Dimitris Pallantzas is a Building Physicist with a background of Applied Mathematics and Physics. Since 2016 he is a Certified Passivhaus Consultant and in 2019 he was accredited as the youngest Passivhaus Trainer worldwide. Currently he is leading Hellenic Passive House Institute's Training Department and he is also a Senior PhD Researcher & Lecturer at National Technical University of Athens, contributing in 11 EU funded Research Projects. He has participated in more than 80 Passivhaus Projects worldwide balancing his interest between design (Dynamic, CFD, Steady State) & construction, while focusing on bridging the gap between them, elevating collaboration between stakeholders. He speaks English, German, Spanish, French and Greek.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ebru BİNGÖL is a faculty member in the Department of Architecture at İskenderun Technical University. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture (Ankara University), a Master’s degree in Urban Design (Middle East Technical University), and a PhD in Architecture (Izmir Institute of Technology). She has previously worked at İzmir University of Economics, Yaşar University, Izmir Institute of Technology, and Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, in their respective Departments of Architecture. During her doctoral studies, she was supported by TÜBİTAK as a visiting researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Between February 2022 and February 2023, she carried out postdoctoral research on urban morphology at Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom, again with TÜBİTAK funding. She has received awards in national competitions and served as a consultant for various municipalities as well as UNDP projects. With funding from Spaces of Culture, she led the project Flow Tales: Re-Membering Antakya’s River Landscape, and she edited the interdisciplinary book Tale of A River City: Reading Urban Histories of Antakya Through the Asi River. Her research interests include post–World War II architectural and urban theories, urban design, urban morphology, and the relationship between city, land, and context.

Self-employed since 1998 as advisor and lecturer for ecological building and building with
earth, organization and managing of Workshops, Fairs, scientific translation Engl.-German,

Lecturer for sustainable building and earth building (since 2015) at the Hochschule Anhalt,
Anhalt University of Applied Science, at the Erfurt University of Applied Science (since 2019)

Currently – Project Staff at the Erfurt University of Applied Science
Institute for Quality management and Building Physics

Study finished 1996
Diploma at the Bauhaus- University Weimar as Civil engineer
Special topic: „Planning and building in developing countries“,
„Restoration and conservation of buildings“, „Building with Earth“, „Building with wood“,
Diploma: New buildings with earth in Germany, survey and draft of a building with earth

haascookzemmrich STUDIO2050, Founder & Partner David Cook is a registered architect in Germany and the UK. He has worked on a variety of masterplanning projects on both sides of the Atlantic, including the redevelopment of the ‘Lower Don’ in Toronto, Canada. As a partner in Behnisch Architekten from 2005-2012, David Cook was responsible for projects including the Brooklyn Art Tower in New York, USA and the National Centre for Tumour Diseases in Heidelberg, Germany. After 6 years of partnership, Cook, together with Martin
Haas and Stephan Zemmrich, founded his own office ‘haascookzemmrich STUDIO2050’ in April 2012 with projects in Germany and abroad. Cook was the partner responsible for the ‘Music School and Concert Hall’ project in Ventspils, Latvia. The building was opened in July 2019 with a festive concert. At the moment he is responsible for the sustainable redevelopment of several office buildings and a Residential complex being constructed with wood as a IBA Project near Stuttgart. David Cook was also a visiting professor in the Pietro Belluschi series for architectural design at the University of Oregon, USA, and continues to maintain close ties with the faculty

Dr. Hossein Sadri is an activist, scholar, and designer working at the intersection of permaculture and architecture. He has held academic appointments in Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, and the United States. His research explores regenerative design, Indigenous practices, human rights, and the right to the city, with a focus on how built environments can foster ecological resilience and social justice.
Dr. Hossein Sadri, Kıdameli Öpretim Üyesi, Coventry Üniversitesi, Birleşik Kırallık
Dr. Hossein Sadri aktivist, akademisyen ve permakültür ve mimarlık kesişiminde çalışan bir tasarımcıdır. İran, Azerbaycan, Türkiye, Kıbrıs, Birleşik Krallık ve Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde akademik görevlerde bulunmuştur. Araştırmaları; rejeneratif tasarım, yerli halkların uygulamaları, insan hakları ve kente hak üzerine yoğunlaşmaktadır ve özellikle de yapılı çevrelerin ekolojik dayanıklılığı ve sosyal adaleti nasıl destekleyebileceğine odaklanmaktadır.

