Programme Committee

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.

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.

Michael joined the Impact on Health Programmes team in June 2019 and works on its emerging cross-programme approach. Before this, he worked for several years at some of the UK’s largest charities, across education, ageing, health and civic engagement, among other areas. His particular interest is in the causes and effects of inequality.

Giselle Sebag (MPH, LEED AP) is executive director of the International Society for Urban Health. She is a globally recognised urban health leader with 15 years of experience advising governments, multilaterals, NGOs and private-sector companies to develop sustainable, inclusive and resilient cities that promote and enhance resident health. Prior to joining the International Society for Urban Health, Giselle was a public sector consultant at Bloomberg Associates, where she advised cities developing evidence-based urban health solutions with the aim of improving the lives of the greatest number of citizens. Previously, Giselle was vice-president of programs at the Center for Active Design (CfAD), where she oversaw the development, planning and implementation of innovative programs such as Fitwel, a leading certification system committed to building health for all, developed in partnership with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to implement environmental design and operational changes that support healthier workplaces, homes and communities. Prior to that, Giselle was head of the built environment portfolio at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), where she selected, managed key relationships, and advised Fortune 500 companies, governments, multilaterals, philanthropic foundations and NGOs in strategic planning, partnership building, and evaluation of their healthy cities ‘Commitments to Action.’ Giselle holds a Master's of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, joint M.Sc. degrees in international cooperation and urban development from the Technische Universität Darmstadt, and international cooperation in sustainable emergency architecture from the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, and bachelor's degrees in architecture and government from the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Architecture (UTSOA) and College of Liberal Arts.

Carolyn Daher is a public health specialist with over 20 years of international experience connecting research, education and implementation to build healthier communities. Carolyn has a B.A. in Environmental Studies (Brown University), Master in Public Health (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School) and a Master in Psychosocial Intervention (University of Barcelona). Her work centers on how to generate greater impact in policy and society using scientific evidence, and ensure evidence-based practices in the creation and implementation of projects to promote health, especially in urban contexts. She currently coordinates ISGlobal’s Urban Planning, Health and Environment Initiative.

Rhiannon’s research focuses on psychological, social and environmental mechanisms and determinants of mental distress and wellbeing. In particular, she is interested in social cognition and on how our living environment affects our ability to feel good and function well. As an applied social scientist, Rhiannon’s mission is to put research findings into practice. She does this by combining her work at the university with herwork as a co-director of Prosocial Place , a social enterprise that specialises in putting wellbeing and mental health at the heart of place-making and regeneration. In this capacity Rhiannon has worked on several national programmes such as the NHS Healthy New Towns Initiative and with DLUHC, DCMS and Design Council. Rhiannon’s work in social cognition involves both 'clinical' and non-clinical groups of people where she has a particular interest in the psychosis spectrum, common mental distress and the autistic spectrum. Rhiannon uses diverse methods within quantitative and qualitative approaches including real world and realistic evaluation, quasi-experimental and neuroscientific techniques.

Marcus is editor-in-chief of the Cities & Health journal. Marcus is former associate professor and deputy director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Urban Environments at the University of the West of England, where he worked for some 20 years. His mission is to integrate the disparate scales of healthy urban places, linking work, neighbourhoods and communities with city policy to regional planning, and national and international initiatives. See LinkedIn for his full CV details.

A chartered town planner and developer, Harry specialises in pre-planning / strategic sustainability, wellbeing, and energy work. His interests lie in social sustainability, wellbeing and loneliness. He has won awards for research exploring the linkages between pro-environmental behaviour and happiness. He believes there is an opportunity to employ robust social science methods to better understand the true impact of development. He is also a WELL AP.

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.

Caroline Paradise is a Technical Director, and Head of Research & Innovation within the Building Design practice at Atkins. She is a qualified Architect with a PhD in Architecture and 18yrs experience in applied research within the built environment industry. She currently leads a multi-disciplinary Research & Innovation team focusing on themes including Human Experience, Technology Advancement and the Creative Process. Her role supports a research driven design approach to provide innovative solutions across a range of sectors, including Education, Residential and Transportation. Since the beginning of her career, Caroline has been passionate about the importance of design to support the health and wellbeing of all building users. Caroline led the development of Atkins’ HCD toolkit, an innovative design service supported by a suite of digital tools which puts user experience and wellbeing at the heart of design decision making.

Audrey de Nazelle is a senior lecturer at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London. Her work, at the intersection of environmental sciences, health behaviour, transportation, and urban planning, aims at guiding decision-makers towards health-promoting built environments and policies. Much of her research has been on the relationships between active travel and air pollution (exposures, health risks and benefits, and societal engagement). Dr de Nazelle holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Environmental Sciences, a Maîtrise in Mathematics from the University of Paris VI Pierre et Marie Curie, and she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (now ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain.

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.

