Award of the inaugural Pumarino Prize for Best MPlan/MRes dissertation 2023–24

Overview

On Tuesday 10 June 2025, Dr Michael Short, Programme Leader MPlan City Planning, chaired a special online event to present the inaugural Pumarino Prize, awarded for the best dissertation across the MPlan City Planning and MRes Interdisciplinary Urban Design programmes for the 2023-24 academic year. 

The prize honours the memory of Nicole Pumarino Orbeta, a valued student of the MPlan City Planning programme (2018–2020). Nicole's distinction-level dissertation, ‘Women’s Experiences of Everyday Journeys in Santiago, Chile’, supervised by Dr Filipa Wunderlich, remains a profound contribution to the field. 

The event brought together colleagues across The Bartlett School of Planning – including Alkesh Patel, Professor Susan Moore and Dr Filipa Wunderlich – alongside Nicole's family, friends from Chile and two shortlisted finalists.

After careful deliberation by a panel of senior staff of the School, chaired by Dr Short, the two eligible students for the prize are, by programme: Adiya Karsybek, MPlan City Planning and Sinan Yu, MRes Interdisciplinary Urban Design. 

The £500 prize was awarded by Dr Short on behalf of the Bartlett School of Planning to Adiya Karsybek for her dissertation ‘Women in Planning: A Case Study of Almaty and Astana, Kazakhstan’, supervised by Professor Susan Moore. Adiya's work explores gender bias in the planning profession in Kazakhstan, using Almaty and Astana as case studies. It aimed to understand the extent of gender bias and how female planners are affected by a biased planning culture. 

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Adiya and sincere thanks to Nicole’s family and friends for joining us and making the event so meaningful. We remember Nicole and her contribution to the MPlan programme, to the School and to our field.

Image credit: Dr Michael Short