The University of NSW (UNSW) has appointed David Sanderson as the inaugural Judith Neilson Chair in Architecture.
Neilson, an art collector and owner of the White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney, gifted a $10 million endowment to the university in January 2015 to fund research in the area of disaster relief architecture.
Professor David Sanderson, an international expert in disaster risk reduction, will lead a new specialisation of architecture and social agency, within UNSW’s Master of Architecture program.
Sanderson trained in architecture at De Monteforte University and Oxford Brookes University, where he later became director of the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice at the Oxford Centre for Disaster Studies.
He holds a PhD in urban disasters and livelihoods and, for the past 20 years, he has worked for international aid agencies in development and disaster risk reduction. He was head of policy and regional manager for southern and west Africa at Care International UK.
Sanderson has taught annual courses at universities around the world including the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. He is currently teaching at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology specializing in urban disaster resilience and humanitarian aid. He is also editor of PLoS One: Disasters and Jamba Journal.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates there are more than 51 million displaced people worldwide, a number that is likely to rise dramatically.
“The need has never been greater to address the challenges faced by people caught up in poverty, conflict and disaster,” Professor Sanderson said. “Architecture can play a central role in meaningfully engaging is these issues, through social action, critical engagement, building evidence of what works, and above all, prioritizing affected people.”
Neilson’s endowment, one of the biggest donations made to an Australian university, is a major investment in research to investigate how architecture and design could be used as a powerful force for change.
