Omar Degan is an internationally recognised architect, curator, academic, and global expert on architecture in fragile contexts. He is the Founder and Principal of DO Architecture Group, the first internationally recognised architecture practice from Somalia. His firm operates globally, transforming architecture into a tool for resilience, identity, and justice, with projects spanning from humanitarian design to cultural reconstruction. Over more than a decade, Degan has worked across Africa, Europe, South and North America, and Asia, addressing the intersection between design, crisis, and cultural resilience. His practice challenges conventional architectural discourse by centering communities often excluded from it, turning fragility into a framework for innovation, inclusion, and dignity. A 2022 Obama Foundation Leader and 2018 TED Talk speaker, Degan has collaborated with leading international organisations, including UN-Habitat, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Save the Children, the Italian agency for cooperation and the European Union, advancing architectural responses to displacement, conflict, and climate vulnerability. His work has been featured globally in The New York Times, BBC World, Dezeen, ArchDaily, and Wallpaper, among others. As the Founder and Curator of the inaugural Pan-African Architecture Biennale (PAB), the first continental biennale in Africa dedicated to architecture, Degan leads a movement to reclaim Africa as the epicentre of global architectural thought. Under the theme “Shifting the Center: From Fragility to Resilience,” the Biennale redefines architecture as an act of resistance, a space for collective reimagining, open access, and radical inclusion.