TET DIALOGUES

Sharing expertise and knowledge through our ‘community of practice’

2026:

12 May 2026, 16:30 - 17:30

TET Dialogues

From Evidence to Action: Putting Children at the Centre of Place

Tuesday 12 May | 16:30–17:30 | Online webinar

How do we move from listening to young people to designing with them?
Featuring award-winning organisations from development, local authority and creative practice, this session explores how strategies, frameworks and methods are embedding youth voice into real planning, design and delivery. Across the built environment, there is growing recognition that children and young people should have a voice in shaping the places they live—but how does that voice move beyond consultation to influence real outcomes?

This TET Dialogue brings together practitioners across development, local authority planning and creative practice who are embedding youth voice into the way they work. From design strategies and evaluation frameworks to participatory mapping and storytelling, the session will explore how different approaches generate evidence, structure participation, and translate insight into decisions. Rather than one-off engagement, these examples show how structured approaches can make young people’s perspectives a consistent and increasingly essential part of shaping place.

Join us to hear from TET Award winners from 2025 about how evidence can move beyond reports into practical tools, influencing how planners, designers and communities work together to shape healthier, more inclusive environments.

This 2026 series is linked to our Inspire Future Generations Awards and Imagine: Built Environment Education programme. 

Tickets

Speakers

Bonnie Kwok MBE

Business Development Manager, Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service

Bonnie is the Business Development Manager for Greater Cambridge Shared Planning, leading strategic growth, placemaking and youth engagement across the region. With over 25 years’ experience in architecture, urban design, planning and leadership, she manages the Youth Engagement Service (YES) and Public Art Advisory Service, empowering young people to influence development projects.

Bonnie was awarded an MBE in 2024 and has received multiple national awards recognising her contributions to education and youth engagement, including the TET Youth Engagement Practitioner Award in 2022.

Nia Evans

Engagement Producer, Play Disrupt

Play Disrupt is a public engagement studio, using playful methods to engage people in decisions about where they live. Malcolm Hamilton, creative director of Play Disrupt, is interested in using play centred methodologies as catalysts for increasing participation in civic decision making.

Nia Evans is a creative engagement producer at Play Disrupt, and artist working in movement and film. They are co-researchers on the Public Map, a University of Cambridge led research project and online mapping platform giving space for young people to creatively share how they feel about their local area. 

James Cox

Senior Development Manager, TOWN

James is a Senior Development Manager at TOWN, working across residential-led regeneration and cohousing projects. His work focuses on embedding design quality, community and long-term stewardship within development.

He played a key role in preparing the Child-Friendly Design Strategy for Hartree in North-East Cambridge, translating child-friendly principles into planning, design and delivery frameworks for 5,600 new homes. 

Malcolm Hamilton

Creative Director, Play Disrupt

Play Disrupt is a public engagement studio, using playful methods to engage people in decisions about where they live. Malcolm Hamilton, creative director of Play Disrupt, is interested in using play centred methodologies as catalysts for increasing participation in civic decision making.

Nia Evans is a creative engagement producer at Play Disrupt, and artist working in movement and film. They are co-researchers on the Public Map, a University of Cambridge led research project and online mapping platform giving space for young people to creatively share how they feel about their local area. 

14 April 2026, 16:30 - 17:30

TET Dialogues  Neighbourhoods: using play and greening as long term changers

Tuesday 14 April | 16:30–17:30 | Online webinar

How can play and greening reshape the everyday spaces we often overlook? This TET Dialogue explores community-led approaches to neighbourhood regeneration, where underused routes, public spaces and residential edges are transformed into greener, safer and more playful, welcoming places.

The featured projects span strategic neighbourhood planning, playful retrofit of neglected spaces, and participatory design processes that place children and residents at the heart of decision-making. From developing long-term community strategies to prototyping and delivering permanent improvements, including planting, lighting, seating and playful interventions, these initiatives demonstrate how small, collaborative actions can lead to lasting social and environmental change.

Join us to hear directly from TET Award winners and project leads about how play, co-design and nature-based solutions are being used to create inclusive neighbourhoods and how these approaches can form practical, replicable models for regeneration.

The TET Dialogues series offers the opportunity to hear from innovative teams engaging communities in shaping the built environment. This 2026 series is linked to our Inspire Future Generations Awards and Imagine: Built Environment Education programme. 

Speakers

James Perry

Architect & Planner of Harper Perry

James is an architect and planner who co-founded Harper Perry in 2015. He has worked across the fields of housing, strategy, urban design and policy.

