Architect Hoang Thuc Hao

Arch. Hoang Thuc Hao is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Hanoi University of Civil Engineering. He currently serves as Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Architects. Hoang Thuc Hao was the first Vietnamese architect to receive the SIA-GETZ Award for Outstanding Architect in Asia (2016), as well as two major triennial awards from the International Union of Architects (UIA): the Vassilis Sgoutas Prize for Implemented Architecture Serving the Impoverished (2017) and the Robert Matthew Prize for Sustainable and Humane Environments (2023). He was also the winner in the Civic and Community category at the World Architecture Festival in 2015 and received the Gold Medal at the Arcasia Awards for Architecture in 2020. Most recently, he was named one of the winners of the Global Awards for Sustainable Architecture 2025..

In addition, he has lectured at a wide range of universities worldwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University, Cornell University, the National University of Singapore, the Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, the University of Quebec (Canada), the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University, Inner Mongolia University of Technology (China), and ESA Paris.

Professor Kenichi Soga

Professor Kenichi SogaKenichi is the Donald H. McLaughlin Chair and a Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. Soga is also the Director of the Berkeley Center for Smart Infrastructure, a faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research focuses on infrastructure sensing, performance-based design and maintenance of infrastructure, energy geotechnics, and geomechanics from micro to macro.

He has published more than 500 journal and conference papers and is the co-author of "Fundamentals of Soil Behavior". He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and the Engineering Academy of Japan.  He has received several notable awards, including the George Stephenson Medal and Telford Gold Medal from ICE in 2006, the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from ASCE in 2007, the 63rd Rankine lecture in 2025, and the UCB Bakar Prize for his work on commercializing smart infrastructure technologies in 2022.

Professor Stuart Khan

Stuart Khan is Professor and Head of School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney. He has received funding for over 40 major competitive research projects from Australian, US and European funding agencies. He has published over 200 peer reviewed journal articles on issues relating to water quality and treatment, including drinking water, wastewater, recreational water, environmental water systems, water recycling and desalination. Stuart is a Fellow of scientific and engineering institutions, including Engineers Australia (FIEAust), The Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE), The Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), The Royal Society of NSW (FRSN), and is also an International Water Association IWA Fellow.

Professor Thomas Astell-Burt

In January 2024, Professor Thomas Astell-Burt joined the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at The University of Sydney as the Professor of Cities and Planetary Health. He is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow (2023-2027, $1M) on nature-based solutions for wellbeing and loneliness, and also lead a $1.5M Medical Research Futures Fund (MRFF, 2023-2027) multi-site randomised trial on nature prescriptions for adult cardiovascular and mental health. These projects involve co-production, collaboration, and communication of groundbreaking research with communities, consumers, and both emerging and leading scientists across Australia and internationally. He co-lead the Population Wellbeing and Environment Research Lab (PowerLab) with Prof Xiaoqi Feng, with alumni employed in research and policy positions around the world