Matter Moves Mind – Talk

Lora Koycheva is an applied anthropologist, whose practice and research borrow and blend a variety of approaches, theories, conversations, methods, and insights from a range of disciplines – from anthropology, philosophy, and innovation, to engineering, finance, and robotics – in search of tracing and enacting the next iterations of embodied more-than-human ontologies. Lora holds a bachelor´s degree in cultural studies from Columbia College Chicago, IL, US, and a master´s and doctoral degree in anthropology from Northwestern University, IL, US. She was previously the Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at University College London, UK and a senior research fellow at the Technical University of Munich. She has been a visiting researcher at the Rachel Carson Center at LMU while setting up a new multi-sited project, Green Like a Robot. She is also a convenor of the EASA Applied Anthropology Network.

Giovanni Schiuma is a Full Professor in “Knowledge and Innovation Management” and Head of the Business and Engineering Management Program at LUM University (Italy). Dr Giovanni Schiuma, as a high international academic and consultant, is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading experts in knowledge-based organisational development and transformation, arts-driven innovation and creative partnerships connecting arts and business, and strategic knowledge management for company digital transformation and value creation dynamics. His vision of the strategic and operational role of creative processes and art in 21st-century organizations has influenced the development of new organizational-management models. He has authored over 200 scholarly publications and his book ‘The Value of Arts for Business’, published in 2011 by Cambridge University Press, is considered one of the fundamental scientific works in defining the foundations of a new discipline identified as Arts Based Management and is internationally adopted by universities offering courses in Cultural and Arts Management.

Stuart Walker was recently appointed Chair of Design for Sustainability at Manchester School of Art. He is also Emeritus Professor at Lancaster University, where he was co-founder/director of the ImaginationLancaster Design Research Centre; Emeritus Professor at the University of Calgary, Canada; and Visiting Professor of Sustainable Design at Kingston University, London. He has conducted research into Design for Sustainability and making practices in the US, China and the UK. His conceptual designs have been exhibited internationally, and his many books include Sustainable by Design; Design Roots (lead ed.); Design Realities and Design & Spirituality. His forthcoming book, Design for Resilience, will be published by MIT Press, in 2023.