Education & Lifelong Learning Awards - previous winners

There are three categories in the Education and Lifelong Learning Awards:

• Award for Excellence in Planning Education
• Award for Outstanding Student Achievement in Planning Education
• Employer/Practitioner Award for Commitment to Lifelong Learning and Professional Development

2009 Winners

Award for Excellence in Planning Education

This award was won by Cardiff University School of City and Regional Planning. At the core of Cardiff University's entry is the Sustainability in Practice module of its RTPI-accredited masters in sustainability, planning and environmental policy. The module focuses on active reflection by students about their environmental behaviour and the scope for change in their own lives.

Award for Outstanding Student Achievement in Planning Education

Kathryn Gilchrist from Heriot-Watt University won this award for two pieces of coursework. The energy, resources and environment assignment required her to investigate whether the planning regime has a role in securing pollution abatement. In her transport and environment assignment, she draws out the complex factors influencing the sustainability of her public transport priority schemes. Her lecturer at Heriot-Watt said "These two examples provide evidence of the high quality and wide range of Kathryn's work. She has performed strongly throughout the year, both in individual assignments and group work. We are delighted that she has decided to continue her studies"

Employer/Practitioner Award for Commitment to Lifelong Learning and Professional Development

There were two winners in this category:

The Planning Inspectoratewere congratulated once again for demonstrating that it has a lifelong learning and professional development system of exception standard. Mid Sussex District Councildemonstrated an exceptional level of commitment to education and training, particularly in its efforts to develop home-grown professionals.

2008 Winners

Excellence in Planning Education

The judges agreed that theDepartment of Urban Studies, University of Glasgowshould receive this Award. This recognises its success in setting up high quality courses that have gained accreditation from both the RTPI and RICS. The Department has worked hard with professionals to design courses for full-time, part-time and modular students that will equip them well for careers in planning, real estate and regeneration. It has created a business model that could help to develop good practice elsewhere.

Commitment to Lifelong Learning and Professional Development

The good quality entrants in this category reflected the way in which organisations are using a variety of programmes to help improve performance, prepare staff for change or increase staff retention rates. The Award went to the Planning Inspectoratefor their highly structured approach to meeting personal and corporate training needs that includes innovative techniques such as champions being trained to pass on their learning to others.

The Environment Agency was commended for its all round approach to staff development.

Outstanding Achievement in Planning Education

This category attracted a wide range of entries demonstrating quality and breadth of ability amongst planning students. The Award went to George Weeksfor his Designing Places entry in which he skillfully analysed an area of the University of Glasgow that he had identified as a dysfunctional urban space. He cleverly intertwined theoretical ideas with detailed site appraisal to identify the key issues and recommend practical improvements.

Karen Montgomerie from Cardiff University was commended for her critical analysis of spatial planning in practice.