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ECLAS Awards

version 2010 12 05 - ECLAS Award secretary ir. Jeroen de Vries bnt, Van Hall Larenstein, The Netherlands, Jeroen.deVries@wur.nl

 

1. Context

 

The European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools, ECLAS, is an association of university teachers and researchers in landscape architecture, whose main membership consists of university departments and faculties where landscape architecture teaching and research is the main focus of activity.

 

The purpose of ECLAS is to foster and develop scholarship in landscape architecture throughout Europe by:

 

In pursuit of this goal the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools seeks to build upon Europe's rich landscape heritage and intellectual traditions to:

 

Network and platform

Further and facilitate the exchange of information, experience and ideas within the discipline of landscape architecture at the European level, stimulating discussion and encouraging co-operation between Europe's landscape architecture schools through, amongst other means, the promotion of regular international meetings, in particular an annual conference;

Educational support

Foster and develop the highest standards of landscape architecture education in Europe by, amongst other things, providing advice and acting as a forum for sharing experience on course and curriculum development, and supporting collaborative developments in teaching and learning;

Research and teaching

Promote interaction between academics and researchers within the discipline of landscape architecture, thereby furthering the development of a Europe-wide landscape academic community, through, amongst other things, the development of common research agendas and the establishment of collaborative research projects;

Awareness of scholarship in LA

Represent the interests of scholarship in landscape architecture within Europe's higher education system, encourage interdisciplinary awareness and enhance the overall standing and the public understanding of the discipline;

External dialogue

Stimulate dialogue with European bodies, institutions and organisations with interests in landscape architecture and with other international organisations furthering landscape scholarship.

 

Especially to support the highest standards of landscape architecture education and research and to raise the awareness of scholarship in landscape architecture ECLAS bestows awards for outstanding performance of teachers, researchers and students.

 

2. Categories of awards

 

ECLAS has four types of awards:

2. Procedure

For the nomination, selection and bestowing of the awards the following procedure is followed:

  1. The ECLAS Steering Committee appoints the members of the ECLAS Award Committee.
  2. Every year there will be a call for nominations to the member schools of ECLAS. Nominations for ECLAS Awards may be made by a ECLAS Member Institution and by individual academics members not associated with the nominee's school.
  3. For the ECLAS Lifetime award a maximum of three awards yearly is possible. For the other categories there is a possibility to bestow one award yearly.
  4. Contact persons of schools can nominate candidates for the awards before the first of May. For the category of ECLAS Lifetime achievement it is also possible that a member of the ECLAS Steering Committee enters a nomination in the context of a special event which is related to honouring an outstanding academic.
  5. Each ECLAS member institution may nominate one candidate for each category of award.
  6. A nomination should comprise a curriculum vitae, a biographical or autobiographical sketch that summarises the nominee's career (3 pages maximum) and evidence of achievement. After receiving the nominations the ECLAS Awards Committee will act as a jury for the nominations. Members of the ECLAS Awards Committee will refrain themselves from judging any nominations with which they have a conflict of interest (for example, a juror who teaches in a landscape architecture program will not judge entries submitted by students from that program).
  7. The secretary of this Committee (who is appointed by the ECLAS Steering Committee) will prepare the discussion on and the voting for the candidates. He/she will check whether the nominations meet the technical criteria before passing the nominations on to the jury.
  8. The ECLAS Awards Committee will make the selection of nominees who will receive an award.
  9. The ECLAS Steering committee will make the final decision on the selection by the ECLAS Award Committee.
  10. The award consists of a certificate which will be presented at the yearly ECLAS conference or at a special academic event at the award winner's university or a related organisation.
  11. ECLAS will announce the award winners at the General Assembly that coincides with the yearly ECLAS Conference.

ECLAS obtains the copyright of all text, photos and other material that has been provided for the nomination of the award winner within the context of publicising the award. 

 

3. Criteria

For all awards the following criteria are applicable:
 a.	Every nominee should be a staff member or a student at an institution that is an ECLAS member
 b.	Every ECLAS member institution may nominate each year one person for each category. 
 
For each category the criteria are mentioned below: 
 
ECLAS Lifetime Achievement Award

The intent of this award is to honor a faculty member's lifetime accomplishments in teaching, scholarship/creative activity and service.  The accomplishments must add up to excellent endeavor sustained over an extended period of time that is truly inspiring and significant.

