RIBA President's Awards for Research 2009 – Call for Entries

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is calling for entries for this year’s RIBA President’s Awards for Research. The deadline for submissions is 15 June 2009.

This is the fourth year of the awards, which are presented annually to reward and encourage outstanding research in architecture.

Entries are invited in the following three categories:

• PhD Thesis: for the best PhD Thesis from any school of architecture in which the department has a course validated by the RIBA
• University-located Research: for the best completed research project   carried out in any school of architecture in which the department has a course validated by the RIBA
• Professional Practice-located Research: for the best completed research project initiated by an RIBA member or RIBA Chartered Practice

Entries will be judged on their contribution to architecture, which is assessed using the criteria of originality, significance, rigor and communication and the winning entries must be regarded as making an exceptional contribution to architectural knowledge. The judges may also award commendations to one or more other shortlisted submissions in each category. The judging panel, composed of practitioners and academics, is appointed by the RIBA Research and Development Committee and approved by the President of the RIBA.

Sunand Prasad, President of the RIBA, said: “Knowledge is any profession’s most precious asset. Research is what underpins knowledge, keeps it sharp and helps our anticipation of the future. Through these awards the RIBA recognises both excellence in research and the capacity of research to unite the study and practice of architecture; to strengthen links between students and the profession.”

This year’s awards follow the success of the RIBA President’s Awards for Research 2008. The winner for the Outstanding PhD Thesis was Marcos Cruz of the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, for his thesis entitled The Inhabitable Flesh of Architecture. Murray Fraser from the University of Westminster with Joe Kerr from the Royal College of Art won the RIBA President’s Award for Research for Outstanding University-located Research with their work, Architecture and the ‘Special Relationship’: The American Influence on Post-War British Architecture. The Award for Outstanding Professional Practice-located Research was won by the ZEDfactory, for their work The ZEDbook.

See the award details here.