Dr. Ipek Ölcüm, born in Berlin, is a Specialist Lawyer in Construction and Architectural Law and a Certified Business Mediator (IHK). Since June 2023, she has been Managing Director of the Industrieverband Lehmbaustoffe e.V. (German Industry Association for Earth Building Materials - Alman Toprak Yapı Malzemeleri Sanayi Birliği), which she co-founded. Previously, she served as Managing Director of the Bundesverband Mineralische Rohstoffe e.V., responsible for legal matters related to raw material security, environmental protection, and post-mining land use.
After her doctorate and Second State Examination, she practised law focusing on construction, architectural, engineering, and procurement law. At the Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik (DIBt), she worked as Legal Counsel before leading the Market Surveillance Department and the Joint Market Surveillance Authority of the German states for harmonised construction products.
Voluntarily, she chairs at NABU (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) the arbitration board and serves on the jury for the German Raw Material Efficiency Award (Deutscher Rohstoffeffizienzpreis).

Being graduated from Koç University Economy department, she worked in for nearly 8 years in pioneering enterprises on design, communication, process, event management before setting about her own endeavors in Turkey. In parallel to her work experience in design and communication she attended in between 2001-2004 to ‘Design Management Certificate Program’ and ‘Visual Communication Master Program’ in Bilgi University. Especially 2008 onwards she has followed closely international sustainability agenda and organized the first international Eco-design Meeting in Turkey, including two conferences and 2 parallel exhibitions that lasted two weeks on May 2009.

Her experience and network has been solidified in the master program of Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability (MSLS) where she had the opportunity to work in a multicultural environment with sustainability enthusiasts and being included to an international sustainability expert network. Since 2011 onwards, she works in the field of sustainable living and settlements, mainly focused on natural and healthy buildings. In 2015 she co-founded Building Biology and Ecology Institute- YBE in Turkey where she leads projects and communication works. In 2018, she was one of the initiators of the Natural Building Materials Working Group, which—thanks to her genuine efforts—evolved into a vibrant community and eventually gave birth to the Natural Building Materials and Methods Association (NBMM), where she serves as a founding member and an active board member. She also has a substantial contribution to the construction of Kadıovacık Biohouse which is a flagship building realized with building biology and ecology principles that is also the center of YBE and NBMM. Moreover, she is the co-founder of Okil Natural Building Materials brand.

Mihriban Sarı is currently working as an R&D Specialist at Betek Boya ve Kimya Sanayi A.Ş. while pursuing her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Yalova University.
Throughout her career, she has led projects in ecological insulation solutions, functional coatings, advanced paint technologies, and digitalization. She has played an active role in numerous innovative initiatives that bridge industry and academia.

Mete Varas has been a prominent entrepreneur in technology businesses, involved in numerous ventures as a founder, advisor, and NED. Besides thinking, writing, and advising on proptech, innovation, and transformation, he’s the founder of the "EurAsia Proptech Initiative" and the "ME Proptech Initiative".

He's one of the ambassadors for Ocean Protocol and a writer for SciFuture.