  • Recognition should be for long-term accomplishments in a specific area of work in one or more of the following:  teaching, research, or public service.
  • Nomination material shall consist of a curriculum vitae, a letter (maximum of three pages) containing the rationale supporting the nomination, and additional documentation.  The letter should include a factual synthesis of aspects of the nominee's curriculum vitae that highlight long-term accomplishments in a specific area of work for which nomination is sought, and an assessment of the significance of the nominee's accomplishments.
  • Additional documentation should illustrate excellence only in those areas of accomplishment noted explicitly in the letter of rationale.
  • Nominees are senior members of the academic staff and must have been a staff member at an ECLAS-member school (or schools) for a minimum of fifteen years.
  • Nominees should have excellence in at least two of the categories listed below.
    • Teaching: Teaching that has been recognized as outstanding by students, graduates and peers.  Nominees should be mentors who actively guide students' professional and intellectual development through teaching, counseling, guiding and being role models.
    • Scholarship/Creative Activity:  New knowledge that advances the profession of landscape architecture. Scholarship and/or creative activity should be communicated through published articles, papers, books, or awards.
    • Service: Service that benefits the public realm at local, regional, national or international level and that brings visibility to the profession. Those who have provided past or current service to ECLAS will be given preference.

 
ECLAS Outstanding Educator Award

The intent of this award is to honor a national or international educator for her or his new pedagogical approaches, technologies and learning techniques in ways which enhance the theories, knowledge and skills necessary for good landscape architecture practice.

Criteria are:

  • Creativity or high quality of the pedagogy.
  • Innovation in didactic approaches tailored to the discipline of landscape architecture.
  • Contribution of the teaching to the motivation and inspiration of students.
  • Integration of multidisciplinary approaches in teaching.
  • Nominees are members of the academic staff and must have been a staff member at an ECLAS-member school (or schools) for a minimum of two years.
 
ECLAS Outstanding Researcher Award

The intent of this award is to honor a national or international researcher in the field of landscape architecture, who has coordinated a research group for at least three years and completed at least three research projects that are innovating and inspiring. It refers to research that identifies and investigates challenges posed in landscape architecture, providing results that advance the body of knowledge of the discipline.

Criteria are:

  • Inspiring leadership in landscape architecture research.
  • Creativity or high quality of research methods and content that contributes to the development of the body of knowledge of the discipline.
  • Contribution to the innovation of landscape architecture research methodology
  • Contribution to the awareness of the public at large of the discipline of landscape architecture
  • Providing an example for future landscape architecture researchers in Europe.
  • Nominees are members of the academic staff and must have been a staff member at an ECLAS-member school (or schools) or research institute for a minimum of two years.

 
ECLAS Outstanding Student Awards

The intent of this award is to honor students in the field of landscape architecture, who has shown excellence in one or more of the following fields: a. completing a design, planning or management project; b. performing services for an international organisation or event that contributes to the discipline of landscape architecture in Europe or c. organizing an event or project that enhances the awareness of the public at large for the discipline of landscape architecture. There are three categories: 1st cycle student, 2nd cycle student and 3rd cycle student.

Criteria are:

  • Creativity or high quality of student project
  • Contribution to an international organisation, event or project that promotes teaching, learning or research in the field of landscape architecture
  • Contribution to the awareness of the public at large of the discipline of landscape architecture
  • Providing an example for future landscape architecture students in Europe.
  • Nominees are students of an ECLAS-member school (or schools) or research institute for a minimum of two years. There are three categories: 1st cycle (bachelor), 2nd cycle (master) students and 3rd cycle students (PhD or doctorate).

Appendix 1. ECLAS Lifetime Achievement Awards presented in Ljubljana

 

Professors Ogrin and Marusiè honoured on the occasion of their 80th and 70th birthday celebrations


The newly created ECLAS Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contribution to European Landscape Architecture Education was presented three times on 20th November 2009.

In Ljubljana, the award was presented to Professors Janez Marusiè and Du¹an Ogrin, by the ECLAS president Diedrich Bruns, during the scientific conference "Dilemmas In Contemporary Landscape Architecture". This conference was organised, on the occasion of Professors Marusiè's and Ogrin's 70th and 80th birthdays, by the Department of Landscape Architecture of the Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, to demonstrate their great appreciation for two distinguished colleagues, the founding fathers of landscape architecture in Slovenia. The conference provided an excellent opportunity to critically reflect on current developments in landscape architecture.


In Budapest, a ceremonial scientific session was held, in Professor Mõcsényi's honour, to celebrate his 90th birthday. The event was organised, by the Faculty of Landscape Architecture and the Scientific Committee of Landscape Architecture, at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The ECLAS Award was presented to Professor Mõcsényi by Richard Stiles after his lecture on achievements made with the LE:NOTRE project. Diane Menzies, president of IFLA, who also gave a scientific lecture, saluted the former IFLA president Mõcsényi with a decoration.

 

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