to work across different geographies, sectors and disciplines with a high degree of emotional intelligence and integrity. He values people and relationships and has demonstrated a track record of growing the business through long-term relationships externally with clients as well as internally with staff and part-time associates. His Italian-Canadian heritage brings an approach to business and life that has a unique mix grounded in “old world” values with “new world” pace, change, and innovation. Mario is a sports enthusiast and re-lives his youth enjoying sports with his children and feeds his passion for ice hockey playing on a London team.

Jeremy Myerson has been academic, author and activist in design for more than 40 years. He co-founded the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design in 1999, and was its director until 2015. Last year, he received emeritus professor status at the RCA, and he continues to direct his own venture, the WORKTECH Academy, which provides a forum for academics and practitioners to share new ideas on the future of work and workplace. He is the author of more than 20 books on a wide range of subjects in art, design and architecture, and he has curated many national design exhibitions. He has been at the helm of the Healthy City Design Programme Committee since the Congress’ inception in 2017.

Beatrice is an industrial designer and ergonomist with particular expertise in designing systems and products aligned to end user requirements. Her early career was in design, ergonomic research and teaching at UMIST and Liverpool University. Her public-sector life has always involved regeneration and economic development schemes at a local and regional level – first as chair of the Rope Walks Partnership in Liverpool, then as chair of Renew NW. Beatrice was a non-executive director of Liverpool Health Authority, then chair of South Liverpool Primary Care Trust. Beatrice is a CQC special advisor specialising in governance and leadership. She is a trustee of the Design Council and an Hon.FRIBA. Her past roles have included chair of a housing association, trustee of Tate Liverpool, and chair of the Architects Registration Board.

Max is Founder & CEO of the LDN Collective, a network of built environment experts and creatives fighting to improve people’s lives and the planet’s prospects. Members are experts in social impact, zero carbon and modern methods of construction as well as architecture, engineering, graphic design and film-making. They are a dynamic and collaborative ‘one stop shop’ for projects anywhere in the world. Current projects include masterplans for garden communities in Oxfordshire, Peterborough and Solihull; new health and wellbeing resorts in London and the South East; detailed planning applications for Clarion, the UK’s largest housing association and #ParkPower – a crowdsourced vision for the future of London’s green spaces. Max’s expertise lies in urban planning & strategic communications. He was a Partner at Farrells for 10 years, the internationally renowned architects with offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai, before leaving to set up the LDN Collective. In 2021, Max was appointed Chair of Cultural Co-Location for Creative Estuary. With £4.3m funding from DCMS, as part of the Thames Estuary Production Corridor, the ambition is to transform 60 miles of the Thames Estuary into the most exciting cultural hub in the world. Max was Project Lead and Author of the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment, commissioned by the UK Government, which made 60 recommendations spanning education, outreach & skills; design quality; cultural heritage; economic benefits & architecture policy, many of which have been implemented. He is an adviser to London National Park City, Urban Design London, the Place Alliance, the Urban Room Network, the National Arts and Place Consortium, Community Consultation for Quality of Life and Wild Streets.

Mark is a researcher and practitioner with 20 years’ experience. He works across the fields of public health, urbanism, and architecture. His work addresses wider determinants of health, focused on promoting holistic wellbeing, and reducing health inequalities. Mark has recently completed his doctoral research, Healthy Streetlife, undertaken during the Covid-19 pandemic observing the impact of the street environment on health. This research has been based at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Urban Environments, UWE Bristol. As the founder and director of Urban Habitats Mark’s practice work encompasses population health across a spectrum of topics and methods. This includes working at a whole country scale with the WHO Collaborating Centre on Investment for Health and Wellbeing at Public Health Wales. He works at all urban scales including community co-design and addressing community agency as a determinant of health. With a background in practice and industry Mark has been involved in the delivery of over £2 billion of capital investment in social infrastructure. Mark has experience with a broad range of stakeholders across the urban health ecosystem from many different systems and sectors. Happiest whilst on a bicycle Mark is an optimistic gardener and lives in Cardiff, Wales with his family.

Rachel Cooper OBE is distinguished professor of design management and policy at Lancaster University. She is a director of ImaginationLancaster, an open and exploratory design-led research centre conducting applied and theoretical research into people, products, places and their interactions, and also chair of Lancaster institute for the Contemporary Arts. Professor Cooper’s research interests cover: design thinking; design management; design policy; and across all sectors of industry, a specific interest in design for wellbeing and socially responsible design. She has published extensively on these topics, including books 'Designing Sustainable Cities'. She was founding editor of The Design Journal and also founding president of the European Academy of Design. She is currently president of the Design Research Society.