He was born in 1978 in Nuremberg, Germany, and completed his primary, secondary, and high school education in Antakya. After graduating from Bursa Uludağ University in 2002, he pursued his master’s studies at the Vienna University of Technology. During his studies, he won several national and international competition awards and worked for four years at Atelier Stelzhammer in Vienna.
In 2005, he began his professional career in Turkey after winning first prize in the architectural competition for the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey’s Bursa Branch. He has taught design studios in the master’s programs of Istanbul Kültür University and Istanbul Bilgi University and has served as a jury member in various national competitions and award organizations. His notable works with the Yalın Architecture team include the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (1st Prize), Troy Museum (1st Prize), Riyadh Mosque (1st Prize), Cappadocia Museum, Zonguldak Caves Visitor Center, and Korean War Memorial and Visitor Center (1st Prize).
He has received the National Architecture Award three times in the Building category, the Europe 40 Under 40 award, and in 2022, the International Sustainable Architecture Award presented by the Paris Architecture Center with the support of UNESCO.
Since 2011, he has continued his work under Yalın Architecture, which he co-founded with urban planner Okan Bal.

• 2012: Bachelor's degree in Political Science (focus on Governance & European Policy) in the Lower Bavarian European & Three River City of Passau.
• 2016: Master's degree in International Relations (focus on Trade & Development Economics) in Barcelona and the Saxon cultural city of Dresden.
• 2016: Research Assistant for Dr. Lars Castellucci, Member of the German Bundestag (Interior Committee).
• 2018: Start at natureplus association and since 2020 Director of the non-profit environmental association for sustainable building and living

• Free time with climbing, sailing, scouts, theatre, and architecture.

Born in 1962 in Tokyo,Tsuneo Ishikawa studied architecture at Waseda University and worked as an assistant to Professor Agematsu at Tokai University from 1987 to 1997. He was a DAAD scholarship holder at the Technical University of Munich from 1991 to 1993 and completed his doctorate in Tokyo in 1995. Since 1997, he has served as a lecturer, and from 2001 as a professor, at the Maebashi Institute of Technology. In 2004, he founded the architectural office Bio-Haus-Japan, and in 2005, he established the Building Biology Institute of Japan (BIJ). He received the Baubiologe IBN certification in Germany in 2011 and has been conducting the Fernlehrgang Baubiologie Japan program, training 26 building biologists to date. Since 2025, he serves on the board of the Baubiologie Institute of Japan (BIJ e.V.).
His publications include Rammed Clay as the Earth Building of the Future (2017) and Style Synthesis: The Theory of Architecture in 19th-Century Germany (2017), along with Japanese editions of Form-Drawing by Rudolf Kutzli (1997–98), Wege zum gesunden Bauen by Holger Koenig (2000), 25 Basic Rules of Building Biology by Anton Schneider (2003), and Building Biology in Practice in Japan (2006). He has also been the editor of the magazine Building Biology (BIJ) since 2005. Notable architectural works include the Arai Children’s Hospital, Takasaki (2001), Yawata Kindergarten, Takasaki (2010), and MOMO toy store (2010).

Yener Coşkun is an associate professor in finance specialising in ESG, REITs, and (business/real estate) valuation. He was a visiting scholar at the Wharton School, UPENN (the US, 2003, funded by CMB), the University of Sheffield (the UK, 2019) and Concordia University (Canada, 2024) funded by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). Yener has authored four books, edited two books, and written numerous peer-reviewed and professional articles in finance and macroeconomics. His Google Scholar citation record stands at +1,900, with an h-index of 20 and an i10-index of 39. His research has been published in journals such as Housing Studies, Emerging Markets Review, Empirical Economics, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, and the International Journal of Finance & Economics. Additionally, he has written more than90 popular op-eds in various newspapers, industry magazines, and popular science magazines. Selected previous international professional/academic experiences of Coskun were: a member of RICS (MRICS), consultative member of RICS Sustainability Task Force Europe, acting chair for European Real Estate Society (ERES) Ph.D. Student Committee (in 2010-2013), and deputy chairman of the Education Committee of the Association of Appraisal Experts of Turkey (in 2017). Dr. Coskun was visiting lecturer for the University of Sarajevo (2012-2013), Izmir University of Economics (2012-2016), Middle East Technical University (2017-2018), University of Ljubljana (Summer School) (2018), University of Sheffield (2019), and the TED University (2019-2023). Yener serves the Executive Committee Member for Real Estate Investors Association of Türkiye (GYODER) and Global WG member at RICS ESG in Commercial Real Estate Valuation. Yener has been a senior regulator at the Capital Markets Board of Turkey during 1995-2025 and currently adjunct lecturer at Izmir University of Economics since 2025.

