Sophia de Sousa

As Chief Executive at national charity The Glass-House Community Led Design since 2005, Sophia is an impassioned champion of design quality and place equity. She advocates and enables design processes that empower organizations and communities to work openly and collaboratively and that unlock potential in both places and people. She has extensive experience in designing and delivering strategic support, training, and practical resources for both communities and professionals and is an experienced speaker, writer, and facilitator.

Since 2012, Sophia has co-led the strategic partnership between The Glass-House and The Open University’s Design Group which has established a new area of truly co-designed and co-produced action research, teaching, and practice focused on community-led participatory and collaborative design and on supporting cross-sector and interdisciplinary placemaking. This partnership has secured and activated over £5 million in research funding.

Sophia has been both a CABE Enabler and Design Council Expert. She has sat on numerous design review panels and advisory groups such as Minister Berry’s High Streets Expert Panel, High Street Task Force Experts, Design Code Experts, Historic England's Advisory Committee and Historic Places Panel, and the Redbridge Growth Commission as well as External Examiner at both Sheffield and Newcastle Universities. She is a Visiting Fellow at The Open University, an RSA Fellow, and an Academy of Urbanism Academician.