Meet the 2026 Golden Key Academy Cohort
Ann brings a strong sense of belonging to London life and a deep curiosity about how we experience the city. Her perspective is shaped by the interconnections of people, place, art, and nature’s systems. She has extensive experience across the public and private sectors, working in both design and client-side roles as an architect and a built environment professional
Carole is a South London creative and lifelong social housing resident working through ecological stewardship to reframe how architecture and the built environment are seen and who they’re for. Carole’s practice centres the communities routinely left out of decision-making, amplifying their voices and their lives which have shaped housing estates — past and present — and the shared green spaces between them, making these places more accessible, inclusive and rooted in lived experience.
Kat is an archivist passionate about archival literacy who wants to explore engaging ways of making historical records accessible. She is interested in how the same place can mean different things to different people, and how these stories are reflected – or not – in archives and the built landscape.
Joe is a qualified engineer and wannabe architect who arrived in south London seven years ago as a fresh-faced graduate ready to start a career in sustainable development in the built environment, having now applied his trade as both a Passivhaus and public realm designer on positive, sustainable schemes across the city. Through the Golden Key Academy, Joe hopes to learn even more about the borough of Southwark and how it’s influenced the rest of the capital..
Georgia is an architectural designer and city enthusiast. Most recently she has been part of a young team of creatives, making films centred on themes of climate change and natural renewal in London. Wandering around the city is a favourite pastime of hers and she has explored the nooks and crannies since childhood. Storytelling is her great passion and she loves keeping active by swimming and practicing yoga in her spare time.
Rumi has lived and worked across London for over forty years, gaining a lived understanding of how neighbourhoods connect, evolve and accumulate meaning over time. Rumi’s background in education has given them a strong experience in research, storytelling, and engaging diverse audiences and they are keen to develop walking tours that foreground social history, everyday experience and the quieter stories embedded in London’s streets.
Elaine is a former heritage professional with a lifelong love of history, architecture and storytelling. She holds a Master’s degree in The Country House: Art, History and Literature and has previously worked at Kensington Palace. Elaine is especially enchanted by myths, legends and folklore, and delights in exploring how stories from the past continue to shape how we understand the world today.
Francesca is a London-based community educator, researcher and guide-in-training with a strong focus on inclusive public history. She combines rigorous research, storytelling, and lived experience to design tours that are welcoming for neurodivergent people, those seeking mental wellness, and communities often excluded from traditional cultural spaces. She volunteers extensively across London’s heritage sector and is particularly interested in Southwark, Westminster, and the West End and in developing calm, sensory-aware history and food tours that reflect London’s layered, multicultural past.
Alex is an interdisciplinary researcher who has recently relocated from Leeds. She has a keen interest in aesthetics, urban planning and the democratic use of space. As a member of the Golden Key Academy cohort she looks forward to exploring more of London whilst learning how to most effectively develop and deliver engaging walking tours.
Andrew has been working in the international development field for thirty plus years and has lived in Africa, Asia and the United States. He has now pivoted his career to leading small group tours around London, going off the beaten track and uncovering other layers of this city. He also acts, directs and produces plays for his local theatre group. He is excited to enhance his storytelling skills at the Golden Key Academy and apply these in the design and delivery of his tours.
Helen is a Londoner by birth and by choice. She works with international students in higher education and enjoys sharing her love of all things London with them. She firmly believes that if you're not excited by being in London, you might have your eyes closed!
Ifrah is an architect focusing on sustainable, net-zero homes designed to Passive House standard. She is interested in widening access to knowledge of how sustainable design works and how it makes buildings more comfortable to inhabit, and resilient to the effects of climate change. She looks forward to sharing her love for walking, running, and cycling to explore London through the lenses of sustainability and social justice.
Emma is an architect specialising in housing and education buildings. She has recently completed a PhD in architectural briefing and her research interests include the co-evolution of social institutions and institutional buildings. Having long enjoyed going on urban walking tours, she is looking forward to getting an insight into how they are curated.