After his apprenticeship in carpentry and architectural studies in Munich, Winfried Schneider established an architectural office in Rosenheim in 1990 together with his wife Karin Hick, architect. They carried out all building processes and finishing constructions from planning and design of new buildings and renovations, always having the building biology approach in mind.

Parallel, he was also involved at the "Institute for Building Biology + Sustainability IBN“, established by his father Prof. PhD Anton Schneider in 1983, formerly located in Neubeuern, now in Rosenheim / Germany. Since 2010 he is managing director of IBN, mainly responsible for the content of the state-recognized correspondence course of Building Biology IBN and specialist publications. He also conducts seminars, lectures or advises clients and construction companies.

He is particularly interested in the promotion of creative crafts, the realization of eco-social community projects and, above all, the commitment to a healthy, nature-loving, mentally and socially oriented constructions and living culture.

Born in 1991 in Fatih, Istanbul, he completed his primary and secondary education in Çamlıca. He attended Ümraniye Anatolian High School for his high school education and graduated from Sakarya University, Faculty of Civil Engineering. After working on private and public projects in the field of steel structures, he developed an interest in timber buildings and, in 2018, joined Rothoblaas as part of the sales and technical support team. By participating in numerous projects and trainings in the field of timber structures, he has become specialized in this area. Since 2021, he has been serving as the General Manager of Rothoblaas Turkey.

Koray Velibeyoğlu serves as the Head of İzmir Planning Agency and Faculty Member of Izmir University of Economics, where he leads strategic initiatives bridging scientific research, innovation, and public governance. He plays a key role in advancing İzmir’s transformation into a resilient, data-driven, and climate-smart city through the Vision 2074 framework the city’s long-term strategy for sustainability, inclusivity, and innovation.
Holding a PhD in Urban Planning from İzmir Institute of Technology and postdoctoral research experience at Griffith University (Australia), Dr. Velibeyoğlu’s expertise spans urban design, knowledge-based development, smart cities, and sustainability policy. Within the municipality, he drives the integration of academic knowledge into city operations, from spatial data analytics to participatory planning and nature-based solutions.
He also coordinates the İzmir Mission Lab, a flagship initiative within the city’s innovation ecosystem designed to accelerate İzmir’s journey toward carbon neutrality by 2030. Through his leadership, Dr. Velibeyoğlu has positioned İzmir as a model for evidence-based, mission-oriented urban governance, demonstrating how cities can translate academic insight and institutional capacity into actionable public innovation for sustainable urban futures.

Nesli Kayalı is an architect, systems thinker, and activist working for socio-spatial justice and climate-conscious transformation. She graduated with honors from Uludağ University in 2003 and received an honorable mention in Archiprix Turkey, beginning her career with a critical and contextual design approach.
After graduation, she gained experience in design and construction processes working with Emre Arolat and Nevzat Sayın. In 2007, she founded ZEMIN, creating space for interdisciplinary collaboration and alternative production methods. Since 2021, she has identified as an architectural activist, directing her practice toward system-level transformation in response to the climate crisis, and raising awareness among students and recent graduates through the Sustainable Architecture Campaign.
As a member of DYMD, UAB, and SEPEV, she works on sustainable building, energy efficiency, and ethical transformation of architectural systems. In 2024, she became Program Director at The Circle, and in 2025, Studio Lead at Avcı Architects.

