Veronika Valk-Siska

Veronika Valk-Siska, PhD, is an architect. She works as Head of Housing Policy and National Contact Point for the New European Bauhaus at the Ministry of Climate of Estonia. In 2020-2022, Veronika chaired an Open Method of Coordination (OMC) group of EU Member States’ experts on High-quality architecture and built environment for everyone. She worked as advisor on Architecture and Design at the Ministry of Culture of Estonia in 2015-2022. She has been an educator and researcher at the TalTech Academy of Architecture and Urban Studies, and at the Smart City Centre of Excellence. Veronika was head of research and led a practice-based Doctoral Program in Architecture and Urban Planning at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2013-2017. Veronika studied architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design (US) and graduated with a Masters degree in architecture and urban planning from the Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonia). She completed her PhD at the RMIT University School of Architecture and Design in Melbourne (Australia). As an architect, she has constructed both public and private buildings, designed interiors and landscapes. Laureate of Young Architect Award 2012, she has won dozens of prizes at various architecture and planning competitions and published a number of critical essays on architecture and urbanism. Believer in „architecture as initiative“, she is one of the key initiators of Kultuurikatel creative hub on Tallinn waterfront. Veronika was the artistic director and co-producer of Tallinn Festival of Light (Valgusfestival) in 2005-2008. She has been an editor of architecture, design and urbanism pages at Estonia’s main cultural weekly Sirp and monthly Müürileht.