Hon. Cecilia Herras-Tence
Member at Professional Regulatory Board of Landscape Architecture (Philippines)Cecilia S. Herras-Tence is a practicing landscape architect and currently sits as a Member of the Professional Regulatory Board of Landscape Architecture ( PRBOLA ) of the Professional Regulation Commission. She is also the Board’s focal person for the PRC – International Affairs Office Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications ( MRPQ) program. Ms Herras-Tence has presented papers on the MRPQ during the 1st and 2nd APELA forums in Seoul, South Korea in 2016 and 2017. In 2018, she presented to the IFLA APR Council the MRPQ and how it is in consonance with the IFLA APR Charter of which PALA is a signatory to. She is also a member of the Commission’s Program Management Committee for Career Progression and Specialization Program – Credit Accumulation Transfer System (CPSP-CATS). She has co-chaired the Leadership in Education and Practice in 2020-2023, a government-funded initiative for international conferences to promote Mutual Recognition Agreements and Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications. In 2022, she ably guided the Philippines Association of Landscape Architects in obtaining the IFLA APR Certificate of Acknowledgement for the Academic Accreditation & Recognition process employed by the Professional Regulatory Board and the Commission on Higher Education.
Ms Herras-Tence has also served as Past President of the Philippines Association of Landscape Architects ( PALA ) from 1994-95. In 2012, she was awarded Fellow of the PALA. In 2017, PALA bestowed on her the Vanguard Award for Leadership. She is a 2020 Distinction Awardee for Government Service given by the Philippines Federation of Professional Associations.
Dr. Nor Atiah Binti Ismail
President at Institute of Landscape Architects Malaysia (ILAM)LAr. Dr Nor Atiah Ismail is an Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia. She graduated with Bachelor's in Landscape Architecture from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (1996), a Master of Science in Architecture (2001-2002) from the same university and obtained her PhD in Landscape Architecture from Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand (2007-2010). Dr Atiah worked as a landscape architecture consultant before joining UPM as an academician in 1999. She was the Head of the Landscape Architecture Department, Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia from 2011-2014.
She is responsible for teaching the Urban Landscape Architecture, Planting Design, Cultural Heritage Study and Landscape Architecture Professional Practice. Her areas of research specialization is on Rural and Urban Cultural Heritage Landscapes. She is currently a principal investigator of 9 Research Projects and is a member of 20 research projects from 2011-2022. She contributed as a Pioneer Researcher in WARIS Research Group, FRSB (established in 2014). WARIS currently works with 25 Research Grants. 5 of her research projects won the Malaysia Landscape Architecture Awards (MLAA) under Research Category in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. To date, she has 25 Postgraduate students finishing their studies under her supervision and 20 on-going postgraduate students. Her passion for cultural landscape is widely known as she is actively involved in organizing Cultural and Heritage Conferences and community activities around Asia Pacific Region, writing journals and presenting conference papers. She has published 150 journal papers to date. She is actively involved in the community research and activities of the aboriginal community in the cultural heritage site of the Royal Belum, Grik, Perak of Malaysia, under a research grant by UPM.
L. Ar. Debbie Tikao
President at New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Tuia Pito Ora (NZILA)Debbie Tikao is the President and Chairperson of Tuia Pito Ora New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects, the director of Tipu Design, and the manager of the Environmental Portfolio for Ōnuku Rūnanga. She is a panelist on the Christchurch City Council Urban Design Panel and is leading the process of developing a mountains-to-sea management and climate change adaptation and mitigation plan for Akaroa Harbour. For 7.5 years she was the General Manager of Matapopore. During this time Debbie worked closely with local and central government to ensure post-earthquake Christchurch embedded the values and stories of mana whenua and emerged as a 21st-century city rich with meaning and character, expressing our dual histories and treaty partnership.