James has delivered a range of strategic projects with community groups and the public sector across design codes, investment plans and policy to drive positive social change.

Hannah Marsden

Founding Member of Dwellbeing Shieldfield

Hannah Marsden is a founding member and current worker member of Dwellbeing Shieldfield (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK).

Her work centres on developing embedded, participatory and ethical practices of knowledge building and community building.

Zouhal Younis

Dwellbeing Shieldfield

Zouhal Younis is a final-year International Relations and Politics student with a keen interest in global affairs.

She is passionate about understanding world issues and enjoys exploring new ideas, and experiences. 

Cathal Mulry

Director of A Playful City

Cathal Mulry is Director of A Playful City, specialising in creative public and stakeholder engagement for built environment projects. With over a decade of experience across architecture, urban design, education, and consultation, he has led engagement for national policy initiatives including the Town Centre First programme, major public realm projects, and enabling infrastructure masterplans.

Cathal is also a lecturer at University College Cork and the Cork Centre for Architectural Education, where he coordinates the Erasmus Mundus Master's program, 'Redesigning the Post-Industrial City'.

Ramsey Yassa

Founder of NOOMA Studio

Ramsey Yassa was born and raised in inner-city London. His mother is an author of Children's literature, and his father is a restaurateur, they both met in the UK at a young age after emigrating from Egypt in the 1970s. Ramsey’s upbringing is reflected in his exploration of play and narrative as tools of change. He is a proud Londoner, committed to addressing issues of social justice through his design methodology.
Ramsey is the founding director of award-winning architecture firm NOOMA Studio, an interdisciplinary practice of architects and creatives with a heartfelt connection to London. NOOMA’s work has gained the practice a place in the Architects' Journal's 40 under 40 'as one of Architecture's brightest up-and-coming talents',

Watch Webinar

10 March 2026, 16:30 - 17:30

TET Dialogues: School (Play) Grounds – Schools as Living Labs for Climate, Health and Participation
Tuesday 10 March | 16:30–17:30 | Online webinar

This TET Dialogues session explores how schools can become powerful living labs for climate action, health and student participation. Bringing together three innovative projects, this webinar showcases how pupils, educators, researchers and industry partners are re-imagining schools as spaces for real-world learning and meaningful change. From net-zero behaviour change and co-designed school environments to outdoor learning in parks and playgrounds, this session highlights practical, inspiring approaches that put young people at the centre of shaping healthier, more sustainable learning environments. 

Join us, to hear directly from TET award winners on how they are working directly with schools to run curriculum-linked workshops with real implementation, building children’s agency while creating practical models for school-industry collaborations.

The TET Dialogues series offers the opportunity to hear from project leads about innovative ways of engaging children and young people with the built environment. This 2026 series is linked to our Inspire Future Generations Awards and Imagine: Built Environment Education programme.

Speakers

Chris Bryant

Co-founder of alma-nac

Chris Bryant is co-founder of alma-nac, a London architecture practice focused on low-carbon, people-centred design. Through alma-nac he co-founded Design For All, a pro bono service helping charities and community groups get projects off the ground. He also led the Department for Education’s Net Zero pilot behaviour-change programme, supporting schools to cut energy use and carbon.

Dr Hiral Patel

Director of Engagement & Senior Lecturer in Architecture at Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University

Hiral is a researcher and educator dedicated to comprehending the needs of users in the built environment. Her focus encompasses learning pedagogies, socio-material practices, holistic building performance, briefing processes and building adaptation. Her extensive research portfolio delves into learning environments, including academic library buildings, teaching spaces, and social learning spaces, with the aim of developing practical interventions.

Serving as a trustee of the University Design Forum, Hiral engages within the higher education sector, bridging academia and practice. She is the academic lead of the award-winning Shape My School programme at the Welsh School of Architecture, which delivers a hands-on co-design learning experience for pupils to develop real-life interventions in schools.

With industry experience in the UK and India, Hiral has a multifaceted career spanning research, business processes, project management, and technical building design.

Watch webinar

Hugh Dames

Lead at Adventure Learning

Born in Adelaide, Hugh is the son of a civil and structural engineer and moved to the UK after completing an MA in International Communications. His career spans private estates management, school estates policy for the then Scottish Executive, DFES National Demonstration participatory school design processes, and, as a design manager, the development of outline briefs for new and refurbished schools.