He graduated from Yıldız Technical University, Department of Civil Engineering in 2008, and from Istanbul Technical University, Department of Structural Engineering in 2011. After working on the design of numerous buildings with national and international engineering design firms, he founded Streng Engineering in 2017. In 2021, he established Öyler Ahşap, focusing on the production of low-energy modular timber buildings. Specializing in Timber Engineering and Passive House design, he works on the design and production of new-generation sustainable living spaces

And Akman continues his academic and architectural works on building biology and ecology field since 1990. He started his professional education in 1981 at Mimar Sinan University, then carried on in New York University and Institut für Baubiologie + Ökologie. He realized worldwide ecological architecture projects and building applications in the Office of Lichtblick Architecture for 17 years, and then he returned to Turkey. Since 2007, he continues his architecture projects and applications mostly in Turkey. He also consulted as one of the specialists to the UN project through the years 2012-2014. He spearheaded the start of modern earthen architecture project class in Selçuk University in 2014 and continued his lectures there for 2,5 years. He initiated Building Biology elective class, and gave lectures on this subject at MEF University in between 2016-2017, for two semesters. In between 2017-2021, he gave lectures in sustainable architecture studio at İzmir Economy University. He has focused his architectural design and consultancy works on the Aegean region especially İzmir Peninsula. Moreover, he is doing various trainings and workshops on ecological materials and construction methodologies and participates as guest speaker in several conferences in this field. His articles and papers on building biology and ecology have been issued in national and international publications. Meanwhile, relying on his long-standing relationships with IBN-Building Biology and Sustainability Institute Germany, he co-founded Building Biology and Sustainability Institute Turkey- YBE in 2015. Since then, as the co-director of YBE, he is actively directing the institute consulting and training works. YBE main objectives are to develop the knowhow, ecosystem and expertise of building biology and ecology in Turkey and to increase exemplary designs, rehabilitations and constructions. He also one of the leading person in the formation and development of Natural Building Materials Working Group in 2018 which then enabled the foundation of Natural Building Materials and Methods Association-DYMD. As one of the founding members of DYMD, he remains an active contributor to the Association’s ongoing work.

Hamidreza Yazdani graduated from İzmir Institute of Technology with a degree in City and Regional Planning and is currently pursuing his PhD in International Water Resources Management at the same institution. His academic work has focused on the relationship between cities and water, climate change, and spatial data analysis. During his tenure as a lecturer at İzmir Institute of Technology, he contributed to the establishment of the Advanced GIS Laboratory.
Since 2015, he has worked at İzmir Metropolitan Municipality in the fields of sustainable transportation, digital mobility, and data-driven planning, serving as the city coordinator during the development of İzmir’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). Within the İzmir Planning Agency (İZPA), he led the İzmir 2074 Vision and AI-Supported Data Office initiatives, and strengthened the city’s international collaborations through Horizon Europe projects.
He currently serves as the Director of Urban Design at Urla Municipality, leading projects such as the Urla 2034 Vision, SUMP, SECAP, and coastal strategies. Through European Union Horizon projects, he aims to transform Urla into a “living laboratory” for nature-based and data-driven innovations. His work focuses on the integrated application of sustainable spatial planning, circular economy, and climate adaptation policies in urban design.

He was born in 1985 in Ankara. He completed his university education at Ege University and Near East University. Between 2010 and 2018, he worked as a psychotherapist, gaining the opportunity to deeply understand human behavior, motivation, and quality of life.
In 2018, he took his first step into entrepreneurship by founding Highland Wooden House. Through this company, he began constructing sustainable wooden structures that are in harmony with nature and possess a high aesthetic value.
In 2025, he acquired the Maspen brand and relocated it to İzmir. Today, under the Maspen brand, he continues to combine modern design principles with traditional woodworking craftsmanship, producing high-quality wooden structures and joinery systems.
His background in psychology has provided him with a unique perspective on analyzing human needs and designing user-centered spaces. This enables him to bring together aesthetics, functionality, and human-centered design in every project he undertakes.