Join us for this special joint webinar with Tuia Pito Ora New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA). This event, held during World Landscape Architecture month, is celebrating the theme: Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress. 

The webinar will feature our panelists, Natalie Busch (AU), Rachel de Lambert (NZ), Bela Hinemoa Grimsdale (NZ) and Janis Fischer (AU), who will cover a broad spectrum of specialties and experiences in the Landscape Architecture profession. Our moderators,  Julia Wick and Jasmine Ong will pose questions to our four panelists as a starting point for conversation. The webinar will conclude with a Q&A session, allowing attendees to pose questions to our panelists to further the discussion. 

Panelists:

Natalie Busch

• Natalie is the Managing Principal of Hassell in Perth, and an energetic designer who will always rise to a complex challenge. Her experience combines urban design with landscape and architecture to create restorative environments where people feel connected to each other and the natural environment. 
• An enthusiastic advocate for diversity in design, Natalie is a past president of the National Association of Women in Construction in Western Australia, where she worked to expand both professional and personal opportunities for her colleagues in the field. Known around the practice as a great collaborator, she’s been central to iconic Perth projects like the award-winning Fiona Stanley Hospital. She brings that experience to the state’s Design Review Panel, offering independent advice on the quality of significant developments. 

Rachel de Lambert

• Rachel de Lambert is a Landscape Architect and Consulting Partner at Boffa Miskell in Tamaki Makaurau, with a career spanning some 35+ years across the spectrum of design, environmental planning and landscape assessment. 
• Rachel is also known for her roles in design review, she is a chair and co-convenor for the Auckland Urban Design Panel  and a long term, original member of Eke Panuku’s design Technical Advisory Group (TAG). She is one of the three principal authors of "Te Tangi a te Manu" Aotearoa New Zealand Landscape Assessment Guidelines, alongside Gavin Lister and Alan Titchener. Te Tangi a te Manu promotes the integration of Te Ao Maori and Te Ao Pakeha perspectives as keystone of practice in Aotearoa.  

Janis Fischer

• Janis is a landscape architect with over 25 years’ experience. She’s best known for her work in shaping urban infill neighbourhoods including Moonee Valley Park, Caulfield Village, and several social and affordable housing developments. She believes that landscape architects play an important role in shaping the future of our cities and enhancing wellbeing, providing a sense of community, and mitigating climate change and biodiversity loss. She advocates for the value of landscape in all her work.
• She led Tract’s landscape architecture discipline for 6 years before becoming an Executive Director in 2021. She is an active member of AILA and has chaired the Gender Equity Committee and authored their Guide to Equitable Practice.

Bela Hinemoa Grimsdale

• Bela completed her degree in Landscape Architecture at Unitec Institute of Technology in 2018. After a long career in hospitality, Bela has come to Landscape architecture as a creative way to combine her passions of design in the natural and built environments with her deep interest and connection with Te Ao Maori.
  Being of bicultural background, with Maori and Pakeha whakapapa, Bela has naturally developed her professional interests and studies to be strongly grounded in the culture of Aotearoa. Her previous studies at the University of Auckland with a double major in Art History and Cultural Heritage and Museums, where she developed her interest, knowledge and practice in traditional Maori techniques of weaving, carving and the uses of native plants.
• Bela's role at LandLAB is in actively engaging in the uniquely indigenous aspects of landscape architecture with deep collaboration between clients, iwi, artists and consultants. Her strengths are concept design work and testing of ideas, production of design material, graphic outputs, research and documentation.

Moderators
Jasmine Ong, FRLA

• Jasmine Ong is Studio Director at GLAS providing project, business and people leadership. She is a senior executive with 20 years’ experience in design, studio management and business leadership. She has led projects globally, including UK, China and Australia. Jasmine is a Board Director of AILA and is engaged in industry committees for climate action, gender equity and continuing professional development. Her work spans from small scale spaces to large, complex and strategic landscape planning, all of which focuses on the creation of valuable public spaces with identity and a sense of place.  She is passionate about environmental sustainability, artful landscapes and place making. She has a track record of delivering innovative, sustainable, inclusive, culturally respectful places, and award-winning outcomes.

Julia Wick

• Julia holds positions as a board member of Tuia Pito Ora, the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects (NZILA) and is a member of the National Executive for the Resource Management Law Association (RMLA). Her commitment to advancing the Landscape Architecture profession and advocating for gender equality is evident through her leadership roles and active contributions to the industry.
  Julia is a Landscape Architect at Boffa Miskell, a leading national consulting firm specialising in planning, landscape architecture, urban design, and ecology. Based in the Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland) office, she operates across Aotearoa. With a focus on Landscape Planning and assessment, Julia applies her expertise to projects of varying scales, from individual assessments to comprehensive regional and area-based evaluations. 

You can watch the recording HERE.