Fons Verheijen – Architect, VVKH architecten, the Netherlands.

Fons Verheijen, graduated with honours from the TU Delft in 1975, is now working at VVKH architecten in Leiden. In 1982 he started as independent architect in Voorhout and together with Verkoren and Joost de Haan he established his office in Leiden in 1990. The practice expanded rapidly and gained a wide variety of projects, including durable building, mobility, culture and interior. Over the years their team changed but since 2004 he is forming together with Gerrit-Jan van Rijswijk, Ronald Knappers and Joost de Haan VVKH architects. Verheijen was 8 years professor in Architectural Engineering at the faculty of Architecture of the TU Delft. Furthermore he won several national and international prizes and has served on numerous juries.

Jan Olav Jensen – Architect, Norway.

Jan Olav Jensen qualified as an architect in Norway and is one of the partners in the practice of Jensen and Skodvin together with Børre Skodvin. The company was founded in 1995. Jan Olav Jensen has also held a professorship at the School of Architecture in Oslo since 2004. In 1998 the practice was awarded the Aga Kahn Award for Architecture. In 1999 it received the Timber Prize, in 2003 the Grosch Medal and in 2007 the Jacob Prize; the highest Norwegian award for the creative arts. In 2006 Jan Olav Jensen was awarded the Prince Eugene Medal. Furthermore he has taught at a number of institutions and has also been a member in numerous juries.

Sandra van Assen – urban planner, the Netherlands

Sandra van Assen originates from Friesland. She graduated in 1999 at the TU Delft - faculty of Architecture with an additional degree in landscape architecture. During her study she worked at West 8 landscape Architects and GDA architecture. After her study she specialised and received a grade in urban planning. She was urban planner and project leader for Kaap 3 in Rotterdam for eight years and teaching landscape architecture and urban planning at the TU Delft. During these years she was not only involved in regional planning and city planning in cities like Utrecht, Leidsche Rijn, Almelo, Enschede, Tilburg, but also in regions in Groningen and Friesland. Since 2003 van Assen focuses more and more on projects in the Northern regions and in 2005 she made the decision to return to Friesland in order to concentrate on urban planning matters in the North of the Netherlands.
Together with Els van der Laan, Gunnar Daan and Peter Karstkarel she won the Harry de Vroome Price for the research ‘Old villages, new perspectives’. In 2007 she established her own office “Sterke Stedenbouw”. From here, she works on urban and regional regeneration projects that always intend to value the unique characteristics of the place through sustainable and recognizable ‘strong’ interventions. Recently, Sandra van Assen became Provincial urban planner of Friesland.