He later established one of the first urban, park-based Forest Schools and founded Adventure Learning at Crystal Palace Park for the charity Wide Horizons. Hugh works with schools delivering experiential, play-based learning and advocates for re-imagining urban parks as learning spaces.

2025:

12th May 2025 at 6pm

  • Hosted by Hawkins Brown on the evening of the 12th May, this inspiring evening explored child-friendly cities and place strategies. Participants heard from brilliant speakers (also internationals) who are passionate about making cities better for our youngest generations.

Watch it

Speakers

Negar Mihanyar

Co-lead, Education and Research Sector, Hawkins\Brown

Negar Mihanyar is an accomplished architect with over a decade of experience delivering complex, multi-phased projects for leading higher education and research institutions, including the University of Cambridge and University College London. She jointly leads the Education and Research sector at Hawkins\Brown, where she combines design excellence with a passion for inclusive practice. A graduate of the Mackintosh School of Architecture with first-class honours, Negar’s research on American Urbanism was nominated for the prestigious RIBA President’s Medal Award. Her early career included formative roles in architectural practices in New York and Tokyo, contributing to her distinctive global outlook. Negar is a committed advocate for equity in architecture. She actively supports widening access to the profession through outreach, apprenticeships, and education, and serves as an external examiner at the Glasgow School of Art. She is also a member of the RIBA Academic Validation Panel, helping shape and uphold professional standards across architectural education.

Julia King

Director, Social Place

Julia King is an architect and urban researcher whose work bridges infrastructure, public space, and youth engagement. With a strong focus on equitable urban development, her research and design practice emphasize inclusive and participatory approaches to shaping cities. For over a decade, Julia worked at LSE Cities, where she led innovative, community-led sanitation and urban improvement projects. In 2020, she founded the Apprenticeship Programme in City Design and Researcher-in-Residence initiatives at LSE Cities—two pioneering outreach models that engage local young people, especially young women, in city-making through paid, hands-on learning experiences. In 2024, Julia co-founded Social Place (formerly JK&A), a consultancy focused on participatory design, community engagement, and equitable place-shaping. Social Place works with clients such as Chelmsford County Council and Peabody Trust, delivering creative public consultation tools and advancing policy and practice through research, workshops, and advocacy. Julia holds a doctorate from the Cass School of Architecture’s ARCSR department and has taught at the AA, LSE, UCL, and UAL. She is widely recognised for her contributions to inclusive urbanism, with awards including Emerging Woman Architect of the Year and recognition at the Eurocities Awards for best practice in youth-led urban design. Her published work includes contributions to Home Economics, Infrastructure Space, and The SAGE Handbook of the 21st Century City.

Christina Ergler

Associate Professor of Geography, University of Otago

Christina Ergler is a human geographer committed to creating just, sustainable, and inclusive environments that enhance the quality of life for both humans and non-humans. Her work explores and challenges social, health, and environmental injustices, particularly as they affect marginalised communities across both minority and majority world contexts. With a strong emphasis on amplifying the voices of those often excluded from planning and policy decisions, especially children, Christina investigates how systemic inequities intersect with the everyday spaces where people live, move, work, learn, and play, both online and offline. Her research focuses on the social and environmental determinants of health, wellbeing, and “well-becoming.” Christina’s approach is deeply interdisciplinary, working across education, psychology, planning, and health sciences, and is grounded in international collaborations. She is a passionate advocate for inclusive research methods and policy frameworks that prioritise the lived experiences of underrepresented groups.

28th April 2025 at 12noon

  • TET is hosting an online webinar for academics, tutors, outreach officers & built environment professionals to share ideas, challenges and creative approaches to youth engagement in education settings. The webinar will focus on our last publication, Learning Connections Report, which focuses on children and young people engagement in Architecture and Built Environment UK schools.

Watch it

Speakers

Guido Robazza

Associate Professor in Urban Studies & Architecture, School of Architecture, Art and Design, University of Portsmouth

Guido Robazza is an architect and senior lecturer at Portsmouth School of Architecture. His research focuses on temporary urbanism, civic participation, and innovative approaches to city-making. With experience at LSE Cities and as director of NoWall Architecture, Guido bridges practice and research, exploring how urban spaces can foster more inclusive communities.

Rosie Parnell

Professor of Architecture and Pedagogy at Newcastle University

Rosie Parnell is a Professor of Architecture at Newcastle University, with a focus on children’s engagement in design and the built environment. Her research, teaching and practice explore co-design, spatial education, and child-friendly architecture, drawing on experience from both academia and work with schools, youth groups, and NGOs internationally.


