Ron Bakker is a Dutch architect and founding partner of PLP Architecture, an internationally recognised practice known for innovative commercial, mixed-use and sustainable urban developments. Based in London, Bakker has led a wide range of influential projects across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, with a particular focus on the future of cities, workplace design and environmentally responsible architecture.
Educated at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, he combines architectural vision with a strong interest in technology, human behaviour and urban transformation. Under his leadership, PLP Architecture has become associated with high-profile developments including office towers, smart-city concepts and advanced timber construction initiatives.
He has also been an advocate for healthier and more adaptable workplaces, anticipating many of the changes reshaping urban life and work patterns. Alongside professional practice, he lectures internationally on sustainability, innovation and the social role of architecture in rapidly evolving global cities.
Stephen received his PhD in electron-optical systems at Imperial College, London in 1992 and has over 30 years’ experience in the submarine systems industry. While at Northern Telecom, he co-wrote the first bespoke configurable Monte-Carlo fibre optic system simulator to quantify the performance of systems limited by optical amplifier noise, fibre nonlinearities and polarization effects.
Subsequently, while at Alcatel Submarine Networks, he contributed to the understanding of soliton transmission and was also responsible for assessing system reliability. Later, whilst at UCL, he developed DSP techniques for coherent transmission and in 2015, he developed the theory of maximising the transmission capacity of submarine systems subject to cable and joint voltage constraints.
More recently, Steve was VP of R&D at Focus Sensors where he worked on advancing the theory and practical implementation of the Indus Distributed Acoustic Sensor. He is author or co-author of 13 patents and 26 publications.
Paul Howarth is President of the Institute of Physics and one of the UK’s leading figures in nuclear science and innovation. Trained in physics and astrophysics, he completed a PhD in fusion research at the University of Birmingham before undertaking postdoctoral work in Japan. He has held senior research, operational and leadership roles across academia, industry and government, including at British Nuclear Fuels and the University of Manchester, where he co-founded the Dalton Nuclear Institute. Paul served for more than 15 years as Chief Executive of the National Nuclear Laboratory, leading its growth into a major centre for nuclear research and technology.
A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and recipient of a CBE, he is widely recognised for his contributions to science policy, innovation and the advancement of physics in support of society, education and economic growth across the United Kingdom and internationally.
Bill started as a radar designer working on the first anti-anti-jamming radar (now called ECCM) and then moved to the Cavendish Laboratory to support the Radio Astronomy group. While there, he also set up the very first course in electronics for Natural Scientists and developed a through-ice radar system for the Scott Polar Research Institute.
After a sabbatical at Stanford in 1967, he transferred back into industry, ending up as MD of one of the Philip’s subsidiaries in the UK, manufacturing quartz crystal resonators. Next, trading as Cambridge Strategic Management, he managed a variety of projects, including the introduction of ‘Pet Passports’ for DEFRA, the Al Yamamah mapping project for BAe, and a major IT deployment for British Leyland.
In 1993, with Daniela Florea* (his wife) he set up the first Joint Venture company between the UK and Romania, which they grew to be the largest mapping, geo-demographic and data science company in Central and Eastern Europe.
Stephen Parnell is an independent writer on architecture. After designing and bringing to market the 3D design review software NavisWorks in 2000, he became an architect and Passivhaus designer, an academic and Chief of the RIBA’s peer-reviewed Journal of Architecture and the ARENA’s Journal of Architectural Research, as well as a contributing editor for the Architectural Review and Architects’ Journal columnist.
His book Concrete was published in Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series and his next, Architectural Agonism: a biography of AD magazine, 1930-1992, is currently in press with Harvard Design Press. He almost won the IBP’s Architecture Writer of the Year in 2011 and 2012, when his PhD did win the RIBA’s Outstanding PhD Thesis, and Sir David Chipperfield invited him to contribute the solo exhibition ‘Playgrounds and Battlegrounds’ to the Venice Architecture Biennale. His work has been supported by the RIBA, the SAH, the SAHGB, and the Paul Mellon Centre.
Michael Ramage is a British architect, architectural engineer and academic best known for his pioneering work in sustainable construction and natural materials. He is Professor of Architecture and Engineering at the University of Cambridge, where he founded and directs the Centre for Natural Material Innovation. His research focuses on low-carbon structural systems, engineered timber, bamboo construction and environmentally responsible housing.
Originally trained in architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ramage worked with the renowned Swiss engineering practice Conzett Bronzini Gartmann before joining Cambridge. He is also a founding partner of Light Earth Designs, a practice specialising in innovative sustainable design.
He is widely recognised for combining architecture, engineering and materials science to rethink how buildings can address climate change while remaining humane, beautiful and structurally ambitious.
Robert Tavernor is a British architect, author and academic whose work bridges architecture, urbanism and the classical humanist tradition. He is emeritus professor of architecture and urban design at the London School of Economics and Political Science and formerly directed the architecture programme at the University of Bath. Trained both as an architect and scholar, Tavernor is widely respected for his studies of proportion, classical architecture and the enduring influence of Renaissance theory on contemporary urban design.
He is particularly known for his authoritative work on Leon Battista Alberti and Andrea Palladio, as well as for books exploring the relationship between architecture, mathematics and the human body. His writing combines scholarly rigour with accessibility, helping to reconnect modern architectural debate with classical principles of beauty, proportion and civic responsibility. Alongside his academic career, Tavernor has practised architecture and contributed to public discussions on urban form and cultural heritage.
A chartered RIBA member, holding an MSc in Project Management. Chris also gained an MA in Urban Design in 1995 and is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).
In 1999 to 2001 he was Chair of the Architecture Centre and then the Ambassador for Business Skills from 2015 to 2017. More recently he was our Vice President International in 2017 to 2019, responsible for setting a strategy to grow into a global membership institution and to encourage more UK architects to seek work globally.
"As a profession, we have the potential to turn these challenges into opportunities: to design more sustainably, to welcome and support the next generation of architects, and to shape a more inclusive, future-facing profession that works for the benefit of all of us.
In my career I owe RIBA so much since being selected with Andrew Weston in the 1985 ‘40 under 40’ exhibition and winning RIBA administered competitions. I want to help a new generation of architects by creating the conditions to thrive which I believe will benefit the whole profession."
Mariangela Zanni is Head of Sustainability at Cartwright Pickard, where she leads the practice's sustainability strategy across projects and research initiatives, translating ambitious environmental targets into deliverable strategies across design, development and asset management.
A Registered Architect and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, she holds an MSc in Environmental Design of Buildings from the Welsh School of Architecture and a PhD from Loughborough University, supported by the EPSRC, on integrating sustainability assessment within collaborative BIM workflows. Her peer-reviewed publications address the systematisation of multidisciplinary sustainable design through BIM and whole-life cost and carbon decision support; work that sits at the intersection of building physics, digital practice and environmental performance.
At Cartwright Pickard, she led the 7D BIM research project with the Glasgow School of Art, developing a prototype tool that embeds whole-life cost and carbon analysis directly into design workflows. The project won Building magazine's Digital Construction Award and received an AJ100 High Commendation for Best Use of Technology, both in 2020.
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