MEET THE SPEAKER
What if the best learning spaces begin with a better understanding of learning?
We spend a lot of time asking how schools should look.
But perhaps the more interesting question is:
How should a space respond to the people who learn and teach within it?
This is the territory Dr. Embeth van der Wal brings to PULSE 2026 | Where Culture Meets Learning.
Dr. Embeth van der Wal
Education Specialist · Hubo Studio
Educational Researcher · PhD
Certified Google Innovator · International Speaker
Embeth works at the intersection of education, research and spatial design, with a particular focus on teacher efficacy and 21st-century thinking.
At Hubo Studio, she collaborates with architects to translate educational insight into environments shaped around how students genuinely think, create and grow.
From Learning Theory to Learning Space
What happens when educational research becomes part of the design conversation?
Hubo Studio’s work offers some fascinating possibilities- from the playful Redhill Early Learning Centre in South Africa to the Klaff Family Sports Complex at King David Linksfield, where learning, movement and community come together.
Its work with Lanaar School in Miami takes this conversation further, bringing educators and students into discussions around pedagogy, professional development, AI and the future of their learning environment.
For Embeth, the starting point is not simply:
What should a school look like?
It is a more fundamental question:
What should a school make possible?
Why Embeth at PULSE 2026?
Because the conversation around learning spaces cannot belong to architecture alone.
It needs the voice of education.
Embeth brings that voice into the room, connecting what research tells us about teaching and learning with the environments in which those experiences unfold.
And that opens up some compelling questions:
Can a space strengthen teacher efficacy?
Can design support the way students think, create and collaborate?
What happens when pedagogy becomes part of the design brief?
For anyone shaping K–12 schools, classrooms or learning environments, these are not abstract questions. They are increasingly practical ones.
Why You Should Hear Her at PULSE?
Because sometimes the most valuable shift in school design happens before the first line is drawn.
It begins by questioning what we already assume about learning, teaching and the spaces that bring them together.
At PULSE 2026, Embeth will bring this perspective into a room filled with educators, school leaders, architects, designers and education thinkers- each bringing their own questions about the future of learning environments.
And this October, you won’t just read about her ideas.
You’ll have the opportunity to hear her, engage with her perspective and meet Dr. Embeth van der Wal in person at PULSE 2026.
PULSE 2026 | Where Culture Meets Learning
PULSE 2026 | Where Culture Meets Learning
5–7 October 2026 | Sheraton Grand Palace, Indore
Come curious. Come with questions. Come ready to see learning spaces differently.
Dr. Embeth van der Wal, welcome to PULSE 2026.