MEET THE SPEAKER
Schools everywhere are being asked to do more with the spaces they already have- support new ways of learning, strengthen belonging and respond to changing needs, often without the luxury of starting again.
Nur Syazadiyanah binti Suraini (Syaza) brings a compelling response to this challenge: look closer, listen better and design together. As Catalyst at Malaysian Learning Spaces (MYLES), she explores how participation and co-design can help unlock new possibilities within existing learning environments.
Nur Syazadiyanah binti Suraini
Catalyst · Malaysian Learning Spaces (MYLES)
PhD · Universiti Sains Malaysia
Designing With People, Not Simply For Them
Syaza’s perspective challenges a familiar assumption in school design: that transformation always begins with a large budget, a new building or a complete architectural overhaul.
Her work asks us to consider another possibility- what can happen when students, teachers and communities become active contributors to the design process?
Through Ruang2Gather, a MYLES initiative, this approach has been put into practice. The project received the Don Norman Design Award 2025 in the Promising Early Career Projects category, recognising its human-centred approach to creating more meaningful learning environments.
At SK RPS Banun in Gerik, Perak, the Ruang2Gather pilot brought students, teachers and community members into the process of transforming three underused classrooms into a multifunctional Learning Hub. The result demonstrates how participation, local understanding and thoughtful design can help unlock potential in spaces that might otherwise remain overlooked.
It is a particularly relevant lesson for schools working with existing campuses, constrained budgets, underused spaces or communities whose needs are not always reflected in conventional design briefs.
A Perspective Shaped by Research and Practice
Syaza’s work also extends beyond individual projects. Her doctoral research examines how stakeholder-led and participatory approaches can contribute to more equitable learning environments, bringing a research-based perspective to questions that school leaders and designers increasingly face in practice.
She was also part of Project Mayfield 2023 by Learning Environments Australasia, connecting her work to a wider international conversation around learning environments.
What makes her perspective particularly compelling is the connection between research, community engagement and practical transformation—looking at not only what a learning space should look like, but how it can respond to the people, culture and circumstances around it.
Why Syaza at PULSE 2026?
Across the world, schools are asking difficult questions.
How do we improve an ageing campus without rebuilding everything?
How do we create better learning environments when budgets are constrained?
How do we make sure design responds to students and teachers—not just institutional requirements?
And how can schools create spaces that genuinely belong to their communities?
Syaza brings these questions into the heart of PULSE 2026 | Where Culture Meets Learning.
Her session will be particularly relevant for school owners and trustees planning campus upgrades, principals and educators looking to rethink existing spaces, architects and designers working with real-world constraints, and learning-space professionals interested in participatory design.
For anyone who has ever looked at an existing school and thought, “We need to do more with what we already have,” Syaza’s perspective offers another way to begin.
When Culture Becomes Part of the Design
At PULSE 2026, the conversation is not only about creating better spaces. It is about understanding why some spaces work, who they work for, and what happens when the people who inhabit them have a voice in shaping them.
That makes Syaza’s contribution especially timely.
Because perhaps the future of learning spaces is not always about building more.
Perhaps it is about listening better, designing together and seeing new possibilities in what is already there.
PULSE 2026 | Where Culture Meets Learning
5–7 October 2026 | Sheraton Grand Palace, Indore
Nur Syazadiyanah binti Suraini, we are delighted to welcome you to PULSE 2026 and to bring the Malaysian perspective into this global conversation on learning, culture and place.