Collaborative Bartlett Project Wins 2021 RIBA President’s Award for Research

The annual awards recognise the best research work in the fields of architecture and the built environment. As well as the President’s Medal given to an overall winner, awards were given in three categories - Cities and Community, History and Theory, and an annual theme, this year Education.

The Bartlett team’s winning project is a collaboration between Dr David Roberts, Prof Jane Rendell & Dr Yael Padan from The Bartlett School of Architecture, and Ariana Markowitz & Dr Emmanuel Osuteye from The Bartlett Development Planning Unit.

'Will I Cause Harm? Practising Ethics Guides'

By Yael Padan, Emmanuel Osuteye, Ariana Markowitz and David Roberts, edited by Jane Rendell
Winner of the Education prize at the 2021 RIBA President's Awards for Research

‘Practising Ethics Guides’ are a pioneering open-access educational tool for emerging and established built environment practitioners to teach themselves and others how to identify ethical dilemmas that may arise in research and practice, negotiate their ethical responsibilities, and rehearse strategies to navigate unpredictable environments with care and creativity. 

The project is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between two long term projects – The Bartlett Ethics Commission and KNOW (Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality) – both of which funded this work exploring ethical protocols for built environment practitioners and strengthening pathways to urban equality, with particular attention to the western-centric bias of ethical values which privilege the individual over the communal or collective. 

‘Practising Ethics Guides’ offer insights from experienced built environment researchers. They are designed as an accessible point of reference at all stages of a project – from planning and conducting activities in the field to communicating and staging work. Rather than a regulatory hurdle, they consider ethics as an opportunity to enrich architectural practice through reflexive curiosity and critical investigation. 

More information

• Explore the 'Practising Ethics Guides' project
• Read more about the 2021 RIBA President’s Awards for Research
• Find out more about the The Bartlett Ethics Commission
• Visit KNOW (Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality)’s website
• See Dr David Roberts’ profile
• See Prof Jane Rendell’s profile
• See Dr Yael Padan’s profile

Image: 'Has the building industry fully accepted the role of the female architect?’
Judit Ferencz 
‘A One Day Happening’ BREAK//LINE residency in collaboration with Jo McLean,
The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL