Agota Jonas is an instructor at Academy of Art University where she teaches life-centered design thinking in industrial design classes. She is passionate about finding regeneration and nature-based solutions for our design challenges. In 2018, she returned to grad school to study Biomimicry. She believes that we can learn from species all around us as they can teach us what true intelligence is and know how to “create conditions conducive to life.”

She is working on bringing biomimicry’s life’s principles to the classroom and the design curriculum; one of her latest projects is putting together a workbook for brainstorming using life’s principles.

Previously, Agota worked at frogdesign and designafairs (a Siemens-owned design studio) and has received prestigious design awards. Today she lives in Southern California with her husband, two teen-aged children and a pet parakeet. In her spare time, she volunteers at Laguna Ocean Foundation to learn about sea creatures and study their behaviors and the functions that they do. She is a member of Sharing Nature’s Genius, a pioneer community creating nature lesson reports that translate biological strategies for designers.

Leon Wang or 王立中 (Wáng Lì Zhōng) is a genderqueer Taiwanese 2nd gen American (they/them, ki/kin) who is able-bodied with an invisible neurodiversability. In essence, they are an (Auto)Catalyzing Connector, Exploration Facilitator, and Networks Weaver. At heart, ki is an extreme generalist that is creating conduits toward (b)righter futures. Leon leverages deep expertise in life-centered design, nature-inspired creativity, emerging technologies, and Justice|Equity|Diversity|Inclusion (JEDI) to amplify change-agents to create and evolve more optimal and well-adapted solutions for our planet. In the last 8 years, Leon has engaged deeply in diverse doings with trailblazing organizations like Sustainable Ocean Alliance, Buckminster Fuller Institute, One Point Five, Singularity University, Biomimicry 3.8, The Biomimicry Institute, Biomimicry Business Intelligence, StartingBloc, and many other thought leaders in the impact space. Leon is a Certified Biomimicry Professional with a M.S. Biomimicry from ASU and B.S. Bioengineering from UCSD.

Dr. Nermina Lamadema is a Research Scientist with a PhD in the field of Cell Cycle and Epigenetics obtained at the Department of Cancer Studies, School of Medicine, King’s College London,

She also holds a BSc in Molecular Biology, an MSc in Immunology. Prior to working in King's British Heart Foundation – School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine & Sciences, she worked at the GlaxoSmithKline Centre of Excellence for Biotechnology Research and Development. Research interests include exploring epigenetic mechanisms in health and disease using systems biology omics approaches. As a STEM Ambassador, she promotes STEM subjects in schools nationwide and is passionate about educating young generations.

She is a founder of first UK school of Biomimicry which aims to revolutionise the way students engage with Science and Design innovation using Nature’s strategies to meet sustainability and environmental challenges.