°ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ

IMPORTANT Website terms of use and cookie statement

​°ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Fund

The °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Fund awards annual grants to individuals conducting independent architectural research at any stage of their careers in practice or academia. The aim is to support critical investigation into a wide range of subject matters relevant to the advancement of architecture, and connected arts and sciences, in the United Kingdom.

Eligibility

We welcome applications to support all research topics as long as the subject matter and final outputs are relevant to the advancement of architecture and associated disciplines and professions. Applications are welcome from individuals or teams from architectural practices and academia at any stage of their research careers.

Grants are made to individuals and not to commercial businesses or to higher education institutions. The fund does not support course fees, expenses, and subsistence costs for those enrolled in PhD/MPhil or Masters programmes.

Applicants should be primarily based in the UK.

The maximum amount that applicants can apply for is £12,000.

Assessment and selection

Applications are assessed by the °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Development Group, a working group that comprises members of the °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Council, the °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Education Development Group, and other individuals co-opted for their expertise.

The following criteria will be used to select the grant recipient(s):

  • clear demonstration of the originality and importance of the research topic
  • evidence that the proposal is generally feasible and well planned, with consideration of how to mitigate risks and address eventual challenges
  • defined, measurable, and suitable outputs for the research proposal, e.g., a journal article, an exhibition, etc.
  • well-thought through and detailed financial expenditure forecast

Consideration will also be given to how the project aligns with one or more of the four Mandatory Competences detailed in the °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Education and Professional Development Framework: Health and Life Safety, Ethical Practice, Climate Literacy, and Research Literacy.

Applying

The 2024 application cycle is now closed. The next application cycle will open in the spring of 2025. For more information on the criteria and application process, please read the (PDF) for the 2024 application cycle.

2024 recipients

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Fund:

Alys Hargreaves, Millicent Green and Magnus Holbourn: Foula: A Carbon Education Centre (awarded £12,000)

This research examines how carbon education sits in tandem with the development of circular bio-based economies, bog regeneration, and bioregional material waste streams as local, regional, and global communities urgently prepare for a post-carbon future.

Alys Hargreaves, Millicent Green and Magnus Holbourn, 2024 °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Fund winners

Wing Nga Tam and Zhuo Chen: Right to Repair: Reforming Towards Collective Maintenance and Care in Social Housing (awarded £9,500)

Challenging the Boundary Estate’s decay as a typical outcome of viewing buildings as one-off transactions, this research explores how integrating building-as-process principles into mainstream building industry can enhance UK housing stock and local economies. It investigates how current provider-customer housing repair and retrofitting approaches can be reformed by involving community in new roles and practices.

Wing Nga Tam and Zhuo Chen, 2024 °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Fund winners

Adeyemi Akande - (De)Centering Architecture in the Debate on Repatriation of Artefacts to West Africa (awarded £5,914)

Focusing on the Benin ‘bronzes’ as model, this study will examine the role of architecture in the framework of repatriation. It will attempt the key question – is architecture a centrality, or a distraction to the process of repatriation, and how will repatriation be affected if architecture is decentered? The work queries not just the people’s understanding of the museum, but the museum’s understanding of the people and the rapidly evolving cultural matrix of Nigeria.

Adeyemi Akande, 2024 °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Fund winner

Dylan Radcliffe Brown - Deconstruction as Design: Sustainable and Creative Demolition Strategies in a Circular Economy (awarded £10,000)

This research will investigate current demolition practice and future deconstruction practices from the perspective of the UK architect, deepening knowledge in a ‘keystone’ topic which underpins circular design. The research will specifically address the question of whether deconstruction can be a creative act.

Dylan Radcliffe Brown, 2024 °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Fund winner

Jessica Kelly and Claire Jamieson Public Service and Private Practice: Histories of the Changing Architectural Profession (awarded £7,384)

This research project will create a series of podcasts for the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB) exploring the paradigm shifts between the agency of the state and the private sector in shaping the built environment, and the impact on how architects practise for the public good.

Christopher Laing - Breaking the Silence: The Deaf Experience in Architecture (awarded £10,000)

This research proposal seeks to address the underrepresentation and challenges faced by the Deaf community in the field of architecture in the UK. Through interviews with Deaf individuals currently in the architecture profession and members of the broader Deaf community, this study aims to uncover the barriers they face in work placements, academic settings, and public consultations.

