Six pioneering experts appointed as new Arup Fellows

The new Arup Fellows, Bruce Chong, Juliet Mian, Sowmya Parthasarathy, Haico Schepers, Brian Stacy and Mathew Vola, epitomize what it is to be world class innovators in their field, with the ingenuity, vision and deep expertise to influence and inspire not only our firm, but the global industry.  

From leading iconic and imaginative projects to influencing better standards and industry practice, our Arup Fellows embody our commitment to rigor and the pursuit of solutions of quality and innovation. Arup Fellows help us to expertly and efficiently solve the most challenging problems we face, working with our clients all around the world. 

Learning from one another is at the heart of our firm and the Arup Fellows play a vital role in passing on their expertise to enrich the knowledge and skills of all our members. Through our Global Skills Networks, the Arup Fellows share their skills and experiences, inspiring innovative thinking firm wide. 

Bruce Chong

Bruce is at the forefront of Arup's multidisciplinary decarbonisation, climate and smart city capability in East Asia. He has led high-profile projects including decarbonisation for MTRC in Hong Kong and around the world. His work also includes a super-typhoon study for the South-China region; climate physical risk for top-tier global companies; the latest 3D city map production and the first pilot smart city district implementation for Hong Kong. He has also supported organisations including the World Bank, IFC, ADB, APEC on climate adaptation, sustainable infrastructure and circular economy. Recently, Bruce launched the Asia Corporate Coalition for Climate Resilience (A4CR) to drive a more climate resilient business community. He is a fellow of ICE, IET, CIBSE and HKIE, serving in various professional organisations to create values and make change for the industry, such as the Smart Green Resilient framework, which has been adopted by the Hong Kong government.  

Juliet Mian

Juliet is an inspirational civil engineer who is recognised as a global expert in resilience of critical infrastructure systems. With over 25 years’ experience as a geotechnical then seismic engineer, she now focuses on understanding risk and enhancing resilience of infrastructure and the interconnected natural and social systems. Juliet is Arup’s Global Resilience Skills Network Leader and a pioneer in her field, with a track record of translating resilience theory into practice, and designing practical, relevant and innovative solutions for significant clients. Her work includes delivery of risk and resilience frameworks and solutions for National Highways, Network Rail and National Grid in the UK, as well as technical leader for global climate resilient infrastructure projects. From 2018 to 2022 she was the Technical Director for The Resilience Shift, a flagship programme delivered by Arup and the Lloyd’s Register Foundation to shift from resilience theory to practice. She is currently leading the Fens 2100+ investment decision making framework - the Environment Agency’s, innovative system level, landscape led approach towards adaptation decision making in a complex multi-stakeholder landscape.  

Sowmya Parthasarathy

Sowmya is renowned for her expertise in leading and supporting technically challenging masterplanning and urban planning projects. She has a wealth of experience as an architect and masterplanner in India, the US and the UK, leading significant projects across the public and private sectors and providing invaluable insight into design-led integrated cities practice. Her work includes the masterplan for Madinat-Al-Irfan in Oman; the Green City Kigali international design competition, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus Masterplan, Mahindra World City in Jaipur, India; Battersea Power Station in London; and the London 2012 Olympic Legacy Masterplan. Sowmya serves as Arup's leader for our business in India, the Middle East and Africa, recognising the opportunity to contribute to the sustainable growth of some of world's most dynamic regions. To inspire and encourage future leaders, Sowmya invests her time and experience in providing learning opportunities for Arup members globally.   

Haico Schepers

Haico is a building physicist. He combines his background in architecture and engineering with a passion for sustainability. Having been involved in building physics design for most of his career, Haico’s aim is to deliver outstanding design outcomes, integrating passive and active thermal strategies, natural daylight and building systems.  More recently he has focused on future opportunities presented by data science, machine learning and ubiquitous electronics to decarbonise the building sector. As Arup’s Global Environmental and Building Physics Skills Network Leader he is a prolific researcher, constantly trying to push the edge of environmental design with creative ideas utilising new materials and technologies. He pursues ground-breaking ideas in architectural science which have been applied to multiple buildings including Macquaire University Incubator and Hub buildings, 200 George St Sydney, Highpoint extension in Australia, Beijing Watercube and Captia Spring in Singapore.  

Brian Stacy

Brian is a leading international lighting designer and Research Leader for Arup. His experience with research over the last 20 years has developed from method and evidence-based projects, which lead to implementable and socially useful, executable, solutions in the built environment. His work has focused on marrying design driven solutions with research-based innovations for cultural projects ranging from Clyfford Still Museum in Denver to Athen’s SNFCC opera house to Summit at One Vanderbilt; all projects underpinned by cutting edge research. Brian’s repeat commissions with design-driven architects demonstrate his ability to inspire our clients and drive quality project outcomes. With his personal approach to engagement and his role as Arup’s Global Lighting Skills Network Leader, Brian serves as an inspiration to our members, guiding them all towards excellence and innovation in lighting practice.   

Mathew Vola

Mathew Vola is a highly accomplished project director and computational designer known for his relentless drive to shape a more sustainable built environment. By showcasing the opportunities for digital transformation and tools to scale our impact as a firm and industry on climate action, resilience and social value, he is widely recognised as a leading innovator that enables our clients to unlock the most complex challenges. 

With over 20 years of experience working in Australia, Asia and Europe, he has built an impressive project portfolio of structural engineering and computational design across the globe.  Some of his latest projects include Haut and DPG Mediavaert, respectively one of Europe’s tallest timber hybrid residential and largest office building; Echo, the county’s most sustainable university building and the MX3D printed bridge. As Arup’s Global Computational Design Skills Network Leader, he is passionate about developing data driven design solutions that facilitate transformation towards a regenerative buildings industry.   

Arup Fellows are actively involved across all aspects of Arup University, which is home to the firm’s strategic foresight capability, applied research and innovation programmes, as well as our communities of experts working to develop our skills and capability.