9:00 a.m. Welcome

Welcome by Steve Allin director of the International Hemp Building Association and Danny Desjarlais Hemp Construction Project Manager, Lower Sioux.

Steve Allin is a pioneer in hemp construction and the founder and Director of the International Hemp Building Association. He has been building with hemp and promoting its benefits around the world since the 1990s. Steve wrote Building with Hemp (2005), the first book on the subject. He has taught hemp building through hands-on courses in many countries across Europe, the Americas, and Asia—helping introduce this natural building method to new places often where the system had never been used before and has also initiated many businesses and projects around the world.

Danny Desjarlais is the Industrial Hemp Construction Project Manager at the Lower Sioux Indian Community, a small reservation near Morton, Minnesota. As an enrolled member of the tribe, Danny has dedicated his efforts to rebuilding his community with healthier alternative building materials that will benefit future generations. He has successfully promoted the recent expansion of hemp building activities at the Lower Sioux Indian Community reservation and is recognised across the United States as a leading advocate for the use of hemp building materials and social housing.

9:15 – 9:35 a.m.

Anndrea Hermann M.Sc, B.Gs, P.Ag. Director, HPS Food & Ingredients

Anndrea Hermann is recognised and revered as a dedicated hemp ambassador of the highest calibre, with over 23 years of experience advising the global hemp industry. She earned her Bachelor’s in Hemp Ecolonomics (2002) and her Master’s in Plant Science, specialising in Hemp Fibre Agronomy (2008). Anndrea is President Emeritus and the longest-standing board member of the Hemp Industries Association, and Vice President Emeritus of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance.

11:00 – 11:40 a.m.

Keynote speech by Dr. Eshrar Latif, Associate Professor, Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff, Wales. U.K.

Dr Eshrar Latif is an Associate Professor at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, UK. His PhD focused on the hygrothermal performance of hemp-based insulation materials. He has contributed to key research and consultancy projects including the HEMPSEC project on prefabricated hemp-lime panels, the Hemp-Lime Building Monitoring Project, and the Hemp-Wool Bio-Envelope Project. Dr Latif publishes widely on the performance of hemp-lime and other bio-based materials in construction. A Certified Passive House Designer and LEED Green Associate, he is co-author of Thermal Insulation Materials for Building Applications, advancing evidence-based approaches to low-impact, durable building solutions.

12:30 – 1:00 p.m. Panel discussion

12:30 – 1:00 p.m. Panel discussion lead by Liam Donohoe, Technological University Dublin, UK Hempcrete.

9:00 – 9:20 a.m.

Ian Svilokos of PIE architects

Ian Svilokos is a licensed architect, fabricator, and founder at the collaborative PIE – a research-based architecture, design and fabrication studio. While earning his Bachelor of Design in Architecture from the University of Florida, and his Masters in Architecture from Yale University, Ian spent time building single-family homes across the northeast. Upon completion of his Masters, he relocated to Bali, Indonesia to develop and design hyper-regional resorts with Karma Royal Group traveling to multiple properties across the globe.

He has been based in Los Angeles for a decade now, where he has led award-winning, multi-family and institutional projects including Pittsburgh’s MuseumLab with KoningEizenberg Architecture, and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi with Frank O. Gehry Partners.

9:50 – 10:10 a.m.

Steve Allin, Hemp Building Expert.

Steve Allin is a pioneer in hemp construction and the founder and Director of the International Hemp Building Association. He has been building with hemp and promoting its benefits around the world since the 1990s. Steve wrote Building with Hemp (2005), the first book on the subject. He has taught hemp building through hands-on courses in many countries across Europe, the Americas, and Asia—helping introduce this natural building method to new places often where the system had never been used before and has also initiated many businesses and projects around the world.

10:45 – 11:05 a.m.

Presentation by Gabriel Gauthier of Artcan who have been the pioneer of hemp construction in North America since 2003.

Inspired by the urgent need for sustainable building, Gabriel Gauthier discovered hempcrete. This ancient yet revolutionary material transformed his vision for construction. In 1995, he began exploring hemp’s agro-economic potential, spending three years in France and Switzerland to master and modernize ancestral techniques. He founded Artcan with a mission to create authentic living spaces that reconnect modernity with nature. Artcan aims to improve well-being, relationships, and environmental footprint, one home at a time.

11:10 – 11:30 a.m.

April Hatch RM, MSN, Cannabis Care Team.

