The Jonathan Hill Architectural Design PhD Prize Fund

The Jonathan Hill Architectural Design PhD Prize Fund celebrates Professor Jonathan Hill’s enduring legacy to architectural design research and pedagogy, and supports ambitious projects that advance architectural knowledge through design practice, speculation and making. 

The launch marks a significant milestone: 25 years since the graduation of the first doctoral candidate of the Architectural Design PhD course, Professor Jonathan Hill himself. By establishing this prize, the course honours its origins and invests in the future of design-led doctoral research. 

The prize itself has been established with the generous support of a private donor in memory of Professor Jonathan Hill and developed in close collaboration with the Programme Director of the MPhil/PhD in Architectural Design – Dr Stamatis Zografos (interim) & Dr Nina Vollenbroker.

The prize

The prize provides one award of £2,000 annually to support a full-time or part-time PhD student registered on the Architectural Design PhD Programme at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. The award is intended to support a range of design research–related activities relevant to the recipient’s PhD project, such as fieldwork and research trips, production of artefacts, specialist design research training, or other forms of project development. 

The prize will be awarded on the basis of academic merit and is open to students who have successfully upgraded from MPhil to PhD and who have not yet entered Completing Research Status (CRS) at the time of application. The recipient will commit to exhibiting the outcomes of the awarded design research at the PhD Research Projects Exhibition of the following year in a format to be agreed with the PhD Coordinators and Director of Exhibition. 

An additional contribution of £300 will be allocated to cover reasonable expenses incurred in connection with the exhibition of the awarded project.

How to apply

Eligible PhD students wishing to apply must submit an application by the annual deadline and complete the following steps:

1. Discuss the proposed activity with both supervisors and obtain their agreement prior to making an application.
2. Complete the application form, which includes a short supporting statement and signature from the Primary Supervisor.

3. Submit a single PDF document by email to bartlett.phd-pasc@ucl.ac.uk. The submission must consist of:

   - no more than three pages of text and

   - up to two additional pages of supporting material (images and/or supplementary information)

Documents exceeding this length will not be considered.

Application deadline

This year’s application submission deadline is Tuesday, 10 February 2026 at 12pm (UK time). Applications submitted after the stated deadline will not be considered.

Please note that, due to UCL finance procedures, applicants must hold a UK bank account in order to receive the award. 

Selection Procedure

1. Following the submission deadline, an internal assessment panel comprising at least four academic members of staff, including the Architectural Design Programme Director, will meet to shortlist three applications. Supervisors of applicants will not serve on the assessment panel. If an applicant is supervised by the Programme Director, the Director will recuse themselves from the assessment of that application
2. One shortlisted application will be selected by an external reviewer. The external reviewer will normally be the invited international critic of the PhD Research Projects Conference. If this is not possible, an alternative external reviewer will be appointed by the internal assessment panel. A gift-aid contribution already agreed by the Donor will be allocated to cover the honorarium payable to the external reviewer.
3. The successful applicant will be announced at the launch of the PhD Research Projects Exhibition (normally held in late February).
4. If further information or clarification is required to reach a decision, the assessment panel may contact the applicant and their Primary Supervisor
5. The awarded sum of £2,000 will be transferred directly to the successful applicant by The Bartlett School of Architecture Finance Team.
6. The recipient will have discretion over how the award is spent in support of their research activities.  All expenditure must closely follow UCL’s expense policy. The recipient needs to keep a detailed record of all expenses and also keep original receipts for audit or compliance purposes.
7. The recipient will have to claim exhibition expenses (up to £300) within three months of the incurring expenditure.
8. At the completion of the funded activity, the award recipient must submit a short final report, signed off by their Primary Supervisor, outlining the outcomes of the award and its contribution to their PhD research.
9. The Bartlett School of Architecture will be solely responsible for selecting the award recipient in accordance with the terms of this prize fund and in the spirit of honouring Professor Jonathan Hill.
10. UCL reserves the right not to make an award if, in its judgement, no suitable candidate is identified. In such cases, the funds will be rolled over and awarded in the following academic year. The Prize cannot be awarded to students registered on other PhD courses.
11. The award is valid only for the academic year for which the application is made. If the recipient interrupts their studies, the award cannot be deferred or transferred and will instead be awarded to another eligible candidate. 

Ethics and Travel Guidance

1. Applicants are responsible for familiarising themselves with and adhering to UCL’s research ethics policies and procedures. All proposed design research activities must comply with these guidelines.
2. Applicants must consult the Travel on UCL Business guidance before booking or undertaking any overseas travel associated with the award.

Stewardship and Reporting

The Bartlett School of Architecture will update the Donor with the details of the Jonathan Hill Architectural Design PhD Prize Fund recipient. The Donor understands that this information is confidential and should not be shared during the lifetime of the individual award to the recipient

1. On completion of the award, the donor may engage with the recipient to offer further opportunities to display their work, provide a case study or through any reasonable medium to celebrate the award and the legacy of Professor Jonathan Hill.
2. The Bartlett School of Architecture will invite the Donor to engage with and view the outcome of the recipient’s work as a result of the award when they exhibit at the PhD Research Projects Conference and Exhibition at The Bartlett School of Architecture the following year.

For further information about the Jonathan Hill Architectural Design PhD Prize Fund, contact bartlett.phd-pasc@ucl.ac.uk.

Image credit: Jonathan Hill, The Institute of Illegal Architects – Exterior, Model (1996), part of Jonathan Hill’s PhD Creative Users Illegal Architects (2000). The Jonathan Hill Archive ©