Research project investigating gender equity in Irish architecture
Justine Clark is an architectural editor, writer, researcher, advisor and advocate. She is a co-founder of Parlour: women, equity, architecture, leads the organisation’s event, advocacy and funding programs, and established the Parlour website, which she now edits with Susie Ashworth. Justine also consults to built environment organisations, practices and universities on policy, strategy, publications, events and public engagement. She is a member of the NSW State Design Review panel, special advisor to the Architects Male Champions of Change group, and an honorary senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne.
After an earlier career in the UK construction industry as a quantity surveyor Val joined academia to research women in construction industry professions specifically to ask given the perception of the industry is that it isn’t female friendly so what is it that attracts and retains women. More recently she has conducted cross-national studies investigating women in construction (with Dr Elena Navarro Astor) in France, Spain and Lithuania as well as looking at schemes designed to attract women but also how policy initiatives fracture between instigation and implementation. Her research indicates that while the construction industry can provide women with a rewarding career there are many obstacles which impede their progress towards true equality of opportunity.
Born and educated in Sarajevo, Selma holds a PhD Architecture (University of Strathclyde) and MPhil European Studies (Trinity College Dublin). As Architect, Educator and Author based in Dublin, she engages in advocacy through professional networks (UIA, ACE, ECIA) at EU level and internationally for which she received a peer recognition such as the Presidential Medal and Honorary Membership – American Institute of Architects (AIA) (2010) and Honorary Charter – Croatian Chamber of Architects (2014). Selma is a Founding Principal of the New European Bauhaus Forum Bosnia and Herzegovina (NEB Forum BiH) and a Member of the Bosnian Herzegovinian American Academy of Arts and Sciences (BHAAAS).
Dr Harriet Harriss, (ARB, RIBA, (Assoc.)AIA, PFHEA, FRSA, Ph.D.) is a Professor in the MS Historic Preservation Program within the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment at Pratt Institute, following her tenure as the Dean of the School of Architecture. An award-winning educator, writer, and UK-qualified architect, Dr. Harriss has established an international reputation for social justice and climate crisis pedagogy and curriculum design and for pioneering interdisciplinary pedagogies informed by avant-garde thinking, that draw upon queer, feminist, and decolonization theories to advance diversity, equity and inclusion pedagogies, policies and professional practices. www.harriet-harriss.com
Helen Iball is a Reader in Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture, where she is also currently the Architecture Department Education Lead. She has been teaching Architecture for over 25 years with a focus on the spatial implications of feminist theories into practice, alongside driving forward the feminist studio atelier PRAXXIS. Helen is passionate about all things feminist, loves exploring and experimenting with innovative pedagogies, and is keen to build things with people who do not normally build. Her research is concerned with the questions about what feminist architecture might be and what this means for our cities and spaces. By consistently using an inclusive and participative approach, her research and her teaching set challenges for creating Feminist Cities with regard to otherness, types of feminisms, and gendered territories. Helen sits on the RIBA Education and Learning Committee, has recently been a judge for the RIBA Presidents Medals Silver Award and is part of the RIBA North West Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Group. In 2019, she was included in the list of influential women in architecture in the RIBA Ethel Day event for her contribution to architectural education.
Scott is an Associate Professor at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, and is co-author of the textbook Organizational Behaviour (King and Lawley, 2022). He has researched EDI issues in both sport and engineering fields, working on projects funded by Sport England and the Royal Academy of Engineering. His work focuses in particular on the differences between EDI at policy and initiative level, and how this is implemented and experienced within the organisation. With Dr. Valerie Caven he has written on gender within the construction and engineering professions.
Dr Dervla MacManus is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in UCD School of Philosophy working on gender equity in the Irish architecture profession. Dervla is a former architect and in recent years, her research interests have focussed on dark heritage, architectural pedagogy, gender and feminism. She is a member of the Open Heart City collective of academics concerned with the built legacy of the Magdalene laundries in Ireland.
Dr Elena Navarro Astor (Universitat Politecnica de Valencia) and Valerie Caven (Nottingham Trent University) and have been researching women’s careers in architecture and the construction industry more broadly for over a decade. Their cross-national comparative studies of architectural careers in UK, France, Lithuania and Spain, are groundbreaking and discipline leading.
Dr Carole Pollard FRIAI is an architect and historian with a particular interest in Irish architecture of the twentieth century. Since 2014 she has been a member of the Dublin City Council Dublin C20th Architecture project which culminated in the publication of the book series More Than Concrete Blocks: Dublin city’s twentieth century buildings and their stories. She is currently working on the publication of a book on the life and work of Irish twentieth-century architect Andrew Devane who was the subject of her PhD dissertation. In recent years, Carole has been researching and writing on the topic of Irish women architects. The aim of her research project, From Gray to Grafon is to uncover and attribute the work of Ireland’s (mostly) forgotten women architects of the twentieth century. Carole is a past-president of the RIAI, past-chair of DoCoMoMo Ireland, and host/curator of the annual RIAI Women in Architecture event.
Dr. Paula Russell is an Assistant Professor and Head of Subject for Urban and Regional planning in UCD. Her main area of research relates to the role of civil society in the planning process looking at issues of engagement and influence. She has a long-standing interest in gender issues in planning and has recently carried out work with Dr. Sara Honarmand Ebrahimi on Gender Equality in Irish Architecture and Planning. Paula is a member of the governing board of the European Urban Research Association (EURA) and is an associate editor of the journal Urban Research and Practice.
Professor Naomi Stead is Director of the Design and Creative Practice Enabling Capability Platform at RMIT, where she works with researchers across the creative fields to engage in interdisciplinary research leading to social and environmental benefit. Throughout her academic career she has been committed to research-based advocacy – into gender equity and work-related wellbeing in the architecture profession, and ways in which creative practice and education can respond to the climate and biodiversity crisis. She has been recipient of three ARC grants, including her current project, ‘Architectural Work Cultures: professional identity, education and wellbeing’ (2021-2024) which explores the work-related wellbeing of architects and architecture students, and the earlier ‘Equity and Diversity in the Australian Architecture Profession: Women, Work and Leadership,’ which led to the founding of Parlour, an internationally recognized leader in research-based advocacy towards gender equity in the architecture profession.
Prof Inés Sánchez de Madariaga
Professor Inés Sanchez de Madariaga is Professor of Urban Planning Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Visiting Scholar at Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Fellow UPM- RCC Harvard, UNESCO Chair on Gender and Chair of AGGI, the Advisory Group on Gender Issues to the Executive Director of UN-Habitat. She is a leading international expert on gender in transportation, urban planning, architecture, and STEM, with extensive experience in policy, practice, and research. She is author of Engendering Cities, (2020), and Fair Shared Cities (2013) as well as other publications.
Australian born, Igea Troiani (PhD) is a Professor of Architecture and Head of Division of Architecture at London South Bank University. She is an architect with 27 years academic experience gained in the UK (London, Oxford and Plymouth), China (Suzhou), and Australia (Brisbane). As a practice-centred academic, her research has focused on the production of the architect. She has authored five books and 50 articles & book chapters. She was founder and editor-in-chief of the journal, Architecture and Culture from 20212-2022 and has been Chair of Women in Architecture (WIA UK) since April 2022.