Celia is a writer and editor of non-fiction with a particular interest in history, urbanism and our relationships with nature in cities. She worked for 20 years as a travel writer — mostly in Italy, New York and London — before getting into client publishing for
London agencies. She’s looking to refine her guiding skills through this course with the Golden Key Academy and is excited to find out more about the stories, people and connections that transform spaces into places.
Helen was born in Glasgow and grew up in London. She has lived in several UK cities as well as in Holland, Germany, and Spain. Her career began as a secretary before moving into the NHS and education, and later becoming a foster carer. She studied history at university, and her love of the subject is rooted in London itself — a city rich in documented history and blessed with an extraordinary range of architecture. She’s excited to combine her passions for walking and talking while bringing London’s stories to life.
Helene is an artist and art psychotherapist who explores London through creative and collective practice. She is interested in how streets, buildings, and overlooked spaces are used, controlled, and reclaimed, and how walking can open up new ways of seeing and occupying the city. She looks forward to exploring London as a site of experimentation, resistance, and shared imagination with the Golden Key Academy cohort.
Omali has a background in sport development, with experience in participation, community engagement, and creating positive social outcomes through sport. He has a strong interest in urban studies, particularly how urbanisation in megacities shapes communities, infrastructure, and quality of life. Through Open City’s Golden Key Academy, Omali aims to deepen their understanding of London’s urban challenges and contribute to more sustainable and inclusive development for Londoners from all walks of life.
Carol is a historian and curator and has worked in museums in London for many years. She has researched and written about different communities, people and places across the capital, as well as having been a volunteer tour guide in New York. She is fascinated by London's diverse histories and sharing those stories with others.
Tess is an urban designer and planner who moved to London four years ago from her hometown of New York City. She has a deep love of cities: how they function on an everyday basis and how they've come to be the way they are. Tess is excited to make urban processes, layers of historic infrastructure, and overlooked stores accessible and engaging to a wider audience, including young people interested in careers in the built environment.
Ikram is a London-based design researcher and community practitioner, and founder of Mimbar360, working at the intersection of architecture, faith spaces and wellbeing, with a focus on spatial justice and inclusive community environments.
Stephanie has lived in London for nearly twenty years, a transplant from the US. She is endlessly fascinated by the layers of history, stories and cultural life that make London so unique. She loves visiting theatres and museums and will always take a turn down an overlooked alley, drawn by the promise of discovery. She is especially excited to learn more about the built environment and how it weaves so many elements together to shape the city we experience.
Shu Ting is a landscape architect with international experience across London, New York and Taiwan, her place of origin. Drawn to the dynamic relationship between cities and nature, she is inspired by art, design, and the layered history of London. At the Golden Key Academy, she wants to explore the dialogue between architecture and landscape as a single, interconnected language, investigating how landscapes carry the memory of the past while shaping new visions for the city’s future. For her, landscape is a quiet storyteller — revealed in the rhythm of streets, the pause of a park, and the spaces between buildings — shaping how people feel, move, and belong within the city.
Miranda is a committed built environment professional who has helped to shape some of London's most exciting new destinations. She grew up in Midtown Manhattan and has spent most of her adult life calling North London home. She is passionate about learning from places, and in her spare time, sits on the Steering Committee of Place Collective UK. She is excited to further this interest through the Golden Key Academy.
Khaira is a part one architecture graduate that is currently honing her art skills at the Royal Drawing School. She has spent most of her life in London and her love for the city grows more when she discovers more about the history and culture from different communities that helped shape London into the vibrant and diverse place it is now. She is looking forward to doing further research on London’s built environment and how culture plays a role in the shaping of it.
