Dr Jessica Kelly, Dr Claire Jamieson and Dr Adeyemi Akande among the researchers awarded RIBA Research Funding
Date: 3 October 2024
Three London Met researchers have been awarded RIBA Research Funding: Dr Jessica Kelly and Dr Claire Jamieson for their project titled: “Public Service and Private Practice: histories of the changing architectural profession”, and Dr Adeyemi Akande for his ‘(De)Centering Architecture in the Debate on Repatriation of artefacts to West Africa’ project.
The RIBA Research Fund is an annual scheme that supports independent architectural research. Applications are welcome from individuals or teams from architectural practices and academia at any stage of their research careers for research grants up to the value of £12,000.
Both projects, although different in scope, highlight the outcomes of the research via different social media platforms. Jessica’s and Claire’s project will produce a series of podcasts that will address gaps in existing histories of the architectural profession which will be released in 2026 on the Society of Architectural Historians, Architectural History podcast, aimed at engaging scholars and practitioners who are interested in the historical and contemporary development of the architectural profession.
Jessica’s and Claire’s project will examine overarching questions such as: who and what is an architect, what do architects do and how are these categorisations contingent and entangled with sociopolitical contexts? As Jessica and Claire pointed out - histories of the profession are significant in the context of broader attempts to decolonise and make more accessible studies of architecture. Through archival research and conversations between historians and architects, the podcast will examine how the architectural profession’s relationship with the public sector has, and continues to, change. This is a timely discussion that addresses the profession in an era of multiple crises and pressure to change.
Jessica and Claire said: “The funding is a great opportunity for us to develop our research and share it with audiences beyond academia, particularly developing links between the study of history and the practice of architecture”
Adeyemi’s research attempts the question – is architecture central, or a distraction to repatriation, and how will the process be affected if architecture is decentred? While some European countries already initiated moves to return artefacts, discourse about museums of culture, and the culture of museums in the region continues to grow. Spaces for cultural objects in the region must now reimagine trans-cultural and trans-era functionality. These inquiries become important because it will inform strategies in the areas of museum systems and infrastructure which are critical to optimising the reception of the works.
Adeyemi commented: "I am thrilled because the grant will enable me to investigate the crucial relationships between architecture, cultural heritage, and repatriation. I look forward to contributing to the ongoing debate on not just the people’s understanding of museums, but the museum’s understanding of the people in the rapidly evolving cultural matrix of West Africa.”
All three researchers are associated with the Centre for Urban and Built Ecologies at the School of Art, Architecture and Design.
Image: clock-wise from upper right - Dr Jessica Kelly, Dr Adeyemi Akande and Dr Claire Jamieson.
- Read about all RIBA Research Fund 2024 recipients
- Find out more about the Centre for Urban and Built Ecologies (CUBE)