Category: Research Awards

Director Loretta Lees Wins International Planning History Society (IPHS) Book Prize

Initiative on Cities Director Loretta Lees and co-author Elanor Warwick received the biennial International Planning History Society’s (IPHS) First Book Prize for their book Defensible Space on the Move: Mobilisation in English Housing Policy and Practice. The First Book Prize recognizes innovative planning history books based on original research. Defensible Space weaves oral history, in-depth […]

Introducing Our 2024 Early Stage Urban Research Award Recipients

The Boston University Initiative on Cities (IOC) is pleased to announce the 2024 recipients of our 10th request for proposals for the Early Stage Urban Research Awards. These seed grants support early-stage academic research endeavors focused on urban challenges and urban populations, both domestic and global. This year’s seed grant cycle is the second to […]

IOC Seed Funding to Study Classroom Air Quality Featured on BU SPH

Patricia Fabian, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Associate Director at the Institute for Global Sustainability, was recently featured in a BU SPH article highlighting her work on air quality in Boston Public School (BPS) classrooms. During her 2022-2023 sabbatical, Professor Fabian created a research partnership with the Boston Public Schools. […]

2023 Early Stage Urban Research Awards

The Boston University Initiative on Cities (IOC) is pleased to announce the 2023 recipients of our ninth annual request for proposals for early stage urban research. These seed grants support early stage academic research endeavors focused on urban challenges and urban populations, both domestic and global. This year’s seed grant cycle is the first to […]

New Partnership with Community Solutions to Research Homelessness Policy

Community Solutions — a leading nonprofit committed to creating a lasting end to homelessness — and researchers from Boston University and Cornell University will study the landscape of homelessness public policy and its consequences Numerous government agencies at all levels make public policies that are influential to the well-being of people experiencing homelessness in the […]

2022 Early Stage Urban Research Awards

The Boston University Initiative on Cities (IOC) is pleased to announce the 2022 recipients of our eighth annual request for proposals for early stage urban research. These seed grants support early stage academic research endeavors focused on urban challenges and urban populations, both domestic and global. We received 30 applications from 16 schools and departments […]

URBAN Trainee Ian Smith Studies Urban Tree Water Sources

Watch Video: URBAN Trainee Ian Smith Studies Urban Tree Water Sources Ian Smith is a PhD student in the Department of Earth and Environment in the BU Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the BU URBAN Program. He received a 2021 Early Stage Urban Research Award from the Initiative on Cities (IOC) for his […]

URBAN Trainee Kathryn Atherton Researches Urban Soil Microbiomes

Watch Video: URBAN Trainee Kathryn Atherton Researches Urban Soil Microbiomes Kathryn Atherton is a PhD Student studying Bioinformatics in the BU URBAN Program. She received a 2021 Early Stage Urban Research Award from the Initiative on Cities (IOC) for her project, “The Impact of Racism on Urban Belowground Biodiversity.” Read the Q&A with Atherton and […]