Our team

Max is the new Chair of the Healthy City Design Congress, guiding its next chapter at a pivotal moment for health, place, and public policy. In this role, Max will bring valuable knowledge, expertise and an extensive network of developers, investors, planners, designers, public health professionals, policymakers, and community leaders to strengthen the Congress as the leading interdisciplinary platform for evidence-led debate, collaboration, and action in the creation of healthier cities. Max’s interests and expertise closely align with the ambitions of the Congress. With a background in urban planning and strategic communications, he has long championed people centred placemaking, social value, and the integration of health into the planning, design, and delivery of the built environment, with a particular focus on improving quality of life and reducing inequalities through better places. Alongside his role as Chair, Max is Founder and CEO of the LDN Collective, a network of built environment specialists working to improve people’s lives and the planet’s prospects. The Collective brings together expertise in placemaking and urban design, social value and co design, branding, communications, and engagement. Current projects include major regeneration initiatives, new communities, and innovative approaches to public realm, retrofit, and reuse across the UK and beyond. Max is Immediate Past President of the LAI Land Economics Society, London chapter, Chair of Built Environment Policy for West London Business, Lead Judge for the Healthy City Design Awards, and a Fellow of the RSA. He was Project Lead and Author of the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment, commissioned by the UK Government, which made 60 recommendations, many of which have since been implemented. He advises a number of organisations working at the intersection of health, place, and policy, including Demos, Urban Design London, the Place Alliance, the Urban Room Network, and the Quality of Life Foundation.

Jeremy Myerson has been academic, author and activist in design for more than 40 years. He co-founded the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design in 1999, and was its director until 2015. Last year, he received emeritus professor status at the RCA, and he continues to direct his own venture, the WORKTECH Academy, which provides a forum for academics and practitioners to share new ideas on the future of work and workplace. He is the author of more than 20 books on a wide range of subjects in art, design and architecture, and he has curated many national design exhibitions. He has been at the helm of the Healthy City Design Programme Committee since the Congress’ inception in 2017.

Professor Hua Dong is director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, the global leader of inclusive design at the Royal College of Art (RCA). Previously Hua worked as a full professor at Brunel, Loughborough, and Tongji Universities. She was dean of the College of Arts and Media at Tongji University (2013-18) and inaugural dean of Brunel Design School (2020-24). Hua’s PhD research at the University of Cambridge has laid the foundation of her research expertise in inclusive design, on which she published more than ten books. Her book ‘Inclusive Design: Chinese Archive’ was featured in the ‘Design for All? Diversity as the Norm’ exhibition (2024) at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich. Hua has extensive experience in providing specialised research consultancy to industries to help designers adopt a more inclusive approach, and support companies to implement inclusive practices. She founded Inclusive Design Research Centre in China and helped Ant Financial to develop the country’s first industrial guidance on inclusive design. She led Brunel design researchers to collaborate with PearsonLloyd and Kirton Healthcare to deliver ‘Design Bugs Out’ solutions to UK and European hospitals. Hua received the award of ‘Engineering Heroes’ – the Top 50 Women in Engineering 2021 from Women’s Engineering Society. Hua believes in the power of education and never stops exploring innovative methods of teaching inclusive design. She introduced ‘Fixperts’ projects as an effective approach to engage students with real users in London and Shanghai, winning multiple awards and exhibiting at the Milan Triennale. Hua has supervised15 PhD/EngD students to successful completion. Hua became fellow of the Design Research Society in 2019, and was elected vice-president of the DRS in 2024. She is the convenor of inclusive design special interest group in DRS. As the AHRC fellow for UK-China Creative Industries research and innovation collaboration, she enabled many cross-cultural exchanges. Hua has been chosen as chair of the QAA’s latest Subject Benchmark Statement on Art and Design. She is a panel member of the REF2029. Currently, Hua is acting pro-vice chancellor of research and innovation at RCA.