Steering Committee

Omar Akbar is a German urbanist and architect, and the Executive Director of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. He was born in Afghanistan and attended primary school in Kabul, and undertook university and graduate training in architecture and urban design at the Technical University in Berlin. His Master's thesis (1976) concentrated on the process of urbanization in developing countries, using India as an example, and his doctoral thesis (1981) was a comparison of the social behaviour and the construction and spatial organization of mahals, which led to the development of the theory of Islamic living quarters. Professor Akbar worked as an architect in several offices in Germany while at the same time teaching in Berlin. He was the team leader (1981-82) of the development project for Al-Karkh (an area of Baghdad), and a consultant to GTZ (German Agency for Technical Development) from 1987 to 1993 for urban development projects in Banjul (Gambia), Sana'a (Yemen), and Aswan (Egypt). He also served as a UNESCO consultant on Cairo in 1991 and 1992. From 1993 to 1998, he was professor of urban design and the theory of architecture at the Technical University for Applied Sciences in Dessau, before taking up the position of Executive Director of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation in 1998. 

Glenn Lowry is an art historian from the United States and Director of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. Among the major exhibitions that have taken place during Mr. Lowry's tenure at MoMA are Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years (2007), Manet and the Execution of Maximilian (2007), Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul (2006), Pioneering Modern Painting: Cézanne and Pissarro 1865-1885 (2005), Matisse Picasso (2003), Mies in Berlin (2001), and Jackson Pollock (1998-1999). A noted scholar of Islamic arts and architecture, Mr. Lowry was previously Director of the Art Gallery of Ontario (1990-1995) and Curator of Near Eastern Art at the Smithsonian Institution's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art (1984-1990) where he organised, among other exhibitions, Timur and Princely Vision: Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century (1989) and A Jeweler's Eye: Islamic Arts of the Book from the Vever Collection (1988). Mr. Lowry's many honours include honorary doctorates from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (2000) and The College of William and Mary (2009), Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (1994) and Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres (2001) from the French government, and the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Studies Award (1990). Mr. Lowry is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science and American Philosophical Society.

Farshid Moussavi is an architect and educator, and principal of Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA). She studied at University College London and the Harvard Graduate School of Design before co-founding Foreign Office Architects (FOA) in London. FMA is working on a range of international projects including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, USA; a residential complex in the La Défense financial district in Paris, France; and the Quran Museum in Tehran. At FOA, she co-authored many award-winning projects internationally such as the Yokohama International Port Terminal and the firm’s work was widely published and exhibited, most notably as a solo show representing the British Pavilion at the 8th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2002. FOA’s many awards included the Enric Miralles Prize for Architecture, six RIBA Awards, the 2004 Venice Architecture Biennale Award and the Charles Jencks Award for Architecture. Since 2006, Farshid Moussavi has been Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has also taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, the Architectural Association in London, the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, the Hoger Architectuure Instituut in Gent, and in the USA at Harvard Graduate School of Design, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and Princeton University School of Architecture, as well as at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. Farshid Moussavi is the author of The Function of Ornament (2006) and the Function of Form (2009), based on her research and teaching at Harvard. Both books have been translated into several languages. She has recently become a regular columnist for the Architectural Review magazine. Professor Moussavi is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Whitechapel Gallery as well as The Architecture Foundation in London. She is an External Examiner at the Royal College of Art in London and is on the Education Board of the Strelka Institute for Architecture, Media and Design in Moscow. She has previously been a member of the Advisory Group to the British Council, the Mayor of London’s Design for London advisory group, the International Design Committee for the London Development Agency (LDA) and the RIBA President’s Medals. She has served on the jury for the RIBA Gold Medal and the Stirling Prize for Architecture. In 2004, she was Chair of the Aga Khan Award Master Jury and has been a member of the Award Steering Committee since 2005. 

Modjtaba Sadria, an Iranian-born philosopher, is Professor at the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations-AKU, London. Professor Sadria holds doctorate degrees in philosophy from the University of Paris and in international relations from the University of Quebec at Montreal, and master's degrees in literature, in history, and in philosophy from the University of Paris. Professor Sadria is a specialist in cross-cultural relations and East Asian studies, and was Professor of Cross-Cultural Relations and East Asian Studies at Chuo University, Tokyo. He lectures widely, including recent presentations on "A Complex World and Many Understandings", "The Possibility of Dialogue After 9.11", "A Perspective of Iranian Foreign Policy: Triangle Relations between Khatami, Nation and Society", "Building Bridges between the United States and Iran", and "Preserving Cultural Integrity and Promoting Dialogue among Civilizations". Professor Sadria is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Policy and Culture, Tokyo. From 1999 to 2001, he served as the Deputy Director for Research at the International Center for Dialogue Among Civilizations in Tehran. He is also a member of the Organizing Committee of the Kyoto International Cultural Forum. Professor Sadria has published over 50 books and articles, including "Global Civil Society and Ethics: Finding Common Ground" (Tokyo, 2003), "People Who Live on the Edge of the World" (Tokyo, 2002), "Realism: Trap of International Relations" (1994, in Japanese), Prayer for Lost Objects: A Non-Weberian Approach to the Birth of Modern Society (2003, in Persian), "Social Development: Challenges to a Concept" (in the Journal of Policy and Culture, Tokyo, 2004), "East Asia: Cultural Aspects of Challenges in a Globalizing World" (in Globalization in East Asia, 2004, in Japanese), and "Spinoza and Japan" (in Sogoseisaku Kenyu, Tokyo, 2005). Professor Sadria was a member of the 2004 Award Master Jury.