Industry Advisory Board

Paul Barnett is an innovation and impact strategist with expertise in bridging innovation, impact design, and management to drive sustainable solutions. With a background in design, sustainability, and strategy, Paul has designed and facilitated AUD$1.5B in collaborations, co-founded ventures pioneering cooperative and mutual solutions, and led sustainability-driven technology and business model innovation across sectors as diverse as satellites, seagrass, sustainable finance, agriculture, artificial intelligence, and quantum technologies.

Passionate about creating real-world impact, Paul works closely with partners to unlock value through new pathways, business models, and alliances, ensuring that sustainable solutions are both viable and scalable. 

Sam Bowstead is a Director at the Resilient Homes Fund, an initiative of the Australian and Queensland Governments focussing on improving the flood-resilience of eligible Queensland homes through built works in the wake of the 2021-22 floods.

Sam studied at The University of Queensland with exchange programs at Technische Universität Berlin, the University of British Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley. Sam is a registered Architect in Queensland and New South Wales with more than 15 years experience in practice. He was formerly an Associate at JDA Co, where he specialised in heritage work, complex buildings and architectural responses to climate change. His oversight of the transformation of the heritage-listed Princess Theatre won numerous heritage awards, and he is recognised as a national expert in flood-resilient design.

Sam has held various research and teaching positions at The University of Queensland, and has lectured at Griffith, QUT, Washington and Columbia Universities. Beyond architecture, he has a background in design thinking and facilitation, having run workshops in Australia, the USA, Indonesia, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Sam has been recognised as a World Economic Forum Global Shaper for his commitment to architecture and advocacy.

Michael leads ThinkPlaceX’s Queensland practice, focusing on strategic design, innovation, digital transformation and building capacity across Australia’s public service. He has over 15 years' experience designing, developing, and implementing digital products across Australia, India, Europe, the United States and Asia. He’s helped start-ups secure funding, scale operations into foreign markets, and launched global mobility solutions in health, finance and logistics sectors. 

Michael knows the realities and compromises in building and taking products to market - from mobile apps and cloud based SAAS products to IoT solutions. He is a trusted advisor to Government - working on state and national strategies with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, The Department of Health and Aged Care and CSIRO. 

As an innovation consultant, coach and mentor, he helps entrepreneurs and deep-tech research scientists understand their customers, design compelling value propositions and get their products to market. He is a start-up junkie and is the Architect and lead facilitator for the Bulimba Young Entrepreneur’s bootcamp. Supported by the Hon Di Farmer MP and Minister for Education, the bootcamp’s goal is to introduce entrepreneurship to high-school students and give them practical tools to build their own business. 

Beyond product and start-ups, Michael is a men’s health advocate. After two cancer diagnoses over 5 years, Michael serves as a Spokesperson for Movember - championing men’s health initiatives and programs to raise much needed funds and awareness for cancer research and treatment services. 

Christina is a National Director of COX architecture and a registered architect in Queensland. She studied architecture at the University of California, Berkeley and University of Queensland where she graduated as Valedictorian with First Class Honours.  

In recognition of her contributions, Christina was awarded the 2018 Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) National Emerging Architect Prize and was named as one of the Australian Financial Review’s 2018 BOSS Young Executives. 

She currently serves on the Property Council of Australia’s Social Infrastructure Committee, is a Non-Executive Director at the Institute of Modern Art, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland’s School of Architecture. 

Andrew graduated as a town planner and has over 35 years’ experience in planning for urban communities, major infrastructure projects and public policy development and delivery. Andrew has held senior roles in the Queensland Government in both economic and social portfolios and has delivered complex policy and complex projects in a highly charged political environment of constant change and in the last decade has led digital enablement policy for major projects.  

Andrew is recognised as a ‘thought leader’ in digital enablement, digital policy development and digital application particularly for asset delivery, management and operations. He has worked on the Cross River Rail project in Brisbane and more recently on the Suburban Rail Loop project in Melbourne seeking to establish a culture of digital enablement arguing for improved project outcomes through better information management. 