Naina Gupta - The Empire Pool and the Municipal Pool: The British Empire Games, Otto Koenigsberger and the Staging of an Independent India (awarded £5,000)

This research will study the early days of British Empire Games (1930-1945) with a focus on two swimming pools—the Empire Pool in London and the municipal pool in Bangalore, with the aim of discussing colonial relations as one of dialogue, exchange and the constitution of a progressive ‘international sensibility’.

Charles Palmer - °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Activist Stage (awarded £10,000)

This study questions whether a ‘°ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Activist’ Work Stage or Plan of Work Overlay is required to better support community asset owners in the initial stages of projects. The research will be conducted through interviews with community asset owners and architects that have experience getting community led projects going.

Applications were assessed by the °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Development Group.


Claire Jamieson and Jessica Kelly, 2024 °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Fund winners
Christopher Laing, 2024 °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Fund winner
Naina Gupta, 2024 °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Fund winner
Charles Palmer, 2024 °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ Research Fund winner

Previous recipients and their research

2022

Aude Azzi and Frederik Weissenborn: Spatial Practice in a Post Disaster City: Learning from Beirut (awarded £6,000).

(PDF).

Kate Jordan and Julie Marsh: Moving Pictures: Reusing Cinemas as Places of Worship in the Diaspora (awarded £8,000)

Garrett Nelli: Branching Out: Make Use, Not Waste (awarded £5,000)

Elena Palacios Carral: Portraits of a Practice, Making of a Doll’s House by the Architect MJ Long (awarded £4,600)

Dominic Walker: Portraits and Strategies for an Edible City (awarded £6,400)

2021

Satish BK and Allister Gall: My House, My Rules: Examining the Impact of Cultural Behaviour on Air Quality in Super-Insulated British Asian Homes (£7,000)

Christoph Lueder and Íñigo Cornago Bonal: How to Build with Time? Learning from Bimanagar (£5,000)

Nina Vollenbröker: Deafening Architectural Modernism – Re-Centring the Work of Adolf Loos (£4,000).

(PDF).

Jane Wong and Tom Greenall: Towards Spatial Justice: A Guide for Achieving Meaningful Participation in Co-Design Processes (£7,000).

(PDF).

Mike Tuck, Ellen Peirson, George Regnart and Romey Edwards: Don’t Throw Your House Away: A User Manual for Reducing Embodied Carbon in Domestic Extensions (£7,000)

2020

Julia Crawford: Mien Ruys: 'The Mother of Modernism' (£5,000).

Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows: Exposing the Barriers in Architecture from a FAME (Female Architects of Minority Ethnic) Perspective (£7,000).

(PDF).

Michael McMahon: Reuse in Architecture: Making Out of Waste and Ruin (£4,000)

Francesca Piazzoni and Frances Darlington-Pollock: Designing Care: Countering the Urban Exclusion of Older Women (£7,000)

Jack Richards and Jo Sharples: BUILD UP - Empowering Domestic Clients to Commission Zero Carbon Architecture (£7,000).

(PDF)

2019

Miranda MacLaren, Polina Pencheva, Heather Macey: Emergency Homes for Young People.

.

Read the three booklets submitted to the °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ at the end of the project: Manifesto (PDF), Leading by Example (PDF), Recommendations (PDF).

Sarah Ackland: 29% Equal - How Does Meaningful Change for Women in Architecture Occur?

(first episode released on 14 February 2023).

(PDF).

Peter Russell: White Saviours or Cultural Collaborators? The Impact of Design Build Studios in the Global South.

Alice Brown: Estate Regeneration in the Age of Climate and Ecological Emergency

2018

David McClean and Peter Holgate: Mental Health in UK Architecture Education - An Analysis of Contemporary Student Well-Being.

Read the report submitted to the °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ by David McClean and Peter Holgate at the end of the 2018 project (PDF).

Mike Althorpe and Abigail Batchelor: Revolutionary Low Rise: Informing London’s Good Growth Strategy.

Read the report submitted to the °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ by Mike Althorpe and Abigail Batchelor at the end of the 2018 project (PDF).

Sarah Featherstone and Petra Marko: Modern Day Picturesque.

Read the report submitted to the °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ by Sarah Featherstone and Petra Marko at the end of the 2018 project (PDF).

2017

Peter Barber: 100 Mile City.

(external website.)

Dinah Bornat: Neighbourhood Design: Working With Children Towards a Child Friendly City.

Read the report submitted to the °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ by Dinah Bornat at the end of the 2017 project (PDF).

