Applications are welcomed from students around the world who are enrolled in, and have successfully completed, the first year of a professional qualification in architecture in one of the higher education institutions invited to participate. 

A £7,000 grant will be awarded to one winner, which will be decided by a panel of judges including Lord Foster and RIBA President Alan Jones.

Lord Foster said: “As a student, I won a prize that allowed me to spend a summer travelling through Europe and to study first-hand buildings and cities that I knew only from the pages of books. It was a revelation – liberating and exhilarating in so many ways. “Today, it is the privilege of the Norman Foster Foundation to support 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 Alan Jones said: “We are very grateful to the Norman Foster Foundation for their continuous generous support. This year, we are inviting 428 schools of architecture from around the globe, including all RIBA-validated institutions, to nominate their talented students. “The Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship gives aspiring architects the chance to carry out important international research - I would encourage all eligible to apply.” 

First established in 2006, the scholarship, supported by the Norman Foster Foundation, is intended to fund international research on a topic related to the sustainable survival of our towns and cities, in a location of the student’s choice. Past RIBA Norman Foster Scholars have travelled through the Americas, Europe, Africa, South East Asia, the Middle and the Far East, and Russia. Proposals for research might include: learning from the past to inform the future; the future of society; the density of settlements; sustainability; the use of resources; the quality of urban life; and transport.