"As the vision of Home Renaissance Foundation elucidates, the home plays a vital role in shaping lives and is where one seeks to find security; where one can be trusted and be certain of finding a set of values that remain constant despite the instability or confusion that can be brought about by everyday life. As Chairman of Home Renaissance Foundation I wish to encourage the spread of knowledge and understanding of the importance of the work required to form such a place and re-establish its rightful position as top priority for the wellbeing of society."

Before becoming Chairman and Founding Director of Home Renaissance Foundation and Chairman of the Low Pay Commission, Sanderson was Managing Director of BP, Chairman of BUPA and Standard Chartered Bank. He also helped establish the Learning and Skills Council as its first Chairman. He served as Vice Chairman of the Court of Governors at LSE and is a Trustee of the Economist Group. After gaining a BSc in Economics at LSE and furthering his education in the IMEDE Business School Lausanne, the majority of Sanderson's business life has been in the management of advances made in areas ranging from technology to corporate law, from financial regulation to societal and cultural behaviours.

"The aim of the Home Renaissance Foundation is not merely to focus on the problems that are all too evident in society today regarding the home, but rather to centre our efforts on developing solutions that will help the work of the home be better understood and appreciated. In that way I feel that the fundamental needs of the individual and the family can be best met. With the pressing need to increase society’s awareness of the importance and dignity of the work of the home I endeavour to preserve our vision so as to bring it forward to realisation."

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Since studying Business and Commerce at the School of Commerce in Bilbao, Spain, Mercedes has worked extensively in the charitable sector, primarily in managerial roles and financial administration.  After specialising in the field of accountancy and finance for 10 years, in 1982 she became Financial Consultant, then Company Director and Finance Director to Dawliffe Hall Educational Foundation (DHEF), a Registered Charity as well as a Company Limited by Guarantee. She attained a postgraduate diploma in Advanced Management of non-profit organisations from City University. In 2006 Mercedes was appointed Project Manager of the international interdisciplinary conference Excellence in the Home, the impetus behind Home Renaissance Foundation and went on to become Executive Director of HRF in 2007. The skills Mercedes has acquired in the voluntary sector particularly in fund-raising, management and communications, have enabled her to raise the profile of HRF and direct it towards achieving its objectives.

“Having studied and written about the home for over 20 years, it is hard to overestimate the critical role the home plays in shaping our everyday life, value system, and work ethics. We tend to attribute our emotional and memory references to home and family but overlook how such incredible social system crosses the boundaries of space and time to build a network of relations and connections that last our lifetime. HRF has rightly managed to place the role of the home at the forefront of intellectual debates and social dialogue. That’s why the Foundation’s work is critical to our sustainable future.”

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Professor Mohamed Gamal Abdelmonem is Chair in Architecture and the Founding Director of the Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Global Heritage (CAUGH), and co-lead of Global Heritage Research at Nottingham Trent University. He previously lectured and taught architecture and design at The Royal Academy of Arts in London, University of California at Berkeley, University of Sheffield and Queen’s University Belfast. Gamal advises several governments and international organisations on aspects of sustainable heritage preservation, urban planning and the architecture of home. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the 2014 recipient of the Jeffrey Cook Award for outstanding research in the Built Environment.

"Research across disciplines is increasingly underlying the importance of family life for the normal development of a person and, thus, for sustainable economic growth. In this context, the role of the home is fundamental. As an economist, I am convinced of the need to promote interdisciplinary research that will lead to a greater awareness of the importance of the work of the home. Working with Home Renaissance Foundation is a pleasure as their focus on this topic places them in the cutting-edge of research."

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Dr. Aguirre is the President of Catholic Distance University and a Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Catholic University of America. She is the founder of the Integral Economic Development Programs at this School. She specializes in international finance and integral economic development. She has researched and published in exchange rates and economic integration, as well as on theories of population, human and social capital and family as it relates to integral economic development. Dr. Aguirre has lectured at both the national and international level. Since ICPD '94, she has actively participated in UN Conferences. She testified in front of Congresses and Parliaments on national and international issues related to population, family and health.  She has also advised several governments on women's education, family policy, and health.  She was a presidential appointee to the US Advisory Commission on Foreign Diplomacy.

