Raya Ani is the founder and director of RAW-NYC Architects, an award-winning architecture and urban design practice. A licensed architect in New York and advisor to UNESCO, her work integrates sustainability, technology and cultural identity across architecture, urban design and regenerative master planning. She is a former President and current At-Large Director of AIA Middle East and was the first woman elected to lead the chapter.

Dina Ghobara has 14 years of experience in architectural delivery, environmental performance and multidisciplinary coordination. She spent more than two years as a BIM Coordinator and Architect on the construction team for the Grand Egyptian Museum. A USGBC Faculty member, she holds LEED AP BD+C, LEED AP O+M, WELL AP and EDGE Auditor/Expert credentials, with additional expertise in ISO 19650 information management.

She is a Senior Architect and Sustainability Coordinator at Pace.

Sanmita Patel is an architect, educator and design researcher whose practice and research examine cultural identity, vernacular ecology and material technologies within rapidly changing urban contexts.

She holds a Master of Architecture in Advanced Architecture Technology from the University of Pennsylvania and is the founder of the Young Architects Forum Dubai.

Professor Abdelmohsen Farahat is an architect, landscape architect and environmental design and planning scholar, and consultant, with more than four decades of teaching, research and professional experience. He holds graduate degrees from the University of Georgia and Virginia Tech and has produced more than 40 publications addressing environmental design, planning, art and the relationship between cultural identity and the built environment.

Nirmeen Abu Lughod is an interior architect and design manager with more than 20 years of experience delivering architectural, interior and cultural projects across the UAE.

As a former Chief Engineer at Dubai’s Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department, she led the design review and delivery of numerous mosques and Islamic cultural facilities. She has also served as a guest lecturer, design juror and industry advisor.

Dr. Hadeel El Naggar is an architect, academic, and researcher with expertise in architectural design, urban planning, sustainable urban development, and climate-responsive design.

With experience in both professional practice and higher education, she has collaborated with governmental, professional, and academic institutions across the Middle East on projects addressing the built environment, resilient cities, and spatial planning. Her research integrates architectural thinking with spatial analysis and digital technologies to support context-sensitive planning and design while examining the relationship between architecture, place, and the evolving built environment.

Rajagopalan M. Palamadai is an Indian registered architect, and a member of RICS. He holds architecture degrees from CEPT and MIT, where he specialized in Urban Settlements Design. Since founding Palamadai and Associates in 1984, he has led architecture, planning, interior design, and project management assignments across India. He later moved into design and development management consulting, following senior roles including Director of Design at Tishman Speyer India. His experience includes affordable housing advisory, multilateral development assignments, and academic engagement. He served as Professor Emeritus at Ramaiah Institute of Technology.

Sarah Abd El Monim is a Ph.D. candidate in Heritage and Museum Studies at the Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Capital University, Cairo. She holds an M.A. in Heritage Conservation and Site Management from the same institution. Her research explores cultural heritage, collective memory, visual culture, and literary narratives, with a particular focus on Cairo’s cultural identity and the ways in which its heritage is interpreted, represented, and remembered.

Roba Youssef is an architect and designer whose work explores how natural systems can be translated into built form and material experience to reconnect people with culture, context and the environment. She holds a Master of Architecture with Distinction from Lawrence Technological University and a bachelor’s degree in interior architecture from Lebanese American University.

Dr. Maria A. El Helou is an architect, researcher, WELL AP, and Founder & President of ANCED – The Academy of Neuroscience for Cities, Environments, and Design.

Since 2011, she has advanced neuroarchitecture in the MENA region through research, teaching, writing and design translation, with a focus on identity, memory, wellbeing, and evidence-informed, human-centred and trauma-informed design. She is also Founder & Host of The Neuroarchitect platform and podcast, a Board Member of the Human Architecture and Planning Institute, Senior Advisor and Middle East Geographic Coordinator at City Space Architecture, and a member of the WELL Mind Concept Advisory at the International WELL Building Institute.

Her original concepts and frameworks include The Seven Identity Layers and The Mindful House.

Dr. Ibrahim Saad is an architect and Design Director at James Cubitt & Partners, with over three decades of experience in architectural design leadership and multidisciplinary project delivery across the Middle East.

His portfolio spans mixed-use, hospitality, residential, commercial, healthcare, educational, cultural, and sports developments. His work reflects an approach to architecture as a living record of cultural memory, leveraging identity and lived experience to inform contemporary design.

Andrija Stojic has worked with WHY Architecture since 2005 on major cultural, museum and educational projects. His portfolio includes the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Pomona College Studio Art Hall and the Speed Art Museum. As Director of WHY’s Building Workshop, he has helped integrate technical, environmental and programmatic innovation into the firm’s design methodology.

Tomasz studied architecture and urban design at Silesian University of Technology in Poland and Seville University of Architecture in Spain. His graduation project was awarded ‘Best Diploma Project’ in 2006, and he received his Master of Science Degree with first class honours the following year.

Tomasz has the extensive experience in the design, management and construction of projects across the Middle East and Europe. He was previously based in Edinburgh, where he worked on the Quartermile development and later deployed to Saudi Arabia in 2012, where he has been appointed as General Manager to run the branch office in Riyadh.