Speakers
Kaikōrero
Partner, JAKOB+MACFARLANE
JAKOB+MACFARLANE is an architecture, urbanism, research and design office in Paris.
Brendan MacFarlane, born in New Zealand, received his master degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and graduated from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).
In1998, he and Dominique Jakob co-founded Jakob+MacFarlane, a multidisciplinary, multicultural practice whose innovative, socially committed architecture is tailored to meet the environmental and other challenges of the 21st century. Brendan has taught at the Bartlett School of Architecture and the Architectural Association in London, École Spécialed 'Architecture (Paris), the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Berlage and SCI-Arc, Georgia Tech, Rice University, among others.
Professor Emirata of Yale University's School of Achitecture
Peggy Deamer is Professor Emerita of Yale University’s School of Architecture. In 2007, she was the Head of Architecture and Planning at Auckland University, She is a founding member of the Architecture Lobby, a group advocating for the value of architectural design and labor. She is the editor of Architecture and Capitalism: 1845 to the Present (Routledge, 2014) and The Architect as Worker: Immaterial Labor, the Creative Class, and the Politics of Design (Bloomsbury, 2016) and the author of Architecture and Labor (Routledge, 2020). She is a co-author of The Organizer’s Guide to Architecture Education.
Principal, Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects, LFRAIA, Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal 2024
Philip Thalis is principal of Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects. Founded in 1992, the 12 person practice is recognised for its design skills and independent standpoint, and has won more than 100 awards, commendations and competitions. The practice undertakes a diverse range of project types and sizes.
Philip actively promotes the culture of architecture and city making, combining the direction of the practice with teaching, research, conference papers and public lectures, architectural criticism and expert opinion. The substantial book Public Sydney; Drawing the City (co-authored with Peter John Cantrill) was published to acclaim in 2013. In 2016 Uro Publishing released Minomono #2 on Hill Thalis' work.
Professor of Art, Design and Material Culture and Co-director of the Vā Moana Research Centre at the Auckland University of Technology
A graduate in architecture from the University of Auckland, Dr Refiti is now a leading scholar of the architecture and material culture of the Pacific. He is the co-author of the Handbook of Contemporary Indigenous Architecture (Springer 2018), Pacific Spaces: Translations and Transmutations (Berghahn 2022), Oceanic Architectural Routes: The work of Mike Austin (Objectspace 2026), and Vā Moana: Space and Relationality in Pacific Thought and Identity (ANU Press 2026).
Albert has worked as an architectural assistant at Lane Priest Architects and Noel Lane Architects in Auckland, and at Feary Heron Architects in London. He was a Pacific architecture specialist on the renovations of the Pacific Galleries and the Atrium of the Auckland Museum, the Fale Pasifika at the University of Auckland and the Fale Malae for Jasmax. He is currently a co-leader with Rau Hoskins of the Te Apārangi Royal Society Marsden-funded research project on the architecture of the Moananui Pacific region.
Chief Economist at Simplicity
Shamubeel Eaqub makes economics easy and fun. Shamubeel is the Chief Economist at Simplicity. He is also an author, media commentator and a thought leading public speaker.
He graduated with Honours in Economics from Lincoln University and is also a CFA Charterholder.
He has 25 years of experience as an economist in Wellington, Melbourne and Auckland in leading financial institutions and consultancy (ANZ Bank, Goldman Sachs JBWere, NZIER, Sense Partners and Simplicity).
He balances a portfolio of economics, consulting, public speaking, governance and family duties. He lives in Auckland with his wife and two sons.
Co-director, MĀPIHI Māori and Pacific Housing Research Centre Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland
Dr. James Miller is a Kanaka 'Ōiwi architect and Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland.
He is a Co-Director of MĀPIHI Māori and Pacific Housing Research Centre, leading the Pacific Region Strategy. Dr. Miller is a principal of Metaamo Studio and runs ‘Ike Honua Design Lab centering Indigenous design knowledge in the service of culturally resilient communities across the Pacific and Pacific Northwest.
Associate Dean Pacific and Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland
Dr Charmaine ‘Ilaiū Talei (Tatakamōtonga, Houma—Kingdom of Tonga) is an architect (NZRAB and BOAQ), researcher and educator at Te Pare School of Architecture and Planning, Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland. Charmaine is a leading researcher of Pacific architecture specialising in Tongan and Fijian architectures. She has published widely covering topics about Pacific housing wellbeing, multigenerational housing, culturally responsive design methodologies, Indigenisation of the architectural profession, and Pacific design and building praxes.
Charmaine works as an architectural consultant on government, community and aid projects in the Pacific region, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Australia. In 2025, Charmaine was elected by Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects to represent the Pacific region as co-lead for the Education committee, Commonwealth Association of Architects. Enabling a symbiotic relationship between architectural research and architectural practice is a motivation of Charmaine's work.