"My work for many years at IESE Business School has been a superb training in understanding the human, social, economic, political and moral issues concerning the home. This is due to a combination of rationality, efficiency and management discipline with the broader vision of the problems involving economics, the philosophical structure of the mind provided by ethics, the practical sense of corporate social responsibility and the practical awareness that human institutions, such as the family and the company, are fundamental for the configuration of society. My collaborative work with the Home Renaissance Foundation is an ideal platform for projecting this multidisciplinary training and experience."

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Antonio Argandoña holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Barcelona. He is Emeritus Professor of Economics and of Business Ethics and holds the "la Caixa" Chair of Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance at IESE Business School, University of Navarra. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Economics and Finance of Spain, President of the Standing Committee on Professional Ethics of the Economists' Association of Catalonia and a member of the Commission on Anti-Corruption of the International Chamber of Commerce (Paris). He has published numerous books, book chapters and articles in prestigious journals on economics and business ethics. He has been editor of books and journals, member of ethics committees of business associations and financial institutions, and has held government positions at IESE Business School and with numerous scientific and professional bodies.

"Recent scientific research shows that the environment plays a crucial role in the development and growth of all living things. Its importance is even more evident when the being in question is as complex as the human person. Care for the well-being of people at home moulds and enriches this environment. So I think it is worthwhile investing time and effort to reassess domestic work: those tasks which turn a house into a home and which are fundamental in the harmonious development of the human person at birth, in maturity and old age."

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Marta Bertolaso is Full Professor of Philosophy of Science and Human Development at the University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome (Italy) and within the Centre for Cancer Biomarkers (CCBIO) project, University of Bergen (Norway). Her expertise in philosophy of science, scientific practice and in philosophy of life sciences with a strong scientific background has allowed her to promote and collaborate in interdisciplinary research and educational projects on complex organized systems and human wellbeing more in general. She is currently focusing her work on the integral development of complex adaptive systems, also mediated by digital technologies. She currently also has collaborations in the Ministry of Health and of the Ecologic Transition in Italy and in the department for Work and Integral Wellbeing of the Vatican. Since 2017 Marta Bertolaso has been Editor in Chief of the Springer Series on “Human Perspectives in Health Sciences and Technology” (HPHS&T).

“I consider that combining the work of the home and professional work which in my case is in the field of academia, is a rewarding albeit challenging task. The balancing of competing demands for one's time can some times be a source of stress. But it is important to keep the priorities right: home and family comes first. The needs of the children are dynamic and change over time. In order to deal with those needs certain flexibility is required as well as generosity, fortitude and good time management.”

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Professor Dr Rosa María Lastra is the Sir John Lubbock Chair in Banking Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS), Queen Mary University of London. She is a member of Monetary Committee of the International Law Association (MOCOMILA), a founding member of the European Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (ESFRC), an associate of the Financial Markets Group of the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an affiliated scholar of the Centre for the Study of Central Banks at New York University School of Law. From 2008 to 2010 she was a Visiting Professor of the University of Stockholm. She has served as a consultant to the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

"My combined involvement with professionals of the Hospitality industry over the years, along with my familiarity with theories relevant to human flourishing has led me to give great importance to the way each and every family home functions behind closed doors. The multi-layered capabilities and vulnerabilities of the human individual make the safe place of unconditional family love essential for personal development and meaningful participation in the social fabric. While this is accepted and generally understood, too often the subsequent need for a fully functional material home with its routines, traditions and details can be overlooked. I believe the Home Renaissance Foundation has a crucial role in highlighting pathways to remedying this."