April is a registered nurse with 20 years of experience, during which she has observed a troubling rise in diseases linked to environmental and food toxins, along with a steady decline in overall quality of life. She holds a Master’s in Public Health Nursing and is currently on the path to becoming a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Rooted in a deep love for people, plants, and the planet, April brings over eight years of experience providing cannabis education to patients, retail staff, and students enrolled in Cannabis Pharmacology at Saint Louis University. With a passion for nature-based medicine and heart-centered advocacy, she works tirelessly to spread science among the healthcare and hemp communities.

11:35 – 11:55 a.m.

Felix Drewes, Nutzhanf-Netzwerk, Germany. – Regional Innovation: Processing Winter Hemp and Post-Coal Transition.

12:00 – 12:20 p.m.

Dr. Arta Yazdanseta, Doctor of Design, LEED, Associate AIA, Assistant Professor of Technology
School of Architecture, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Dr. Arta Yazdanseta is an Assistant Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Architecture. Her research focuses on carbon-smart, bio-aggregate materials such as hemp-lime, with an emphasis on material circularity, low-carbon envelopes, and design for disassembly. She holds a Doctor of Design from Harvard GSD and brings over a decade of academic and professional experience. As co-PI on a DOE HeRS project, she collaborates with industry leaders to prototype scalable building systems. Her recent Brown Fellowship fieldwork across Europe documents aging hemp-lime structures and resident experience to inform construction industry stakeholders. 

9:00 – 9:20 a.m.

Alexandros Tsamis, Ph.D. Associate Professor in Architecture, Associate Director, CASE Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology, Graduate Program Director, Built Ecologies. MS & PhD, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute NY.

9:25 – 9:45 a.m.

Laura Schramm, Masters student from Boku University Vienna, Austria.

Laura Schramm is a Master’s student in Green Building Engineering at BOKU University in Vienna and a Structural Design Technician, specialising in detailed execution planning for vertical extensions of historic residential buildings. She currently works as a design engineer at Obenauf in Vienna, Austria. Previously, she worked as a technical project support for Nafz Holzhaus in Germany.

9:50 – 10:10 a.m.

Guillaume Delannoy – FRD-CODEM, France.

Guillaume Delannoy is Study Manager at FRD-CODEM, a french technical center dedicated to the development of biobased materials. He joined FRD-CODEM in 2019 after his PhD on the ageing of hempcrete. For years FRD-CODEM is invested on hempcrete by the development hemp hurds specifications and characterization tools, or R&D programs (end-of-life scenario, recognition of hygrothermal properties, external insulation or earth-hemp production), but also study for the development of hemp production area and decortication process. Guillaume is also vice-president of Construire en Chanvre, in charge of scientific aspects.

11:00 -11:25

Presentation by Stephen Clarke of HeavenGrown, Mexico.

Stephen Clarke is a sustainable construction advocate with a background in renewable energy systems and he is a co-founder of Heavengrown in Mexico. His work focuses on practical applications of natural fibers like hemp, bamboo, sugarcane and coconut in building materials. He has contributed to several notable projects, including some of the first commercial buildings using these materials in North America. Currently, he’s exploring industrial uses of plant fibers for more sustainable material solutions.

11:30 – 11:50 p.m.

Alex Sparrow, UK Hempcrete.

Alex Sparrow is the founder and CEO of UK Hempcrete. He is recognised globally as one of the leading experts in the use of hempcrete and other bio-based construction products. He co-authored The Hempcrete Book: Designing and Building with Hemp-Lime (2014), which is widely acknowledged as the definitive guide to this remarkable building material.
Alex sits on the board of the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products in the UK, speaks internationally on hempcrete, and chairs the board at YorSpace (York’s Community Land Trust), as well as providing specialist bio-based architectural design, building performance modelling, and consultancy services with a global reach, to promote the use of hempcrete and bio-based construction materials.

Building the Future with Hemp – Innovation, Community, and Sustainability

Join the IHBA Symposium at Jackpot Junction Hotel, a unique event showcasing the future of hemp building materials. The program includes a symposium where global experts share the latest research, industry insights, and innovative projects, alongside an expo hall for companies to present their products and services. Attendees can also experience live demonstrations and site visit to hemp project at the Lower Sioux reservation.

Evening highlights include a Symposium Dinner with a charity auction benefiting the Lower Sioux School. With profits shared between the International Hemp Building Association and the Lower Sioux, this event is not only an opportunity to connect with leaders in the field but also to support sustainable development and the local community.