Professor Karen Vella, President

Professor Karen Vella (BRTP Hons, PHD) is an urban and environmental planner and Head of the School of Architecture and Built Environment. Professor Vella leads a multidisciplinary team of scholars who teach and conduct research in architecture and design, planning, construction, and evaluation to support built environments that advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The team that Professor Vella leads combines complementary disciplinary strengths in architecture and the built environment to equip students and professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to take action on sustainability in a complex world. New research initiatives draw on deep disciplinary strengths and emerging methodologies to solve real-world problems in the built environment in partnership with industry.

Professor Thayaparan Gajendran, Deputy President

Professor Thayaparan Gajendran is the Head of School - School of Architecture and Built Environment and Acting Pro Vice-Chancellor. Dr. Thayaparan Gajendran's research focuses on the sociological aspects associated with built environment in the context of construction, project and disaster management. Specific areas of attention include cultural analysis in permanent and temporary organisations to explore and explain information communication technology adoption, innovation behaviour, project governance and resilience building.

Executive Team

Professor Jane Burry, Immediate-past President

Professor Jane Burry is an architect, Deputy Director of the ARC Training Centre for Next Gen Architectural Manufacturing, director of the international SmartGeometry Organisation, and President of the Deans of Design and Built Environment in Australia. A co-chair of IASS 23, FABRICATE 2020, and co-curator of the 2018 International Exhibition Dynamics of Air, she has served on the Hong Kong University Grants Committee (UGC). From 2017 to 2023, Professor Burry was Dean, Design and Architecture at Swinburne University and from 2012 -17, Director of the Spatial Information Laboratory at RMIT University. She has held visiting positions at IAAC and University of Oregon. She is a recent recipient of an Australian Timber Design Award, Australian Good Design Award, Gold, ACADIA Excellence in Teaching Award and Robots in Architecture Pioneer Award.

Professor Julian Worrall, Treasurer

Julian Worrall took up the position of Professor of Architecture at the University of Tasmania in 2019, and became Head of the School of Architecture and Design in 2021. He is a prominent exponent of urban and architectural innovation sourced in the study of the built environments of East Asia, particularly those of Japan, with an international career spanning scholarly research and education, critical writing, and design practice,

Professor Paul Loh, Secretary

Professor Paul Loh is the Head of the Abedian School of Architecture and the lead coordinator of the Architecture Futures Laboratory at Bond University. Paul studied architecture at the University of Melbourne, the University of East London (UEL), and the Architectural Association (Design Research Lab). He taught at all these institutions and lectured at ETH (Zurich), Lund University (Sweden), and Tsinghua University (China).

Martha Liew, Executive Director

Dr Martha Liew is an architecture/contemporary art researcher and sector leader with extensive experience in accreditation, governance, and built environment policy. She has held senior roles including Head of Art Built In at Project Services (2000 - 2006) and Head of Australian and New Zealand Architecture Accreditation program at the Australian Institute of Architects (2006 - 2015), contributing to national standards, quality assurance, and sector-wide coordination for more than a decade. As Executive Director of ADBED, Martha leads organisational strategy, operations, and stakeholder engagement across Australia and New Zealand. Her work focuses on strengthening the collective voice of built environment and design disciplines, advancing education quality, and fostering collaboration between academia, industry, and government. If you wish to contact ADBED, you can reach us on [email protected]