JANE TONER

Jane Toner is an Architect, Regenerative Design Practitioner, Biophilic Design expert and Australia’s first certified Biomimicry Professional. Jane believes that the natural world holds the answers to creating innovative design solutions that are ecologically regenerative, socially just and joyous, and that the key to creating a thriving future for all life is in remembering that we are nature.ane Toner is an Architect, Regenerative Design Practitioner, Biophilic Design expert and Australia’s first certified Biomimicry Professional. Jane believes that the natural world holds the answers to creating innovative design solutions that are ecologically regenerative, socially just and joyous, and that the key to creating a thriving future for all life is in remembering that we are nature.

SIMON KILBANE

Simon Kilbane is an AILA registered landscape architect with more than 20 years of diverse experience across the public, private and academic sectors in Australia and overseas.  
 
His work focusses upon the intersection of people, place and ecology through design and he seeks to articulate ecological science and policy intent through the development of accurate, measurable and visual designs and is committed to the creation of more healthy and inclusive landscapes and cities and the exploration of new methods to work with and across disciplines. 
 
Simon has recognised expertise across landscape architecture and planning, green infrastructure, and urban and ecological design and his PhD – that explored the potential of a National Green Infrastructure Network – was awarded the AILA Western Australian Award and the AILA National Award of Excellence in 2018 in the ‘Research Policy and Communications’ category for its diverse, creative methodology. This included site analysis, mapping and GIS technologies and the ground-truthing of plans through engagement with community and local governance. 
 
Simon currently teaches into Planning, Urban Design and Landscape Architecture at Deakin University in Geelong and is also the landscape architect lead at Rhizome. He sits on several design review panels in NSW including the State Design Review Panel, the City of Gosford Design Review Panel and the Parks for People Design Review Panel.  

SKYE HALDANE

Skye Haldane is a landscape architect with a passion for how design can allow everyone to pursue their potential. She is committed to delivering and advocating for design quality that celebrates connection to place. Skye is Principal Strategic Design at City of Melbourne. She works across the in-house design team in delivery of the city’s public projects, and as adviser for major projects and strategy. Skye was previously a principal in private practice, leading design for key civic spaces, city development and major infrastructure projects. Her work has received numerous awards, including Australia’s Best Playground for Natureplay at Royal Park.

LEE HARRISON

Lee Harrison is the Acting Manager of Urban Forest and Ecology at the City of Melbourne. She oversees in the implementation of both the Urban Forest and Nature in the City Strategies.  
 
Lee started her career at the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology performing research and consulting on urban ecology, specialising on the impacts on linear infrastructure on wildlife.

Since 2016, she has been working at the city developing policy and programs that apply ecological theory in a capital city context. She has works collaboratively with a range of partners on projects including Linking Nature in the City: A framework for improving ecological connectivity across the City of Melbourne; experimental indigenous wildflower meadows, a guide for streetscape plantings for biodiversity, BioBlitzes, and much more.

KATE CULLITY

Founding Director - TCL

Kate is a founding director of TCL and is a nationally and internationally recognised and awarded landscape architect and environmental artist, with particular skills in the design of public and private gardens, and the integration of public art with landscape and urban design. She has worked as both an artist and designer for a number of international art and garden festivals, both in Australia and overseas, and her work has been extensively published internationally. Her background in botany and her strong personal interest in horticulture have resulted in her involvement in the planting design of sites throughout Australia.

Kate has been a member of the core design team in many of TCL’s award winning projects, including the Redevelopment of North Terrace and Victoria Square in Adelaide and The Australian Garden in Victoria, which won the 2013 WAF, ‘Landscape of the Year’ Award. She was an inaugural recipient of the AILA National Edna Walling Award for Residential Design in 2006 and has won this award several times since.

Kate has taught at both secondary and tertiary levels and is most familiar with the education sector. She has completed a PhD which reflected on 25 years of TCL’s practice, as well as her interest in beauty, aesthetics and care and how these qualities can be aligned with creating and appreciating resilient cultural, social and environmental landscapes.

MARK HEALEY

Studio Director - Bates Smart 

Mark Healey is a Studio Director of Bates Smart Architects based in Melbourne, Australia. During Mark’s 20 year career he has led a number of high quality healthcare, hospitality, multi residential, civic and commercial developments, namely Bates Smart’s winning submission for the Australian Embassy in Washington D.C., the award winning Royal Children’s Hospital, Bendigo Hospital and the recently completed Gandel Wing for Cabrini Health.

