Foster's boosts ‘travelling scholarship’ cashpot

A global scholarship set up by Norman Foster and designed to fund a single architecture student on an international journey of discovery will get a double-digit increase this year.

The RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship has been raised to £7,000 for 2017, a £1,000 increase on last year’s figure.

The programme invites architecture schools around the world to propose one student for the award, with the selected student supported to travel anywhere to conduct research on the future survival of cities and communities.

Previous winning proposals included research on climate-change mitigation measures; pro-cycling policies; slum communities; and sanitation.

Foster said a prize he received as an architecture student had allowed him to spend a summer travelling through Europe and to study buildings and cities he previously only knew only from the pages of books.

“It was a revelation – liberating and exhilarating in so many ways,” he said. “It is my privilege to fund the RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship, which I hope will have a lasting legacy – offering the chance for discovery and the inspiration for exciting new work – for generations to come.”

RIBA president Jane Duncan said the scholarship was a “unique opportunity” for students to engage with architecture outside of the academic context, and develop their own research interests and methods.

The closing date for applications is April 28. The winner will be picked by a judging panel that includes Foster and Duncan.