Home & Climate Change: Transforming Societies in the face of Climate Emergency” Book Launch and Research Seminar

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Event Programme

The Home & Climate Change Book Launch and Seminar brings together key partners, collaborators, and researchers involved in the scholarly discourse and debate on the intrinsic relationship between our homes, as a key social, cultural, and economic institution, and the forces and impact of Climate Change as the most drastic environmental crisis of our time.  

The book highlights the role of the home as a central unit of resilience in the face of climate change and sustainable living in contemporary cities. It examines how climate change affects households, how we can curb its impact, and how policy, planning, architecture and economy can be re-envisioned to support the home within the framework of national and international policy circles. 

This research seminar will introduce the book's scholarly research, investigations, and inquiries through talks by book chapter contributors, authors and experts who offer critical insights into discussions at the intersection of home, housing, community, and climate change.

About the speakers

Sir Bryan Sanderson (CBE) Before becoming Chairman and Founding Director of Home Renaissance Foundation and Chairman of the Low Pay Commission, Sanderson was Managing Director of BP, Chairman of BUPA and Standard Chartered Bank. He also helped establish the Learning and Skills Council as its first Chairman. He served as Vice Chairman of the Court of Governors at LSE and is a Trustee of the Economist Group. After gaining a BSc in Economics at LSE and furthering his education in the IMEDE Business School Lausanne, the majority of Sanderson’s business life has been in the management of advances made in areas ranging from technology to corporate law, from financial regulation to societal and cultural behaviours. He was awarded a knighthood in the 2025 King’s New Year Honours List.

Professor Rosa Lastra is the Sir John Lubbock Chair in Banking Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS), Queen Mary University of London. She is a member of Monetary Committee of the International Law Association, a founding member of the European Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, an associate of the Financial Markets Group of the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an affiliated scholar of the Centre for the Study of Central Banks at New York University School of Law. From 2008 to 2010 she was a Visiting Professor of the University of Stockholm. She has served as a consultant to the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Professor Mohamed Gamal Abdelmonem is a Professor and Chair in Architecture at the University of York. He is an architectural and urban historian and has written widely on everyday homes, architectural and urban heritage, urban justice and climate change, socio-spatial transformation, and virtual heritage in contemporary cities. He is a Routledge featured author, with recent books including Peripheries – Edge Conditions in Architecture (2013), Architecture of Home in Cairo (2016), Architecture, Space and Memory of Resurrection in NI (2019) and People, Care and Work in the Home (2020).

Professor Amin Al-Habaibeh is Professor of Intelligent Engineering Systems within the Product Design team at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). His pioneering research is reshaping the future by making a tangible, positive impact on individuals, communities, and society at large. Amin has held several prestigious leadership roles, including UK National Director of the Doctoral Training Alliance in Energy (DTA-Energy). He acts as the Director of the Product Innovation Centre at NTU. His research and industrial development span a wide array of multidisciplinary fields, including artificial intelligence engineering, product design and manufacturing, instrumentation, automation, condition monitoring and energy.

Professor Pablo Campos Calvo-Sotelo, PhD in Architecture, PhD in Education, Full Professor of Architectural Composition, San Pablo-CEU University, is an Academician (RADE) and Doctor Honoris Causa (National University of Engineering). He has directed 14 doctoral theses and, been a speaker at numerous institutions: Stanford, UCLA, Columbia, Virginia, Pittsburgh, UIC, Nottingham Trent, NYU, Harvard, McGill, ITESM, Sapienza, Cagliari, Porto, Lisbon, TU-Delft, Aalto, AIArchitects, Ministry of Education (Bhutan), and the United Nations. Since 1989, his area of expertise has been Architecture of Education, and he has written 20 books and more than 90 articles. Author of the concept of “Educational Campus,” he has designed numerous university Master Plans: Salamanca, Iberdrola (Spain), UNAE (Ecuador) and UAN (Angola). He received the International Education Leadership Award for his contribution to Education.

Professor Jigna Desai is a Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and founder and head of the Centre for Heritage Conservation at CEPT University. Her research, pedagogy and practice meet at an intersection of sustainability and conservation of historic built environment. She is a part of many national and international initiatives that work towards advancing the discourse on heritage conservation and was part of a Guest Scholar Program at the Getty Institute, LA, in 2025. Jigna is also a co-founder of a small, award-winning architecture practice, JMA Design Co., where she brings a resource conservation perspective to architectural design processes at all scales.

Professor María José Monferrer Freire is a recognised expert and leader with an MSc in Telecommunications Engineering, an International MBA, and an alumna of IE, IESE, and ESADE. Associate Professor at UC3M and member of Fundación Gadea’s Scientific Advisory Board. Board member of AEITM, co-founder and former Vice-President of EJE&CON, and former Chair of BT’s Gender Equality Network. She brings strong business acumen from strategic consulting roles and 18 years of international experience at BT, excelling in driving change, transforming business models, and fostering innovation. A passionate advocate for STEM talent, digital transformation, and entrepreneurship, she is a researcher, speaker and lifelong learner committed to creating a sustainable, innovative future.

Ms. Mercedes Jaureguibeitia is Executive Director of Home Renaissance Foundation and has worked extensively in the charitable sector, primarily in managerial and financial administration roles.  After specialising in accountancy and finance for 10 years, she became Financial Consultant, then Company Director and Finance Director of Dawliffe Hall Educational Foundation (DHEF). In 2006, Mercedes was appointed Project Manager of the international interdisciplinary conference Excellence in the Home, the impetus behind Home Renaissance Foundation and went on to become Executive Director of HRF in 2007. The skills Mercedes has acquired in the voluntary sector, particularly in fundraising, management, and communications, have enabled her to raise HRF's profile and direct it toward achieving its objectives.

Professor Nicholas Pleace is the Associate Dean for Research and Impact, School of Business and Society at the University of York. He is an interdisciplinary researcher whose interests centre on homelessness, housing exclusion and inequalities linked to the built environment. He is developing an interest in the intersections between homelessness and climate justice. Alongside his academic interests, Nicholas has worked extensively on impact-driven research on homelessness policy and practice, both within and beyond the UK. He has been a member of the European Observatory on Homelessness, operating under the auspices of FEANTSA, the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless, since 2010. He is on the Editorial Boards of the European Journal of Homelessness and the Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness.

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