Dr Silvia Tavares

Silvia is an urban designer with a background in architecture, urbanism, and building and city science. She is the founder and co-leader of UniSC’s Bioclimatic and Sociotechnical Cities Lab (BASC Lab) and is chief investigator in several projects focused on improving urban climate through design and planning. These projects aim to inform strategies related to human thermal comfort, green infrastructure, public health, and climate change impacts.

Before UniSC, Silvia worked at James Cook University in Australia, Lincoln University in New Zealand, the Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development in Germany, and at the Universidade Federal do Tocantins in Brazil.

Email: stavares@usc.edu.au

Phone: +61 7 5456 5884

Dr Nicholas Stevens

Nicholas Stevens is a Landscape Architect and Urban Planner. He is a member of the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems at the University of the Sunshine Coast, where he leads the Land Use Planning and Urban Design Research Theme. His recent research explores the concept of Sociotechnical Urbanism and the application of Ergonomics and Human Factors methods to the perennial problems of Urban Planning. Nicholas has also published widely in the areas of airport and regional land use development, examining the concepts of the Airport City and Aerotropolis.

Email: nstevens@usc.edu.au

Phone: +61 7 5459 4453

Dr Gregor Mews

Dr Gregor Mews is a multiple award-winning urban designer and academic. His philosophy is based on sustainment of healthy urban development with humanities collective bio-history in mind. Mews has led local, national and international research projects in the nexus of urban design and health, place-making, public space, co-design with impact. He has been an Urban Thinker voice for UN-Habitats World Urban Campaign and strategically advocates for vulnerable population groups with impact transcending boundaries across the Global North and South.

Email: gmews@usc.edu.au 

Phone: +61 7 5459 4683

Ryan McNeilly Smith

Ryan is a planner and urban designer working across research and practice. He is a PhD student with UniSC, where he is investigating bioclimatic urban design and urban microclimates. His research has a real-world focus on the development of urban design policy solutions to mitigate extreme heat health-risks in Queensland. Ryan’s professional and research interests sit at the intersection of land-use planning and urban design, resilience and disaster management. With experience in government and private practice, Ryan also holds a position with a planning, resilience and adaptation advisory firm.

PhD research project: Bioclimatic urban design policy for improved microclimates in the public realm: A case study of extreme heat mitigation in Queensland

Email: ryan.mcneillysmith@research.usc.edu.au

Tobias Volbert

Tobias Volbert is a registered Landscape architect and active leader in the field of sensory park and playground design. He works at Urban Play and co-founded the 7 Senses Foundation in 2013 to move inclusive design beyond accessibility, his impact in the field of landscape design can be demonstrated in numerous presentations and workshops at national and state conferences.

Volbert has actively published in field-specific professional magazines on the topic of landscape and park design. As former board member for the Urban Design Alliance Queensland (UDAL) Volbert coordinated and co-authored the UDAL yearbook 2013. Encompassing topics of healthy urbanism, transport corridors, neighbourhood design, culture and identity, and city-making, it provides a summary of the presentations and workshop outcomes of the Alliance to disseminate to the wider community and body of professionals. Volbert is also active with community projects and runs the 7 Senses Street Day; a national showcase of places that engage our 7 human senses and by doing so, create healthier and happier neighbourhoods, cities, places for everybody.

PhD research project: Inclusive design beyond accessibility - Establishing an approach for sensory main streets to optimise urban comfort for everyone

Email: t_v035@student.usc.edu.au 

Dr Majed Abu Seif

Majed is an architect and landscape architect with an intensive background in urban planning, interior design, and building and city science (Registered chief of architects in Jordan, graduate architect in Australia, and international landscape architect in the American society of landscape architect). His research focuses on green infrastructure, energy and environmental performance, indoor and outdoor thermal performance, and smart technology applications in the built environment. Majed is also developing a smart green infrastructure technology to connect the green infrastructure with smart city models and increase its sustainability and performance.

Email: mabuseif@usc.edu.au

Jiawei Fu

Jiawei Fu is a Visiting Scholar in the BASC Lab and a full-time PhD candidate at James Cook University. Jiawei has a background in Landscape Architecture and her research interests encompass urban green space and urban microclimate. The central theme of her current PhD research is ‘how the spatial distribution of vegetation influences microclimate and human thermal comfort in urban streets’.

Email: jfu@usc.edu.au 

Thais Fanan

Thaís Fanan Peres is a full-time PhD candidate at the Federal University of São Carlos, UFSCar, Brazil. Thaís has a background in Architecture and Urbanism and her research interests encompass public urban spaces, open spaces and green infrastructure. Currently, she is a Visiting Scholar in the BASC Lab developing the research project “Applying the Sociotechnical Systems approach to the design of the Green Infrastructure and Open Spaces System: dialogues between Australia and Brazil”.

Email: tfananperes@usc.edu.au 

Olivia Herrmann

Olivia is a 4^th year Urban Design and Town Planning (Honours) student. Her honours project is focused on an international study aimed at exploring the knowledge of urban climate in planning education. She is a research assistant at BASC Lab, currently working on a two projects: using systems methods to optimise mixed light industrial areas and to understand the Sunshine Coast Biosphere. She has experience working in areas of research, placemaking and design and have interest in topics of urban climate, public space design and sociotechnical urbanism.

Email: oherrmann@usc.edu.au 

Alexander Ball

Alex is a 2nd year Urban Design and Town Planning (Honours) student. He is a research assistant at the BASC lab and is currently working to synthesise urban climate data collected in urban centres across Queensland. Alex has an interest in topics regarding public space, urban climates and sustainability.

Email: aball1@usc.edu.au 

Dr Renata Bovo Peres

Dr Renata Bovo Peres is an architect and urban planner from University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Since 2013 she has been Senior Lecturer at Department of Environmental Sciences at Federal University of São Carlos, UFSCar, Brazil. She is a senior lecturer in landscape and town planning and she has active research interests in the fields of land use; green infrastructure; planning regulations; governance; public policies and climate change. Renata leads the Workgroup on Planning of Urban Parks of São Carlos and co-leads the Observatory for Cities - diffusion of knowledge for transformative actions. She is currently supervising environmental urban planning PhD and Masters students. She was coordinator of the Bachelor's Course Environmental Analysis and Management in 2020/2021. She was the Official Member of UFSCar at the City Council of Urban Development during 2021/2022. Between January and December 2023 Renata was a Research Fellow at University of the Sunshine Coast developing the research: “Novel evidences and perspectives on green infrastructure planning for cities: correlations between Brazil and Australia” (Capes and FAPESP funding). Renata's professional connection with the BASC Lab remain active and ensure collaboration between academics and HDR candidates between UniSC and UFSCar.

Email: renataperes@ufscar.br