Elle Davidson is a Balanggarra woman from the East Kimberley in Australia and descendant of Captain William Bligh, and describes herself as being caught in the cross-winds of Australia’s history. With a passion to empower the voices of First Nations People, Elle combines her Town Planning and Indigenous Engagement qualifications to shape our places and spaces. Through her approach, she creates a strong platform for Aboriginal Knowledges in the planning process and builds allies to advocate for Country, community and culture. She is the Director of Zion Engagement and Planning, an Aboriginal training and consulting business and an Aboriginal Planning Lecturer at University of Sydney. Elle has also been actively involved in the Planning Institute of Australia’s Planning with Country Knowledge Circle. 

Stephen is the founder and Director of Meridian Urban, an Australian planning and policy advisory firm. He is an urban planning executive with over 20 years of Australian and international experience across a range of fields including land use planning, urban policy, disaster resilience, reconstruction, and adaptation. 

He is a trusted advisor to all levels of government and communities across Australia in resilient urban growth management, risk-based land use planning, disaster risk reduction, and adaptation. He has designed and delivered multi-year and multi-million dollar planning programs that have influenced for the better where and how our settlements develop. He has also pioneered many innovations in the integration of natural hazard risk management and climate adaptation into land use planning practice that are embedded across multiple Australian planning jurisdictions.  

Meredith is a town planner with over 15 years experience across local government and private practice in Queensland. In her current role as Senior Principal at Tract, she leads the Queensland Planning and Urban Design team and works across of a range of residential, commercial and large-scale subdivision projects. Meredith has well developed skills in the leadership and management of multi-disciplinary teams, project coordination and stakeholder liaison. Meredith’s key strengths are in the understanding, interpretation and application of statutory planning processes and project coordination to ensure logical, considered, and meaningful development of strategic and masterplanning project outcomes. Meredith is a passionate advocate for mentoring, and regularly undertakes formal and informal mentoring of planners. Meredith is also actively involved in the planning and development industry through her current role as Secretary of the Committee for Brisbane Management Committee, Board Member – Brisbane Open House, and previous roles with the Planning Institute of Australia and Property Council of Australia. 

Clare Kennedy is a registered architect and the founder of Five Mile Radius, a Brisbane-based studio dedicated to sustainable design and material innovation. With over a decade of experience, Clare’s work spans architecture, industrial design, and fabrication, challenging traditional construction models to promote circular economy principles. She has held teaching positions at multiple universities, including Bond University, the University of Queensland, the University of Kent, and the Architectural Association. Clare is the current recipient of the Dunbar Fellowship and has been recognised in the Lord Mayor’s Business Awards for sustainability in design.  

Cassandra has over 25 years experience in urban planning, development assessment and development facilitation across state and local government, as well as the private sector.   
In her current role, Cassandra advocates for city wide community and economic impact through partnerships with government and industry on major development projects and plan making.

Shy Tay is an architect and urbanist with a proven record of leading city shaping projects in urban renewal, mixed-use precincts and transport infrastructure. Through his work in practice on major projects, involvement on Design Advisory boards, and design jury roles, Shy has provided design stewardship, project leadership and strategic advice for a range of major development schemes, key infrastructure projects and design policies. Invested in enhancing urban liveability through developing strategic design policy, Shy have co-authored several design guidelines for state and local governments including Brisbane City Council’s New World City Buildings that Breathe Design Guide and Design-led City Traditional Housing: Alterations and Extensions Design Guide.

Mark Tendys is a graduate of the UQ Architecture School and a regular contributor to studios and university programs and has thoroughly enjoyed a twenty-five-year career focused on delivering highly diverse community infrastructure.  

Working in a variety of contexts including post disaster and disrupted landscapes and communities Mark is conscious of the transformative power of design and building. Solving more problems than are created is a guiding ambition.   

An urban optimist, Mark   has recently been appointed as the inaugural City Architect for Ipswich City Council, to advocate for architecture and design thinking within the heritage and city design teams of one of Australia’s most exciting and rapidly evolving regions.