Leadership matters. That’s why our course directors are all at the top of their game, whatever their area of expertise. You’ll get to meet them at our next information evening and ask them anything you can think of. It’s your career, your future so why not take the time to read their story.
Meet our academic leaders
Professor Leena Thomas
Interim Head of School
Professor Leena Thomas a sustainable architecture academic and research expert. She has been teaching at the UTS School of Architecture for the past 25 years. Leena specialises in transformational design practices that respond to climate change and promote health and wellbeing within the built environment and research.
Leena is internationally recognised for pioneering detailed post-occupancy evaluation and living laboratory approaches to develop a rich narrative of outcomes for people and buildings. Her work also focuses on climate justice, zero carbon development, thermal comfort and high-quality living and work environments.
At UTS, Leena teaches sustainable architectural design, thermal design, lighting, acoustics and advanced environmental control in buildings. She routinely leads Global Studios that focus on climate justice and social sustainability, and Master of Architecture design studios that explore the role of architecture as a catalyst for sustainability and regeneration in the city.
Find out more about Professor Leena Thomas
Rhys Williams
Course director: Master of Landscape Architecture
Rhys is the program director for landscape architecture, overseeing the management, delivery, and development of the school’s undergraduate and post graduate offerings. His approach to teaching is informed by experience gained across multiple institutions in the UK, NZ and Australia. Rhys’ research focuses on functions of disciplinary culture and practice, including precedent construction and use, landscape architecture photography, and criticism. This is informed by a concern for the actuality of constructed projects and a landscape’s propensity for change.
Underpinning this work is a broader concern for visual culture, archives, and atlases, including the posthumous impacts of Aby Warburg’s art historical practices and theories.
Find out more about Rhys Williams
Brooke Jackson
Course director: Master of Architecture
Brooke Jackson is an Architect, researcher, and educator with a focus on housing policy and spatial design. Her research challenges conventional apartment design, under legislative frameworks, while exploring the evolving role of the home. As a PhD candidate, her work examines housing meet the needs of individuals, in the context of contemporary and future living, with an emphasis on the solo dweller.
As a researcher with the Living Lab Northern Rivers’ Adaptive Research Network (LLNR), a collaboration between UTS, SCU, and NSW RA, Brooke’s expertise includes housing resilience in flood-prone areas, as well as housing affordability and diversity in the Northern Rivers region. She is Co-CI on research grants with the NSW Government Architect’s Office (GAO) on Transforming Housing in NSW: PART II – Housing Futures (B. Jackson + G. Reinmuth), which explores innovative spatial, organisational, and regulatory models for future housing needs, and Alastair Swayne Foundation's Design Strategy Grant, entitled 'Home Office' (B. Jackson + L. Enstrom-Gibb) a feasibility study on the conversion of Office Towers to Residential use. Brooke has also collaborated with Landcom on Creating the City We Want: Tackling Barriers to Housing Diversity in NSW, in partnership with UTS (CI G. Reinmuth) UWS, UNSW, and Terroir.
Brooke is the appointed Registered Academic on the NSW Architects Registration Board.
Find out more about Brooke Jackson
