PLENARY SPEAKER 2025
Bambang Susantono

Bambang Susantono is a Professor Honoris Causa at Universitas Diponegoro and has an extensive record of leadership in both national and international roles. He served as the Presidential Special Envoy for International Collaboration on Nusantara Capital, following his tenure as Chairman of the Nusantara Capital Authority (March 2022–May 2024). Before these roles, Dr. Susantono was Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He also held key positions in Indonesia as Vice Minister of Transportation and Deputy Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development at the Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs. In addition to his distinguished career, Dr. Susantono currently serves on several prominent boards and panels, including the High-Level Experts and Leaders’ Panel on Water and Disasters, the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Development Bank Institute, the Bloomberg New Economy Council for Cities, and the Advisory Board of the Tech for Good Institute. Professor Susantono earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

(https://www.linkedin.com/in/bambang-susantono-07802974/?originalSubdomain=id)

Nicholas Phelps

Nicholas Phelps is a Professor and Chair of Urban Planning in the School of Design, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He also serves as a Visiting Professor at the School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, China. Previously, he was Professor of Urban and Regional Development at the Bartlett School of Planning and Pro Vice Provost Regional (Southeast Asia) at University College London. Professor Phelps’s research and teaching interests span a wide range of topics, including the planning and politics of suburbanization, the economics of urban agglomeration, international planning, entrepreneurship, informality and economic development, and the economic geography of multinational enterprises and foreign direct investment. He has authored more than 80 internationally peer-reviewed journal articles and five influential books, including Interplaces, An Anatomy of Sprawl, Sequel to Suburbia, and Post-Suburban Europe. Professor Phelps earned his PhD from Newcastle University.

(https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/about/our-people/academic/nicholas-phelps)

Rita Padawangi

Rita Padawangi is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. Her research focuses on social movements, community engagement, and environmental justice, with a particular interest in the sociology of architecture, participatory urban development, and the humanistic aspects of city-making. Rita’s recent work emphasizes place-making in urban neighborhoods through collaborative research, teaching, and community engagement. Her research projects have explored themes such as vernacular heritage, urban disasters, and urban aspirations. She coordinates the Southeast Asia Neighbourhoods Network (SEANNET), a collaborative initiative aimed at advancing urban research and education in the region. Rita is the author of Urban Development in Southeast Asia and serves as an editorial board member for the Asian Cities book series with Amsterdam University Press, as well as the journals Asia Pacific Viewpoint and Area Development and Policy. She earned her PhD from Loyola University Chicago.

(https://www.suss.edu.sg/about-suss/faculty-and-staff/detail/rita-padawangi)

F.X. Sugiyanto

F.X. Sugiyanto is a Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Diponegoro. His academic work spans several areas of economics, including macroeconomics, industrial organization, and environmental economics. He earned his PhD from Universitas Airlangga.

Arnold Tukker

Arnold Tukker is a Professor of Industrial Ecology at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) at Leiden University. He coordinates several major research programs in the field of resource efficiency involving collaboration with 20 leading European research institutes. These initiatives include the development of EXIOBASE, the world’s most ambitious and detailed global energy, resource, and economic input-output database and model. From 1 October 2013 to 31 August 2022, Professor Arnold served as Director of the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) at Leiden University, dedicating 70% of his time to this role. Prior to this, he was the Business Line Manager for Societal Innovation and Economy at TNO, a major nonprofit research organization in the Netherlands, where he continues to hold a 30% position as a senior researcher. Professor Arnold has played a pivotal role in advancing sustainability research, setting up prominent EU projects such as SusProNet (Sustainable Product Design Network) and SCORE! (Sustainable Consumption and Production). He was also a core member of the Dutch Knowledge Network on Sustainable System Innovations. He has contributed extensively to the work of the United Nations on initiatives such as the Green Economy Initiative, the International Resource Panel, the Ten-Year Framework of Programs on Sustainable Consumption and Production, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Professor Arnold has authored six books, 47 peer-reviewed papers, and seven special issues on sustainability research. He earned his PhD from Tilburg University.