Antony is a London Blue Badge Guide, creator, narrator and curator, and former Director of the Museum of London. A Londoner by birth, he is known as “Mr Londoner” for his deep knowledge of and affection for the city. His specialist tours blend the ancient and the modern, the traditional and the quirky, uncovering London’s hidden and overlooked stories. Antony brings the city to life through both ordinary people and iconic figures — real and fictional — from James Bond to Vivienne Westwood, leading guests from famous landmarks to off-the-beaten-track discoveries.
Julia is a guide and digital designer who sees the city as the ultimate user experience, where every building and street tells a story of change. With a background in UX/UI design, she brings a research-led approach to tours, exploring how urban environments shape everyday life. Since moving to London in 2022, she has been captivated by the city’s built heritage, from the Docklands to contemporary regeneration projects. Through the Golden Key Academy, she aims to create engaging, accessible tours that invite people to look more closely at London’s hidden layers.
and Leo, Harry, Jane and Lee
… And this year’s Haringey cohort
Allistair has lived in Haringey for 26 years. He worked for Haringey Council for 20 years as a Duty Officer and weightlifting coach at New River Sports Centre and Finsbury Park. He has also been involved with Wolves Lane Garden Centre for 18 years, where he established a dedicated Cacti House. He now looks forward to developing his guiding skills through the Golden Key Academy.
Bridget is a creative practitioner, facilitator, and storyteller working at the intersection of heritage, culture, and community engagement. Through workshops, guided experiences, and creative projects, she creates engaging ways for audiences to explore local history, lived stories, and culture. She is particularly interested in how walking tours and public storytelling can make heritage more accessible, inclusive, and meaningful. Bridget is excited to be joining the Golden Key Academy to further develop her skills in crafting engaging, inclusive tours that blend research, storytelling, and lived experience.
Robert is a retired primary school head teacher who has lived in Tottenham for nearly 30 years. He has long had an interest in local and London history and looks forward to developing his guiding skills through the Golden Key Academy.
Linda is a storyteller with a vintage soul and a future-shaping imagination. Blending activism, artistry, and cultural memory, her work shines a light on undertold stories while gently challenging mainstream narratives. She is the founder of Succeed 2 the Max, a youth-focused social change initiative rooted in her own experiences of adversity and dedicated to empowering young people to become CEOs of their own career destinies. Alongside this, she works as an Employer Relations & Development Adviser, building pathways and partnerships that turn opportunity into impact. She views cities as layered spaces where architecture, memory and culture intersect and she is passionate about guiding people through these narratives with intention and care. Her tours are designed to be insightful and reflective, celebrating overlooked voices while encouraging participants to engage more deeply with place, identity and possibility.
Leo is a lifelong Londoner who grew up, went to school, and studied at university in the city. Leo now lives in Haringey with their family and works as a Regeneration and Urban Design Manager at Haringey Council. With a deep affinity for London’s built environment and its diverse communities, Leo is keen to share their knowledge and enthusiasm to inspire people from all walks of life. Leo is particularly motivated to uncover and tell the stories of places and communities that are often overlooked, a passion shaped by their experience as a second-generation Indian Londoner.
Nimet’s background reflects a lifelong commitment to learning, global engagement, and cultural understanding — values that align closely with those of a Global Village citizen and her desire to share lived experiences with the Golden Key Academy. Through extensive travel and early work with airlines and travel agencies, she developed strong cross-cultural communication, adaptability, and leadership skills. Her passion for education, reading, writing, and teaching underscores her dedication to sharing knowledge and fostering critical thinking, while her interest in nature and holistic health reflects a balanced, reflective approach to personal and academic growth.
Emily is a visual artist, Reiki practitioner and participatory health researcher. Her work explores place, culture and community through drawing, making and community involvement. She runs Healing Wave UK, where she combines Reiki, mindful drawing and creative approaches to support nervous system regulation and wellbeing. She is interested in developing walking and mindful drawing tours that bring together storytelling, creativity and care, supporting people to slow down, really look and connect with the places around them.
and Güler, Ibrahim and Georgia
