Louise Ciotti is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture, Retrofit and Conservation at the University of the West of England, UWE Bristol. Louise combines professional architectural practice with her research and teaching with her role as an Architect and has over 20 years architectural practice experience in London, South-West and Porto, Portugal . She is currently a Director of a small practice specialising in retrofit, Conservation and low energy design. Louise’s research work has primarily been practice-based, responding to prevailing industry needs in the advancement of sustainable design and construction. Before moving into academia she was a practice-based researcher undertaking a number of funded research projects into innovative materiality, embodied carbon profiling and climate change adaptation. As an Educator, she leads modules in design studio and building conservation, working with students across six Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes. Teaching design studio requires dialogue and listening skills – at its best it is a co-creative activity. Design studio is the embodiment of a social constructivist teaching philosophy whereby development is socially situated with knowledge, constructed through interaction with others. Design studio learning therefore takes students into the “zone of proximal development”, providing tasks that are complex to master at first, yet become solved during the process. She seeks opportunities for students to learn from live experience, regularly invites industry experts to participate, as well as sharing her own practice. She enjoys teaching in a range of cultural contexts and supports UWE Bristol’s international partnership in Hong Kong.