Over a career in research and policy, José Siri has developed and applied systems approaches to urban and planetary health, focusing on leveraging science for healthy development, devising simple systems tools to catalyse better decision-making, and improving understanding of complex challenges. His experience, which spans five continents, includes time at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health, and the Wellcome Trust, and extensive engagement with researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. He has published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, along with policy briefs and commentaries in publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to the Global Sustainable Development Report. He currently consults for the World Bank and the World Health Organization and holds advisory roles with the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, Future Earth, CDP, and a variety of urban and planetary health research projects. His work has touched on urban studies, climate and health, sustainable development, systems thinking, transdisciplinarity, epidemiology, ecology, infectious disease, public health, and malaria control.

Helen Pineo, PhD MRTPI is an urban planner and Research Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on how urban policy and development can support health and sustainability. She contributes to the evidence base about why and how to do healthy urbanism by using transdisciplinary approaches and amplifying the needs of under-represented communities and the planet. Her current and past research involves participatory, systems thinking and other methods to study: urban transformative change, housing and health, urban health metrics and evidence use in government. Her book, Healthy Urbanism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) provides a multi-scalar conceptualization of healthy urban environments, integrating equity, inclusion and sustainability. Helen lived and worked in London for 16 years, most recently as an Associate Professor at University College London, and previously as an urban planner working on projects in the UK and internationally.

Magali Thomson is an architect working at Great Ormond Street Hospital, one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals. Here, she is setting out vision for a climate-resilient, healthy and child-friendly street, a healthy hospital street. She is particularly interested in preventive approaches to health and the impact our environment has on children’s health outcomes. She recently completed an Executive MSc in Cities at the London School of Economics, graduating with a Distinction. Her thesis focused on how children and their carers are impacted by air quality in Lewisham. She is also a built environment expert at the Design Council, a healthcare expert at the NLA and has positions on Design Review panels in Design South East, Southwark and Brighton. She previously led a successful education team to deliver award-winning schools at Marks Barfield Architects, where she was a director.

Clare is global practice leader for cities at Mott MacDonald. She is passionate about using cross-disciplinary synergy and integrated systems thinking to enable more people to be accommodated in urban areas for less cost, consuming less energy, materials and water, emitting less CO2, and cutting waste, while achieving an enhanced quality of life. She brings a practical understanding of sustainable development drivers and processes at both macro and micro level, gained through nearly 30 years as a low-energy engineer in the built environment. Combining this with engagement at policy level, she is able to bring insight into the technical, political, financial and behavioural aspects of sustainable development, particularly in areas of energy efficiency and thermal masterplanning in the built environment. Her role is often to lead stakeholders through a process of objective setting and risk assessment, where her ability to apply clarity and sensitivity in the fast-moving cities area allows decisions to be taken in an informed manner despite a lack of precedent or future certainty. In particular, working for both private-sector developers and city municipalities has given her a valuable understanding of how to align objectives and optimise outcomes.

Director of Social and Behavioral Sciences at HDR, Dr. Jeri Brittin leads a transdisciplinary team of social, behavioral, and health scientists whose work informs optimal strategies, planning, organizational and design decision-making. With her background in design, doctoral training in social and behavioral health, and experience leading multi-disciplinary teams, Jeri is passionate about developing strategies, systems and environments that promote positive and equitable outcomes. Her work focuses on wellness and behavioral outcomes related to environmental and social determinants in buildings and campuses, neighborhoods and cities, and organizations. Dr. Brittin maintains an active national and international research collaboration network, is a frequent speaker, has published numerous refereed articles, and serves on several national committees focused on design and health.

Blake Jackson is an architect working at the nexus of sustainability, wellness, resiliency, and equity, who serves as the global Director, Sustainability for NORR. NORR is an 800-person integrated architecture, interiors, planning and engineering company, headquartered in Toronto, with 14 locations in the US, UK, UAE, and Canada. Blake has 23 years’ experience in the AEC industry, holding a Bachelor of Architecture from Kennesaw State University in Marietta, Georgia and a Master of Architecture in Sustainable Environmental Design from the Architectural Association Graduate School in London. Blake is a prolific author, speaker, and educator on topics affecting the built environment. He currently serves on the Advisory Board for the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s Interior Design Program, is on the AIA National 2030 Working Group, and he is a former Vice President, Advocacy for the Boston Society of Architects. Blake was recognized in 2015 by BD+C Magazine as a top “40 Under 40” AEC professional, he was named a LEED Fellow by the USGBC in 2021, and he is a 2024 recipient of the AIA Young Architect Award.

Caglar Koksal is a Lecturer in Urban Planning at the University of Manchester, with expertise in spatial planning, planning practice, housing and infrastructure planning, urban governance and policy, and health creation and inequalities. He has led and collaborated on numerous funded research projects at national and international levels, and he co-leads the Environment theme within the Healthier Futures Research Platform at the University. His research is grounded in a commitment to evidence-informed, practically engaged scholarship, using both quantitative methods (such as GIS and spatial analysis) and qualitative methods (including policy analysis and elite interviews). Dr Koksal’s broader research and consultancy work includes leadership on projects examining policy design and implementation, as well as collaborative work with local authorities, national government, think tanks, and private sector consultancies