About this Event
This dialogue is part of an initiative to showcase the diversity of global research-policy engagement at the Bartlett, which spans geographies, themes, sectors, and partnerships with communities, different tiers of government, multi-lateral agencies and professional networks.
The event will be chaired by Priti Parikh, the Vice Dean International, and Saffron Woodcraft, the Faculty Lead for Public Policy and will include four groups of speakers, each with a specific focus. Our speakers are:
Session 1: SDGs, cities and public policy
The role of policy in the global housing crisis
Paroj Banerjee is a lecturer at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit at the University College London. Here she co-leads the MSc in Social Development Practice and holds other leadership roles advancing research, teaching and diversity. Paroj is an urban ethnographer who deeply engages with urban inhabitation, structural injustice, and non-mainstream experiences of home and housing. She is an editor of the international peer-reviewed journal City and in her role as independent consultant of UN-Habitat has authored a chapter in the World Cities Report 2026.
Session 2: Communities, participation and tactical urbanism
Participation in crisis: professional lessons from the international participatory charter
Dimitrios Panayotopoulos-Tsiros holds research positions at the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL, and the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge, and is an independent public policy adviser and lecturer. His work sits at the intersection of strategic planning, public policy, and social research.
Dominique Lancrenon is an architect and urban planner, delegate of the urban planners of North of France for SFU, and ECTP-CEU Honorary President. At Territoire Europe, she develops participatory platforms in neighbourhoods and cities and exchanges between the experiences of diff erent European countries.
Lucy Natarajan is editor of Built Environment and Associate Professor at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London. Her research focuses on participation and learning, in relation to strategic and large-scale urban development.
Eleanor Mohammed is Chair of the UN-Habitat Professionals Forum and Award-winning Partner at DIALOG and Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners with over two decades of experience across the government, private, and civil society sectors.
Discussion and reflections chaired by Professor Priti Parikh
Session 3: Policy and climate change
Multilateralism in times of unilateralism: The case of UN International Maritime Organisation and shipping’s GHG emissions
Tristan Smith is Co-lead of the Shipping and Oceans Research Group and Professor in Energy and Transport at UCL. Since 2010 Tristan has grown a substantial group focused on modelling and analysis of shipping’s efficiency and emissions. He led the 3rd IMO GHG Study, is an author in the 4th IMO GHG Study, is lead author of ISO 19030, and has been involved in numerous projects across the academic, industry and policy domains.
Nishatabbas Rehmatullah is Co-lead of the Shipping and Oceans Research Group and is a Principal Research Fellow in UCL’s Energy Institute. His research explores the barriers to shipping decarbonisation and solutions to accelerate zero carbon transitions. He holds a PhD in Energy and Transport and specialises in social science and private governance approaches to maritime sustainability.
Session 4: Policy and heritage preservation
Decentring modern heritage - introducing the cape town document on modern heritage
Edward Denison is Professor of Architecture and Global Modernities at the Bartlett School of Architecture. He has twice been awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) President’s Medal for Research (2016 and 2017) and his current research, 'An Extractive History of Architecture for a Planetary Age’, was awarded a three-year Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship. He has contributed to the UNESCO World Heritage nominations for the modernist cities of Asmara (Eritrea), Kaunas (Lithuania) and Gdynia (Poland), as well as Beijing’s Central Axis (China). In 2020, he cofounded the global collaborative MoHoA, Modern Heritage of Africa / Modern Heritage in the Anthropocene.
Guang Yu Ren is Associate Professor and Director of History and Theory at the Bartlett School of Architecture. She has published numerous books on architectural history in different global contexts, including 'A Practical Guide to Architectural Drawing' (RIBA, 2024) and ‘Ultra-Modernism - Architecture and Modernity in Manchuria' (HKUP, 2017), for which she was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) President’s Medal for Research.
Shahid Vawda has been Professor at Wits University and University of Cape Town (UCT) and Mafeje Chair, and is currently associated in various research capacities with Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Rhodes University, Wits University and UCT. In 2020, he cofounded the global collaborative MoHoA, Modern Heritage of Africa / Modern Heritage in the Anthropocene.
Discussion and reflections chaired by Professor Saffron Woodcraft
UCL200 at the Bartlett
2026 is the year in which we celebrate UCL’s bicentenary, marking 200 years since UCL’s establishment as the first university in London.
On 11 February 2026, UCL began a year of celebration to mark our bicentenary. UCL200 will be an exciting and varied programme of activities, events and storytelling, celebrating and reinforcing UCL’s commitment to our founding values, highlighting the excellence and impact of our groundbreaking work and people, and presenting an ambitious and inspiring portrait of our future.
Find out more about the UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment’s UCL200 celebrations.
Explore UCL200 at the Bartlett →
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Jeremy Bentham Room, Wilkins Building, UCL, Gower Street, London, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
