Leon van Schaik is Professor of Architecture (Innovation Chair) at RMIT, Melbourne, Australia. From his base in Melbourne, he has promoted local and international architectural culture through practice-based research. In 2006 he was awarded an Order of Australia, Officer (AO) in the General Division, for service to architecture as an academic, practitioner and educator, and to the community through involvement with a wide range of boards and organisations related to architecture, culture and the arts. He is the author of Mastering Architecture: Becoming a Creative Innovator in Practice (John Wiley & Sons, 2005), and Design City Melbourne, (John Wiley & Sons, 2006).