Mark’s passion is using nature’s positive qualities to create empathetic, human centric spaces we want to inhabit, thrive and grow. 

MARK GILLINGHAM

Director - GLAS

Mark Gillingham is Director of the GLAS landscape Architects in Melbourne. With over 20 years experience as a Registered Landscape Architect, in Australia and the UK, Mark has been involved in a wide variety of high profile landscape projects including the Shoreline Walk, Beirut (World Architecture Award 2011), the Princess Diana Memorial in London, the 2008 Venice Bienalle, the Jebel Hafit desert park restoration in Al Ain, UAE and the University of Melbourne’s New Student Precinct. Since establishing GLAS in 2011, Mark has built a practice with a strong focus on people and nature in the city. GLAS’ work explores opportunities to enhance urban biodiversity and works to embed resilient, ecological systems in all projects from large scale masterplanning down to the smallest pocket parks. GLAS has won recognition for ecologically progressive designs including AILA State and National awards for projects including the Monash Valley Creek restoration, the Wootten Reserve native grassland and the System Garden botanical restoration. Mark is a sessional tutor at the University of Melbourne, running subjects exploring materiality and ecology.

KATHARINA NIEBERLER-WALKER

Echoing the wisdom and wonders of the natural world Katharina co-creates purposefully designed outdoor places to support healthy people and a sustainable environment.
The hallmark of her work demands a holistic approach to health and wellbeing, collaborating with healthcare professionals, designers and hospital administrators to transform the way we design, build and operate hospitals. Her research now serves to consolidates her practical experience by aiming to co-create, develop and test a therapeutic landscape framework for successful application in hospitals that enables and demonstrates the power of nature in assisting patient recovery, supporting family wellbeing and improving staff performance and satisfaction.

DR PHILLIP ROÖS

Dr Phillip B. Roös is a South African-born architect, now residing in the State of Victoria as an Australian Citizen. His work spans across architecture, urban design and planning, landscape architecture, ecological design, teaching and research, as well as writings and art.

He is known internationally for his leading work in ecological design and planning on large scale infrastructure and built environment projects. He is currently the Director of the Live+Smart Research Laboratory, Associate Professor, and the Associate Head of School - Industry Engagement at the  School of Architecture and Built Environment, Deakin University. He is an independent biophilic design and regenerative-adaptive design for sustainable development advisor to organisations, professional bodies, communities and governments. He has recently retired from professional practice as an architect to spend more time on research, writings in philosophy, drawing, painting and ecological art, and providing community support for regenerative and biophilic designed environments. 

Phillip has a wide range of interests, activities and influences as he works at the nexus of biophilic design, architecture, engineering, planning, ecological art and environmental stewardship. He has been working as an architect and design professional for over 30 years on an extensive range of projects, in Europe, Africa and Australasia. He is committed to a resilient future for both humans and nature. His life’s work is to seek innovative solutions to address the major challenges of our time.

His teaching and research interests are centred on environmental custodianship based on the human-nature relationship, and the identification of optimised planning and design processes using a regenerative-adaptive pattern language system. Through his art, writings and adventures he explores the deeper meaning of our personal connection with Earth, investigating the meaning of wholeness by investigating Indigenous Knowledges and the principles of Ecopsychology. 

DR DOMINIQUE HES

Dr Dominique Hes has a PHD in Architecture, multiple degrees in Science, Engineering and Sustainable Design. She has a demonstrated history of working in the higher education and building industries in the fields of sustainability, regenerative development, systems thinking, environmental issues, placemaking and project management. 

She is the award winning Author of the book “Designing for Hope: Pathways to Regenerative Sustainability.” She is the author and editor of six books and over one hundred papers and reports. 

Dominique is the Chair of the board of Greenfleet, co-founder of internationally award winning Place Agency, and former director of Thrive Research Hub from Melbourne University, as well as a founding board member of the Living Futures Institute of Australia and Trustee of Trust for Nature. 

Dominique is driven by her passion is to uncover ways to address the issues we are seeing all around us; loss of biodiversity, loss of habitat and changing climate.