The school of architecture and urban planning of Nanjing University announced the appointment on its social media account on March 17.
Penz is an emeritus professor at the university, a former director of The Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, a fellow of Darwin College and director of the Design, Visualisation and Communication Digital Laboratory.
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He was selected for China’s National Leading Talent Programme in 2025, having already collaborated with Nanjing University for many years before joining full-time.
Born in France in 1953, Francois Penz studied architecture at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland in the early 1970s.
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Before arriving, his knowledge of Cambridge was limited to its rowing rivalry with Oxford. He spent the next 45 years at this university.
