Dr Sharon Prendeville is a senior lecturer/associate professor at the Institute for Design Innovation, Loughborough University, London, UK, where she leads the Institute’s research on critical interdisciplinary perspectives on design innovation. She is Head of the Institute’s research group, Director of the MSc Design Innovation Management programme and Principal Investigator on the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project entitled Counter-Framing Design. She was Chair of Conversations at the Design Research Society conference DRS2018 and has previously worked at the TU Delft, The Netherlands, and the Royal College of Art, London, UK. In 2014, she co-founded the global grassroots collective OSCEdays, to explore counter-cultural practices, peer-to-peer production and commons governance for sustainability. She was recently named one of the AHRC’s design research future stars. Read more at Sharon’s Institute Research Profile and website Design Dissonance.

Cotter Christian, Associate Dean of the School of Constructed Environments at Parsons and Assistant Professor of Interior Design, holds an MFA in Studio Art from Georgia State University, an MA in Interior Design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and a Bachelor’s in Theatre from Marymount Manhattan College. Cotter has been teaching for over a decade and previously worked at Perkins+Will as an interior project designer on corporate, academic, and institutional projects. Before joining Parsons, he helped start the interior design program at SCAD’s Hong Kong campus. His current research investigates the relationship between contemplative practices, design process, and interior design education. As part of the inaugural cohort of University Fellows at The New School, he works with colleagues to embed mindfulness and contemplative approaches in scholarship, teaching, and practice. He is a member of the Interior Design Educators Council and on the board for Interior Designers for Legislation in New York (IDLNY).

Robert Y. Chang is an Emmy-nominated producer and the Coordinating Producer of America ReFramed. America ReFramed is committed to presenting stories that illuminate complex social issues and pose an array of experiences through which viewers can contemplate our past, understand our present, and challenge the reimagining of America’s future. The curated year-round series is broadcast on public television’s WORLD Channel and streams via the PBS app. As a member of the Programming & Production team at American Documentary, Robert contributes to the curation of its award-winning documentary series. He has served as juror, screener, programmer, panelist, and reviewer for a range of film festivals and arts funders. He has also served as juror for the IDA Awards, the Tellys, RTDNA Murrow Awards, and the News & Documentary Emmys. Previously, Robert received his PhD in Cultural Anthropology at NYU for his research on the intersection of religion and media. Robert is also a documentary filmmaker whose work has screened worldwide at festivals and is distributed by Documentary Educational Resources (DER). He is a member of the Producers Guild of America.

Akhil SG is a graduate student in Nonprofit Management with a minor in Global Urban Futures at the New School. He is the founding president of Sahridhaya, a non profit based in Kerala that works for creating social awareness among youth for the last 8 years. He also works as a consultant for initiatives at the intersection of social justice and technology in academic and public institutions.

Before engaging with New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) he was the Technology Fellow at Kerala Startupmission, a state government agency that promotes technology startups and a Researcher in Assistive Technology at International Center for Free and Open Source Software. Having a Bachelors in Engineering he explores the organizational interactions of public institutions through a technology lens. Currently researching New York City’s urban food systems from a neighborhood perspective.

Joanne Scillitoe is the inaugural Paul Jennings Chair in Entrepreneurship and a Professor of Management at California State University Northridge. She holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Management and an MBA from Rutgers University, a BS in Business Administration from The College of New Jersey, and an A.A.S. degree in Biological Technology from Middlesex County Community College.

She is the 2015-16 Fulbright-SyCip Distinguished Lecturer (Philippines) and a 2018-19 Fulbright Senior Scholar (Spain). Prior to her appointment at CSUN she was a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at New York Institute of Technology and an Assistant Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship at Michigan Technological University. Prior to her academic career, she had over 17 years of life sciences work experience. Her research interests include business incubation processes, technological innovation processes, technology entrepreneurship, socio-tech entrepreneurship and innovation, and interdisciplinary. Dr. Scillitoe's research has won several best paper awards and has been published in top-tier academic journals.

Emily Kessler is a consultant, coach, and facilitator with a Masters of Science in Organizational Change Management from The New School with particular expertise in organizational development, change management, and organization design. Working across sectors and industries, she leads the design, development, and implementation of change processes that helps people work through their organizational challenges and improve their experiences. Emily’s adapted design thinking, human-centered practice results in achievable action-oriented strategies for realizing short- and long-term goals and ultimately higher levels of engagement and adoption.