About
About
Learning from Liveable Cities: The Joyce Drohan Travel Award
Joyce Mariann Drohan (1954-2022) was an award-winning Vancouver architect and urban designer of public sector projects and sustainable communities, and a part-time critic and faculty member in the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (UBC SALA). She believed that good urban design was crucial to creating liveable, Sustainable, and resilient cities that expressed the historic, cultural, and social dimensions of their communities. She also believed that knowledge and experience of international examples and best practices enabled designers to accomplish these goals in Canadian cities.
Joyce’s approach to urban design was humanist, timeless and honest. It was humanist because her design choices placed people, lived experience and human comfort above economic, fashionable, or political preferences. It was timeless because she wanted designs that endured even though they responded to the existing context, setting, and climate, and used contemporary methods of making and building. And it was honest in that she ensured that social, cultural, and historical influences were considered and appropriately reflected, while inviting future interpretations and interventions from an evolving community.
To learn more about Joyce Drohan, her work, her principles, and values, click here.
Award Description
Learning from Liveable Cities: The Joyce Drohan Travel Award is a $10,000 award for a student enrolled in a UBC SALA graduate program, and is made available annually through a gift from family and friends in memory of Joyce Drohan. Eligible students must have completed a year, or be in a graduating year, of an eligible UBC SALA program and must be planning to undertake travel-based research related to design for liveable, sustainable, and resilient cities.
Research applicable to Canadian cities is preferred. Students whose research includes collaboration with international students, municipalities, institutions, or non-governmental organizations are especially encouraged to apply.
Applications opens in fall
Prize amount -- $10,000 CDN
Eligibility – Who can apply?
Activities – What can I apply for?
You can apply for travel that will support your research thesis or project. Your proposal may consist of multiple trips and destinations over a maximum of a one-year period from the grant of the award. Proposed activities can include:
- Visits to cities that have found ways to successfully promote liveability, environmental sustainability, community engagement, or resilience.
- Meetings with architects and urban designers in those cities.
- Meetings with students or institutions you are collaborating with in those cities.
You cannot apply for activities that occur before the award is granted, nor for participation at conferences, colloquia, and workshops, or for wages or stipends. The award is for research- related travel only.
Assessment – How are decisions made?
Assessment criteria:
Required information and support material – What you need to submit
Please see the application form for specific details: [Qualtrics form / on line submittal]
- Your curriculum vitae and contact details.
- A proposal (maximum 500 words) describing the rationale, scope, products, and intended outcomes of the proposed research and travel
- Proposed travel schedule
- Proposed travel budget
- Name of a SALA faculty reference who can attest to your capacity to undertake the research and could act as an advisor
- Confirmation of support or participation if you are proposing external collaboration
- Acknowledgement that you will return and present the following year at an event at the school in March. Your presentation will coincide with the announcement of the next award winner
Application preparation
- You are responsible for providing all the information and support material requested
- Submit only the material requested
Personal information
We will only use the personal information in your application for the purposes related directly to the award
Prize terms and conditions
- The prize will not be awarded posthumously.
- This award is taxable and a T4A slip will be issued, at the appropriate time, for grants and awards paid to individuals. If you have tax-related questions, please contact the Canada Revenue Agency or your provincial or territorial revenue department.
- The winner agrees to have their photograph and public information used for promotion of the award.
- The winner will acknowledge the support of Learning from Liveable Cities: The Joyce Drohan Travel Award in any promotional material or presentations based on the travel funded by the award.
- You will make a presentation on the results of your research travel at the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture the year following receipt of the award. In this way, you will spread your knowledge to the broader community. The exact format and timing of your presentation will be decided in consultation with the director of the school. The use of digital media, such as a website, video, or podcast, is encouraged.
Instructions – How to submit an application
Submit your completed application form, required documents and any support material on or before the deadline date by 11:59 (Vancouver time).
Contact information
(604) 822-6404
info@sala.ubc.ca
