Matej Nikšič
Architect and urban planner Matej Nikšič works as a researcher in the fields of urban regeneration, public space design, participatory urbanism, experiential dimensions of space and detailed urban design. He collaborates in national and international basic and applicative research projects. He strives for transferring the research findings to potential users and urban planning practice. He has been coordinating the programme of experts’ lectures at UIRS. He lectures at the Faculty of architecture of the University of Ljubljana within the bachelor and masters programmes of urban planning, and contributes to international module of urban planning studies run by Ecole d’Urbanisme de Paris, HafenCity Universität Hamburg, Malmö högskola and Politecnico di Milano. He mentors younger colleagues and is the author of scientific, expert and popular publications in the field of spatial planning, an editor and reviewer.
Socrates Stratis
Socrates Stratis is a Ph.D. architect, urbanist, and activist for the urban commons, currently serving as an Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture, University of Cyprus. His research focuses on the political agency of architecture and urban design, examining the strategic value of urban design alongside its social dimensions, and exploring how these fields evolve into critical urban practices. Socrates’s work navigates the intersection of diffractive practice and practice-based research, shaped by their entanglement in teaching, practicing, curating, and writing. He enriches his research through engagement in highly contested territories, particularly the Cypriot context, and by contributing to the development of emerging European urban design practices, notably through their role in EUROPAN Europe. A co-founder of the critical urban practice agency AA & U in Cyprus, Socrates has made significant editorial contributions, including the publication “Guide to Common Urban Imaginaries in Contested Spaces” (Jovis, 2016). His curatorial and activist work includes Cyprus’ participation in the 15th Venice Biennale of Architecture, as well as the “Hands-on Famagusta” project.