TET DIALOGUES

2026:

10 March 2026, 16:30 - 17:30

TET Dialogues: School 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.

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.

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.