Dr Manolo Guerci is an architectural historian and conservationist educated as an architect in around Europe (Laurea/M.Arch, cum laude, Roma Tre; M.Phil Cantab, Ph.D Cantab, PGCHE Kent). He is a Reader in Architecture at the School of Arts and Architecture at the University of Kent, where he leads the Ph.D Programme. His interests and expertise focus particularly, though not exclusively, on the Early-Modern Period. His latest monograph on London's "Golden Mile". Great Houses of Strand. 1550-1650 (PMC/YUP 2021) received the first 2023 HBA (History of British Art) prize for a single-authored pre-1600 book, while his current and recent projects include a new critical edition-cum-catalogue of the ‘Book of Architecture of John Thorpe’ (c.1565-1655), at Sir John Soane’s Museum, alongside a virtual exhibition on A Golden Age of Architecture: Rare Elizabethan and early Jacobean Drawings by Thorpe and the Smythsons, co-curated with Dr Olivia Horsfall Turner, Chief Curator of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He is a Fellow of the of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Higher Education Academy.
Dr Christopher Moore is a Research Fellow of the University of Kent. He is a Director of the Kingmere Group and a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. His principal research focuses on lost heritage and its influence on cultural memory and contemporary conservation practice. He completed his PhD on Henry VIII’s Downs castles at Deal, Walmer and Sandown, bringing together architectural history, archaeology and building conservation to reframe these coastal forts as powerful instruments of sovereignty and identity. Alongside academic work, Christopher leads refurbishment and conservation projects across Kent and the South East, translating research into practical decision-making on fabric, significance and long-term stewardship. Christopher also contributes professional insight through sector panels and advisory roles, championing inclusive engagement, skills development and evidence-led conservation that keeps heritage meaningful for communities today. He works with partners across academia, industry and the third sector.