Each will work with us for a minimum of three years to sustain and deepen the impact of the work we do and advance the IAF toward the exciting next phase of development.

Our five new Board members are:

Sophie El Nimr

Sophie is an architect and urban practitioner. She is an Associate on the Autumn 2023 cohort of Public Practice, working as an Urban Design Officer at the London Borough of Havering.  In 2024, Sophie was awarded a distinction for her research on the MA Cities course at Central Saint Martins. Her thesis work proposed a new citymaking role that critically challenges the conventions of urban design practices in Dublin.

Laura Murray

Laura Murray is Head of Planning at Lioncor in Dublin since 2022, working on the development of the 37-acre mixed-use Irish Glass Bottle site in Dublin 4, amongst other projects. Before that she worked in the UK, with Argent, now Related Argent, a property developer responsible for the regeneration of the 67-acre mixed use King’s Cross development site in central London, now well known for its architectural diversity, a mix of historic industrial buildings and contemporary architecture, public realm, and art- and culture-led placemaking.

Francesca Ferguson

Francesca, CEO of Make_Shift gGmbH is a journalist, curator and process designer for urban change management. She is Founding Director of Make_Shift and founder of www.makecity.berlin, the biggest international trans-sectoral festival on architecture and urban alternatives in Germany. Her expertise is process management – designing cultural and adaptive re-use projects for heritage listed buildings and developing mixed use concepts in cooperation with municipalities. Formerly Director of the Swiss Architecture Museum, S_AM, she is also an honorary member of the Association of German Architects and Trustee of Diversity in Architecture (DIVIA).

Scott Burnett

Scott is a Co-founder of brand and digital agency aad.works, strategy and innovation consultancy wove.co, and design community 100Archive.com. As Strategic Director at wove, he works as a partner to those making positive change a reality. His 20 years of experience in research, strategy, brand, UX and service design provides a unique perspective to understanding how things work and how they can work better. He has led complex strategic projects for clients including Abbey Theatre, Artsadmin, DCU, RTÉ, Journal Media and Science Gallery International, helping them see things in new ways, explore new models, define impactful ways forward and implement new strategies, systems and vehicles that drive change.

Professor Margaret Barry

Professor Barry holds the Established Chair in Health Promotion and Public Health at the University of Galway, where she is also Director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion Research. She has published widely in mental health promotion and works closely with policymakers and practitioners on the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions and policies at a national and international level. Professor Barry has extensive experience of coordinating international mental health promotion initiatives and has acted as expert adviser on mental health promotion policy and research development in a number of countries around the world.

Photos: Top photo by Ste Murray. Profile photos courtesy of Sophie El Nimr, Laura Murray, Francesca Ferguson, Scott Burnett and Margaret Barry.