The 2019 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship is now open for applications. Students from Architecture schools around the world can apply, from which one will be adjudged winner. This is the scholarship’s twelfth running year.

The panel of judges includes Lord Foster and RIBA President Ben Derbyshire. The winner will be awarded a £7,000 grant. The deadline for submissions is Friday, 26 April, 2019. Students interested to apply can visit the RIBA website. 

The list of higher education institutions invited to nominate students is selected by the RIBA. As in previous years, this list will include all institutions that offer qualifications validated by the RIBA or are recognised by the Commonwealth Association of Architects. In addition, a large number of schools listed under other recognition systems (such as the European Directive for Recognition of Professional Qualifications in the EU, or the National Architectural Accreditation Board in the US) are also being invited to take part in the scheme.

 Image courtesy of RIBA.

The Scholarship

The scholarship was established in 2006 by RIBA and Foster+Partners, and has been continuing to fund international research topics on survival of towns and cities.

Past RIBA Norman Foster Scholars have travelled through the Americas, Europe, Africa, South East Asia, the Middle and the Far East, and Russia. Proposals for research might include: learning from the past to inform the future; the future of society; the density of settlements; sustainability; the use of resources; the quality of urban life; and transport.

The 2018 scholar was Steven Hutt of University of Greenwich, UK. He presented his project titled ‘East of Eden’, which investigated how urban wildlife is adapting to the rapid rise of densely populated mega-cities in the far east of Asia.

The study took him to Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, South Korea and Japan, where Steven visited the largest and fastest growing cities in the world.  He then documented how local technologies are cultivating new natural environments for urban wildlife to cohabit with humans. More details of winners of the previous Scholarships can be seen here and on the RIBA website.

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Cover Image courtesy of Foster+Partners.

> via RIBA/Foster+Partners.