Tony Fry is an Australian design theorist, philosopher, educator, and writer whose work has deeply shaped discussions around design futures, sustainability, and cultural critique. He is particularly known for introducing concepts such as "defuturing," "redirective practice," and "sustainment," offering critical frameworks for reimagining the role of design amid planetary crisis. Fry has held academic positions at Griffith University, the University of Tasmania, and the Queensland College of Art, among others. His influential books include Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (2009), Becoming Human by Design (2012), City Futures in the Age of a Changing Climate (2014), Remaking Cities: An Introduction to Urban Metrofitting (with Niklaus Gutschow, 2017), Defuturing: A New Design Philosophy (2020), and The Design Futurist (2023), many of which were published by Bloomsbury. Fry’s critical work addresses the failures of industrial modernity and advocates for transformative design approaches that support long-term planetary sustainment.

Dulmini Perera is a Sri Lankan-born, U.S.-based designer, researcher, and educator whose work critically engages with architecture, urbanism, and the politics of design in the Global South. Her research focuses on the intersections of coloniality, race, environmental degradation, and spatial justice. Perera has taught at institutions such as Florida International University and Carnegie Mellon University and holds a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Michigan. Her work interrogates how infrastructures of modernity have reshaped landscapes and communities, particularly in postcolonial contexts. She often collaborates across disciplines to foreground decolonial, feminist, and ecological perspectives in spatial practice.