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After her BSc Institutional Management, Susan undertook her Masters and Doctorate in Educational Sciences majoring in philosophy and theology in the University of Navarre. She has worked for many years in the charity sector, first as Principal of Lakefield College of Hospitality, where she managed the introduction of to work-based training and qualifications. Susan has worked as Director of Studies and of Hospitality Personnel and Training Management for the Dawliffe Hall Educational Foundation (DHEF), a Registered Charity as well as a Company Limited by Guarantee for many years. This included among others being an advisor to Lakefield College of Hospitality London, and advising on the executive committee of the Baytree Centre, Brixton, London, an intergenerational project helping women overcome social exclusion and maximise their personal and family potential. Susan was an Advisor for the Excellence in the Home International Conference, which launched what then became the Home Renaissance Foundation.

"As a partner in a firm of solicitors with a Family Department, I am only too aware of the devastation that family break down can bring. A stable family environment is essential to the future of our society! When I was approached by the Foundation I immediately grasped their vision with both hands – an organisation taking preventative steps rather than remedial – it was so refreshing! I am delighted to have been invited to join the Board of Directors and wish to support Home Renaissance Foundation’s work in any way I can."

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Teresa Payne is a Partner at the south west London firm Parfitt Cresswell. Teresa studied law at the University of Wales Cardiff before completing her legal studies at the College of Law, Guildford. Prior to moving to Parfitt Cresswell, Teresa was a Partner and Head of the Family & Dispute Resolution department at Wellers Solicitors based in their Bromley office. Teresa’s specialism is Family Law and she is a trained collaborative lawyer.

"Do we think that creativity, determination, intellectual development and emotional balance can be developed to the fullest as a homemaker? The answer is potentially yes and much more holistically than in other professions. I think a fair position would be to accept that homemaking, like any other profession, has the potential to fulfill a personal aspiration to improve to the fullest."

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Dr Mª Julia Prats is Professor and head of the department of Entrepreneurship, and holder of the Bertrán Foundation Chair of Entrepreneurship at IESE. Professor Prats´ areas of interest are the entrepreneurial process and building and managing professional service firms. Her second work stream focuses on understanding the development of professional competencies and new business models in professional service firms.  She was nominated Kauffman Emerging Scholar for her dissertation work and has published in international journals and congress proceedings. Mª Julia Prats is Doctor of Business Administration by Harvard University, Master of Business Administration by IESE Business School, and holds a Degree in Industrial Engineering from Polytechnic University of Catalunya. She has taught at Wharton Business School, IPADE (México), INALDE (Colombia) and University of Asia Pacific (Philippines).

As philosopher, I have always appreciated what Gaston Bachelard says in La poétique de l'espace: “La maison est notre coin du monde. C'est notre premier universe” (“Home is our corner of the world, it is our first universe”). In fact, dwelling is taking root in a place where “we have the keys”, a guarantee of security and belonging, a physical space populated by objects that are part of everyday life. "Making home" also means carrying out a series of daily and recurring gestures. These rituals have a strong symbolic value: they are reassuring because through the control of space and time they contribute to creating a feeling of stability and are a concrete sign of caring for others. Feeling at home is also being at ease with people with whom we have bonds of reciprocity and gratuitousness, with those who are familiar to us. To build a more human world, we need to overcome the many crises of home: not only those caused by wars and emigration but also the difficulty of combining the “we” of proximity and welcome. A challenge as timely as ever, a challenge for all.

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Maria Teresa Russo, Ph.D. in “Philosophy and Human Sciences Theory”, is Full Professor of Moral Philosophy and Bioethics at Roma Tre University. She has been Editor in chief of the peer-review journal “MEDIC. Methodology & Education for Clinical Innovation”. She has been visiting professor at the University “Jean Jaurès” of Toulouse, Santiago de Compostela, Pontifical University of Santiago de Chile. Member of the scientific board of Italian and International journals: «Per la Filosofia», «Critical Hermeneutics», «Aurora. Papeles del Seminario María Zambrano». Her main research focused on the Spanish and French contemporary philosophy, ethical issues of healthcare and embodiment, with special reference to the Women’s Studies.