Martina Murphy: Re-Building Lives? - The Human Impact of Social Clauses in Construction Projects

Nicole Porter: Mindful Architects - Increasing Health and Well-Being in the Student Architectural Community.

Read the report submitted to the °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ by Nicole Porter at the end of the 2017 project (PDF).

2016

Bill Halsall and Robert MacDonald: Design for Dementia: The International Architectural Challenges and Responses

Philip Graham: Appropriate Housing: A Land Partnering Model to Deliver Good Homes as Places to Stay and Play

Roland Karthaus: Building Rehabilitative Spaces

Torsten Schmiedeknecht: The Representation of Modern Architecture through Illustrations in Post-War British Children’s Literature

2015

Mhairi McVicar and Neil Turnbull: Practicing Engagement: The Value of the Architect in a Community Asset Transfer

Jorge Rodríguez Alvarez: A Case Study Handbook on Sustainable Housing Design. Feedback from London Residential Schemes

Urmi Sengupta: Language of Disaster: Exploring the Altered Architectural Fabric of Durbar Square, Kathmandu

2014

Je Ahn: Independence and Privacy in Co-Housing

Christian Frost: From Medieval House to Palazzo: Dwelling, Festival and Ritual in Late Medieval Florence

Iain Jackson and Peter Richmond: The Architecture of Herbert Rowse: Monumental Modernism of Interwar Britain

Guan Lee and Eleanor Morgan: Clay Robotics: Sustainable Practice in a Digital World

2013

Rutter Carroll: Something Concrete and Modern: Post-war architecture in the North-East of England

Alan Lewis: The Mathematization of Daylighting: A History of British Architects’ Use of the Daylight Factor

Anna Liu and Mike Tonkin: Shell Lace Structure

Asterios Agkathidis and Rosa Urbano Gutierrez: The Aesthetics of Energy Efficient Retrofit: Post-war Social Residential Towers in Britain

2012

Alison Killing and Kate Crawford: (Re)Constructing the City: Integrating Urban Design into Humanitarian Response

Lesley McIntrye: Selwyn Goldsmith (1932-2011) and the Architectural Model of Disability: A Retrospective of the Man and the Model

Stephen Walker: Understanding the Architecture of the Travelling Street Fair

Steve Wolstenholme: The Design of Health Buildings in a Time of Austerity

Walter Menteth: Pathways Towards Achieving Construction Procurement Reform and Intelligent Commissioning

Suzi Winstanley: ThinkSpace: Designing for Changing Reader Needs in the Contemporary University Library

2011

Dr Mahnaz Shah: Le Corbusier's Potato Building Typology 1963 - 1965: An Analysis

Oliver Domeisen: The Four Elements of Ornament: Foundations for a Contemporary Ornamental Practice

Lea-Catherine Szacka: Display and Debate: An Oral History of the 1976 Europa/America Show at the Venice Biennale

Dr Yat Ming Loo: Architecture and Immigration in London: The Lost History of Limehouse Chinatown (1900-1970)

Steve Parnell: AD and Post-Modern Architecture: A Critical History

Annekatrin Hultzsch: 'Date your District', 1942 Modern 'Visual Re-education' and the Perception of Victorian Architecture in the Architectural Review

James Dunnett: The Life and Work of Ernö Goldfinger, RA, °ÄÃÅÍõÖÐÍõ (1902-1987)

2010

Matthew French: Bio-Climatic Design of Informal Self-Built Dwellings: A Study in Kibera, Nairobi

Nicholas Jewell: Bringing it Back Home: The Urbanization of the British Shopping Mall as the West Goes East

Stephen McCusker: The Documentation and Mapping of the Central Premises of the Co-Operative Movement in the North-West of England (18442012)

Karen McPhillips: Ecclesiastical Building Disuse and Identity: The Case of Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church

Marisela Mendoza: Felix Candela's Legacy: An investigation of Felix Candela's Work and its Legacy to the Socio-Cultural Heritage and Public Identity of the Contemporary Society in Mexico and the UK

2009

Matthew Barac: Slow Topography: Informal Urban Order in an Age of Global Change

Joseph Bedford: Real Building or Media Object? Stirling and Gowan's Leicester Engineering Building

Emily Greeves: Neylan & Ungless

Tanis Hinchcliffe: An Architectural History of Gentrification in London, 1965-1975.

Get in touch

If you want to discuss a research proposal or find out more about previous recipients and their work, please contact research.funding@riba.org. This email address is monitored Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

 

 
keyboard_arrow_up To top