Gunjan Shah
Gunjan is an Indian born Graduate of Architecture. She's mostly lived as a nomad, calling home to eight cities at different points in her life, and has had the opportunity to work in metropolitans such as Mumbai, Dubai and Pune. Completing her Master's from UNSW Sydney, and graduating during CoVID, she realised how isolating the migrant journey can be. In search for a community where locals and immigrants can gather to learn from each other, she pushed to develop archiNation with the help of the ACT Chapter. This year archiNation was awarded the ACT President's Medal for the positive actions its spurred to advance cultural and linguistic diversity within our profession. Currently based in Canberra, she's serving the architecture community through the work undertaken as EmAGN Co-chair for ACT.

Laura Martires
Laura Mártires is a Lecturer in Architectural Design at the University of Melbourne and a co-Director of Melbourne practice Common. Her interests include the relationship between cities and architecture, visualisation and worldbuilding tools as well as speculative architecture as a tool to uncover novel forms of architecture. Laura was born and educated in Portugal, but also studied in Milan, Fukuoka and Tokyo, finally moving to Melbourne, where she has lived since 2010. Her global pathway has both shaped her views on architecture and urbanism, fostering a sense of curiosity, experimentation and ongoing criticality. Her education across continents provided her with an array of experiences and methods for thinking and producing architecture, tools that she brings to both practice and teaching. As an educator, she strives to constantly learn from her students and their diverse backgrounds and cultures while bringing a sense of rigour and creative expansiveness to her pedagogical approaches. In practice she strives to create projects that are beautiful and meaningful for not only the practice, but for the public.  

Adrian Fitzgerald
Adrian joined Denton Corker Marshall in 1982, working successively in the Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, London, and Singapore studios. With expertise in design and planning, he plays a key role in leading the practice’s Design Cell, undertaking design for both Australian work and major international projects. Adrian’s conceptual design and presentation skills are invaluable in the preparation of the practice’s work in both competition and direct commissions. He has led the design of a wide range of architectural and urban design projects across Australia, Asia and Europe. These encompass numerous sectors, from education, research and civic, to large scale residential mixed-use commercial precincts and urban design. Committed to advancing the profession of architecture, Adrian is involved in activities beyond the practice. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA). He has served on numerous award juries for the AIA, been an AIA Victorian Chapter Councillor and AIA National Councillor.  

Marika Neustupny
Marika Marika Neustupny is a founding Director of NMBW Architecture Studio. She has taught in Architectural Design, Urban Research and Asian Urbanism at RMIT and Monash Universities. Marika was born in Japan, with her family moving to Melbourne when she was in kindergarten. Speaking Japanese while growing up gave her a head start in studying the language and being able to gain experience in the architecture office of Yasumitsu Matsunaga at age 23, then at age 30 undertake a Masters in Architecture degree at Tokyo Institute of Technology and work at architectural practice, SANAA. Since then, Marika has acted in countless roles relating to Japanese architecture in Australia, including the recent design and curation of an exhibition ‘When Robin Boyd Went to Japan’ – a collaboration between NMBW Architecture Studio, CIBI and the Robin Boyd Foundation.  

Blake Hillebrand 
Blake Blake Hillebrand is the National President of the Student Organised Network for Architecture (SONA) and a student of architecture at BayleyWard. He graduated with a Bachelor of Architectural Design from RMIT and is currently pursuing his Master of Architecture. Born in Melbourne, Blake lived in London for just under a decade, before returning to Australia to study architecture at RMIT University. During a gap year taken amidst his bachelor’s degree, he worked overseas in London. He has also participated in various educational study tours and exchanges in South Korea, China, France, the U.K., Switzerland, and is looking forward to an upcoming semester exchange in Copenhagen, Denmark. Blake is serving on the Institute's National Council and National Education Committee and has previously served as a student representative on the International Chapter Council of the Australian Institute of Architects. He is passionate about fostering an engaged and inclusive architecture community which was recognised when he was awarded the National Student Prize for the Advancement of Architecture in 2023.