Dhruv Gulabchande

Associate Director at HFM

Dhruv Gulabchande is Associate Director at HFM Architects with 12 years of retrofit and refurbishment experience in the retail, commercial and healthcare sectors. He also leads Narrative Practice, where his research focuses on promoting diversity through integration of long-term mentoring into architectural practice and academia. In recognition of his work, he has been selected as a RIBAJ Rising Star, Curation Panel Member for the London Festival of Architecture 2025 and Emerging Individual of the Year by TET. Dhruv teaches at Syracuse University London and Central Saint Martins. 



Previous year’s calendar:

  • Today there are many concerns about the loss of creativity in the school curriculum. STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths – and other methods are advocating a more holistic and transdisciplinary approach to learning.

    What can architects learn from their engineer and science peers – and vice versa – about innovative and engaging ways of creative learning for young people? How might such methods be better built into both school education and professional built environment practice?

    Speakers: Kat Dewell, People & Culture Manager, Civic Engineers, Heba Tabidi, Founder, Creative Director and Structural Engineer at Space Black, Chris Wise, Senior Director, Expedition Engineering, and Researcher, University of Bath.

    When: 3rd April 2023, 5pm

    Summary: Webinar Video view here and download summary here.

  • Well-designed and maintained public spaces – whether parks and gardens, playgrounds, streets and squares – are vital for children and young people to develop social skills, build confidence and learn to become independent. Yet there are many concerns about such factors as poor design, safety and security of the spaces they use every day. What do young people need in design of the public realm to explore their city with confidence, and how can we bring their views into decision-making on public spaces?

    Speakers: Maria Vassilakou, Urban strategist and advisor on urban transformation (former Vice-Mayor of Vienna); Susannah Walker, Co-founder, Make Space for Girls;  Shankari Raj, Head of Education, Design West, Saira Ali, Bradford Metropolitan Council, Joanne Harrop, Director, PLACED (Chair)

    When: 6th March 2023, 5pm

    Summary: Webinar Video YouTube 

    (written summary to follow)

  • The home is our first and most formative experience of the built environment. At a time when the UK - and many other countries - face many urgent housing problems, how can we ensure that young people’s voices are best taken into account when designing and building new homes? And how can we harness their innovative and creative ideas to make better homes for all?

    Speakers: Abigail Batchelor, Associate Director, Karakusevic Carson Architects, Toni Marie Dyer-Miller, communications executive, Dr Bonnie Kwok, Principal Urban Designer/Greater Cambridge Design Review Panel Manager, Greater Cambridge Shared Planning, Mark .Southgate, Chief Executive, MOBIE, Helena Thompson, Artistic Director, SPID Theatre.

    When: 6th February 2023, 5pm

    Summary: Webinar Video YouTubeand download summary here.

  • Social value is delivered in many ways - stakeholder engagement, mentoring, partnerships - but all create a more equitable society.

    Chaired by Hilary Satchwell - Director, Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design

    Speakers: Claire Pollock, Partnerships Lead, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, Anna Davies, Director, David Miller Architects, Mellis Haward, Director, Archio, and Shawn Adams, Founding Partner, POoR Collective

    When: February 2022

    Summary: Watch the full discussion and download summary here

  • Young people today are spearheading action to try to halt the destructive effects of the climate crisis. The need to make buildings and spaces greener is universally accepted, but what are the examples of meaningful engagement with young people on this issue?

    Chaired by Hattie Hartman, Sustainability Editor, The Architects’ Journal

    Speakers: Neil Onions - Beyond the Box, Simeon Shtebunaev, Birmingham City University, Sumita Singha, Ecologic Architects

    When: November 2021

    Summary: Full discussion - video of event and download summary here

  • We launched the Thornton Education Trust (TET) on 30 March 2021 with the ‘Inspiring Future Generations’ webinar, attended by over 140 people, with panelists:

    Matt Bell, Corporate Affairs Director at Grosvenor & co-creator of 'Voice Opportunity Power’

    Karen Jelenje, Founder of social enterprise Activate the City

    Fiona MacDonald, Head of Learning, Design Museum/Co-Founder, Matt + Fiona

    Jorge Raedó, Founder, Osa Menor, a Colombia-based arts education organisation

    Simeon Shtebunaev, Birmingham City University

    Watch the full discussion or download summary