Invited Speakers
Dr Lidia Badarnah
Talk title: What Can Buildings Learn from Nature? Biomimetic Pathways to Resilient Futures
Bio: Dr. Badarnah is a designer, educator, and researcher in architecture at the University of the West of England (UWE), specializing in biomimetics and environmental adaptation. With a PhD in Architecture from TU Delft and postdoctoral research experience at MIT's Building Technology Lab, she brings a wealth of expertise to her field, aiming to bridge the gap between academia and industry. Prior to joining UWE, she held academic positions at Cardiff University and the Architectural Association (AA) in London, where she developed interdisciplinary research and teaching in environmental design.
Lidia is well recognized for her contributions to the growing field of biomimetics, where she redefines environmental design in architecture by systematically applying principles from nature. Her work shifts the focus from conventional, isolated building systems to adaptive, integrated solutions that enhance sustainability and resilience. She has received prestigious fellowships and awards and has been invited to deliver talks and workshops worldwide on biomimetic approaches in architecture, such as France, Netherlands, USA, Germany, Austria, Turkey.
Her research, widely published in leading journals, explores behavioural and morphological patterns in organisms to develop innovative, adaptive solutions for buildings. She has led and co-led a portfolio of funded projects and served as a scientific committee member for international conferences. Additionally, she acts as an expert advisor and consultant on global initiatives, leveraging insights from nature to optimize technical solutions and energy management in building design.
Dr. Gianfranco Franz
Architect and planner, he is Full Professor of Policies for Sustainability and Local Development at the MA on Green Economy and Sustainability – Department of Economics and Management, University of Ferrara (Italy). In October 2012 he founded the International University Network Routes towards Sustainability of which is co-coordinator. Since 2019 he is amongst the founders and member of the board of the Unife's international Ph.D. progrmme Environmental Sustainability and Wellbeing, as a joint Ph.D. with the Western Sydney University. In 2022 he published for Mimesis Edizioni (Italy): L'Umanità a un bivio. Il dilemma della sostenibilità a trent'anni da Rio de Janeiro (Humanity at a crossroads. The dilemma of sustainability thirty years after Rio de Janeiro).
He has extensive experience in sustainability policies and practices, local development, strategic spatial planning and urban creativity conducted in Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, Vietnam. From 2003 to 2015 he has been the coordinator of the international master degree EcoPolis, in collaboration with various Latin American and Asian universities. In 2012 he founded for the University of Ferrara the Routes towards Sustainability International University Network, created in collaboration with 9 universities and now grown up to 23 partner universities from five continents. Routes promotes multi and cross disciplinary academic initiatives (symposia, summer schools, workshops, doctoral courses). From this network, in 2019, the international doctoral course in Environmental Sustainability and Wellbeing of the University of Ferrara was born, with a joint degree with Western Sydney University of which he is one of the founders and a member of the teaching board.
Dr. Sahar Attia
Dr. Sahar Attia, is currently an Emeritus Please enter a cover note!Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University . She has been the Head of the Department of Architecture 2013-2017 in the same institution. She has more than 40 years of multidisciplinary extensive experience in academia , research, practice and community activities. She is a member of the Higher Council of Urban Development in Egypt, She is a member of the Stakeholders Advisory Group Enterprise (SAGE)- UN Habitat, she also chairs the steering committee for the Universities Network Initiative UN Habitat (UNI);She is a member in the Board of Directors of Ecocity Builders, a non-profit public benefit corporation in SF California-USA. She was a Member of the Expert Group for the International Urban and territorial Planning Guidelines (UN Habitat).
She is the Co-Editor of: "Dynamics And Resilience Of Informal Areas: International Perspectives" , 2016 , New Cities and Community Extensions in Egypt and the Middle East, 2018, and "Cultural Sustainable Tourism", all three published by Springer. She contributes as a member of the board of editors in several International Journals . Her research interests include participatory approaches in urban development, and upgrading informal areas, Sustainable Urban design, and New cities.