Alan Penn has been named as an advisor on the UK Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Alan is one of the original pioneers of the “space syntax approach” and was a founding director of Space Syntax Limited in 1989. Today, he chairs the company’s Board of Directors, provides expert input to consulting projects and advises on the research and digital development strategy of the business.

SAGE is responsible for ensuring that coordinated expertise and technical advice from across the scientific spectrum is made available to government decision makers during emergencies. SAGE provides this support to the Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBR) by providing unified scientific advice in non-technical language. Alan has joined SAGE’s Environmental Working Group, which identifies how environmental modelling, sampling and data analysis can play a part in comprehending the transmission of COVID-19, in an aim to understand the routes and factors of transmission.