Behind every smartphone and electric vehicle lie hidden worlds of dwindling resources: contested mines, lithium deserts, and tonnes of e-waste discarded yearly. Will scarcity always fuel inequality or can design transcend it? Speakers include designer Mále Uribe Forés, who has curated the Chile pavilion at the London Design Biennale and started her ongoing project exploring mineral residues and local narratives from mining industries in the Atacama Desert as part of her 2019 residency at the Design Museum in London; artist Shiraz Bayjoo, whose work often explores the intersection of colonial extraction and ecological erasure within enslaved and plantation landscapes of the Indian Ocean; Bridget Storrie, a postdoctoral teaching fellow at the Institute of Global Prosperity at UCL, whose work explores the relationship between natural resources, conflict and peace; and Shereen Doummar an architect and is co-founder of Collective for Architecture Lebanon, which has curated the Lebanese pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, The Land Remembers.
The talk will be chaired by Dalia Gebrial, Lecturer in Geography and Social Justice at King’s College.
Location: The Great Hall, King's College, London
This edition of the Global Design Forum is supported by our Digital Media Partner, STIR.
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SPEAKERS
Mále Uribe Forés is a London based architect, artist and researcher working at the intersection of art, spatial design and material design. With an MA in Information Experience Design from the Royal College of Art and a professional background in spatial and exhibition design, she creates sculptural and spatial narratives that communicate ideas about material culture and productive landscapes. Her research-led work varies from sculpture to surface design, interior design and multi-media installations, with a special focus in experimental materialities. Mále was awarded as one of the Designers in Residence 2019 at the Design Museum in London, where she started her ongoing project exploring mineral residues and local narratives from mining industries in the Atacama Desert.
Shiraz Bayjoo is a contemporary multi-disciplinary artist who works with film, painting, photography, performance, and installation. His research-based practice focuses on personal and public archives addressing cultural memory and postcolonial nationhood in a manner that challenges dominant cultural narratives. Bayjoo has exhibited with the Gropius Bau, Berlin; Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; Kunstal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen; Institute of International Visual Arts, London; New Art Exchange, Nottingham; 5th Edition Dhaka Art Summit; 14th Biennale of Sharjah; 13th Biennale of Dakar; and 21st Biennale of Sydney. Bayjoo is a recipient of the Gasworks Fellowship, and was commissioned for Art Night, London 2019. He was an artist in residence at the Delfina Foundation in 2021, and was awarded the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. Bayjoo presented a solo exhibition at the Diaspora Pavilion for the 59th Venice Biennial in 2022, and the 15th edition of Sharjah Biennial 2023. For the 8th edition of Colomboscope in 2024 he presented newly commissioned works supported by the British Council.
Bridget Storrie is a teaching fellow at the institute for global prosperity, a mediator and a conflict consultant. She started her career working as a television news journalist for ITN in Russia, Chechnya, and Bosnia Herzegovina in the early 1990s, and has a nearly 30-year association with the global mining industry including working as a conflict advisor in Bosnia and Mongolia. She holds a PhD from the Institute of Global Prosperity at UCL and carried out her research at conflict-affected mines in Bosnia and northern Kosovo. Her work has been widely published, she has presented at conferences across Europe, chaired a side event at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poland in 2018 and has submitted evidence to the UK government’s sub-committee inquiry into critical minerals and economic security.
Shereen Doummar is co-founder and director of Collective for Architecture Lebanon, which has curated the Lebanese pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, The Land Remembers. She a practicing architect currently based in London. She is the director of ATMA heading several projects in the Ivory Coast, the UK and Lebanon. She's a graduate of the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and the laureate of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop bursary. She previously worked with the UK based firms Studio Jenny Jones, REAL Foundation, Zaha Hadid Architects, and REX in New York. She has been exhibited at the Beit Beirut Museum, and has spoken at various conferences, at Edinburgh University, AA School, ALBA, and at the American University of Beirut.
Dalia Gebrial (chair) is a Lecturer in Geography and Social Justice. Her research focuses on empire, race, labour, digital economies, globalisation and political economy. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics. Her work has appeared in EPA: Economy and Space, Identities Journal and Historical Materialism. She is also a political and cultural commentator. She has frequently contributed to media outlets such as The Guardian, The Telegraph, Vice, BBC Radio 4, Sky News, BBC Politics Live and Novara Media. She has also worked as an organiser and consultant for a number of anti-racism, anti-imperialism and workers' rights initiatives.
