Banister Fletcher Global Fellowship
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Banister Fletcher Global Fellowship in Urban Studies was established by the University of London’s Institute in Paris in 2020 to foster work in urban studies and innovation between London and Paris. This exciting international opportunity reflects the University’s commitment to connecting two of the most economically and ethnically diverse cities in Europe, championing the development of comparative research and new methodologies in urban policy innovation and analysis.
Over more than a hundred years, twenty different editions of Banister Fletcher’s A History of Architecture were published, each one bringing into play a different range of authors, from Professor Banister Fletcher and his son Banister Flight Fletcher, their wives Lady Fletcher and Alice Maud Mary Fletcher, to an ever-boarder community of contributors. In 2019 Murray Fraser published a completely new collection, Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture, involving 88 scholars from around the world. This work marked a major departure from the colonial hierarchies that shaped the prior editions.
The Banister Fletcher Global Fellowship in Urban Studies builds on this transformation of the field of architectural history by expanding attention to minor infrastructures and to the way that two major imperial capitals are adjusting to the changing patterns in labour, mobility and urban policy priorities.
It invites scholars to develop new perspectives on how we conceive, define, preserve or restrict the built environment. Prioritising interdisciplinary work, it aims to address these questions by fostering experientially embedded expertise that reflects and informs the ways in which urban environments are responding to deepening inequalities and environmental crisis, with particular attention to the way community-led knowledge and practice is addressing sustainability and transmission.
Over the first five years of its work, the Banister Fletcher Global Fellowship has developed a body of groundbreaking research that will constitute a reference point in the future of urban studies. Through plenary sessions with policy makers, practitioners and scholars, through workshops and research training sessions, through exploratory walks, sound-based events, street theatre and community radio engagement, Fellows and the participants in their programmes have experimented with different methods for identifying, assessing and enhancing forms of urbanity often overlooked or underestimated in policy analysis.
The Banister Fletcher Global Fellowship in Urban Studies is piloted by the University of London Institute in Paris, drawing on the support of the London Research and Policy Partnership (LRaPP) and the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) as well as the University’s leading centres of research and learning in urban history, culture, design and theory, including the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL), Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and Goldsmiths, University of London. All relevant programming will be offered as part of the School of Advanced Study’s research training portfolio.
Applications
The Banister Fletcher Global Fellowship invites scholars to place alternative forms and spaces of knowledge production at the heart of proposals that may build on research and creative practice developed in relation to cultures and histories of the built environment across the world, but also more directly within the perimeter of the Paris-London framework. It encourages candidates to consider how their work will both benefit from sustained consideration of this Paris-London framework, while also contributing to the elucidation of it. It also anticipates the importance of historical perspectives and welcomes proposals anchored in the city as archive.
Applications are open. The deadline to apply is 8 July 2025. For more details, see the 'How to apply' section below.
The Fellowship will be for a period up to 6 months (normally between January and June ), based in Paris or London, or split between the two cities. As a Fellow, you will develop a programme of original research while contributing to the research training environment of the supporting institutions and partners in the University of London Federation. More specifically, our Fellow will design and convene a programme consisting of a combination of lectures, workshops, trainings and/or alternative collaborative activities with funds available for this programming (additional to the Fellow’s remuneration). This programme may take place in a series of discrete events or in one consolidated period of programming. It may also involve some digital dissemination, but the Fellowship places a strong emphasis on experiential and in-person exchange and it is expected that you be able to undertake this programming and delivery in person.
You must have a substantial research track record and hold a PhD (or equivalent) in a relevant field or have demonstrated the impact of their work through creative practice and dissemination. Candidates are invited to consult the University of London Institute in Paris website via the Research tab (or directly here) for further details on this fellowship, which will give a sense of the range of approaches adopted so far.
We particularly welcome applicants from minority groups.
We will accept applications from salaried and non-salaried candidates.
Applicants should submit (amalgamated in one document):
- CV (including names and contact details of two referees);
- Short summary/pitch outlining the key objectives for the Fellowship (300 words max);
- A project document explaining the aims for the period of the Fellowship and tentative organisational objectives for the collaborative work. This may include an outline of programming possibilities for workshops or a sequence of lectures associated with working groups/exploratory sessions, including possible invited participants (speakers or session leaders). Applicants are also invited to underline the possible relation between London and Paris events, with attention to the University’s objectives of ensuring benefit for a broad community of learners and researchers. Indicative titles for workshops/lectures may be given and/or short abstracts may be given. Candidates are encouraged to diversify the means/modes of interaction in the workshops (up to 4 pages; font: times new roman 12).
To apply, see further information and application portal here.
Applications close midnight (BST), Tuesday 8th July 2025.
2025 Banister Fletcher Global Fellowship in Urban Studies.
The University of London Institute in Paris is honoured to announce that renowned feminist scholar Professor Françoise Vergès will take up the 2025 Banister Fletcher Global Fellowship in Urban Studies. Her project aims to spark public conversation on the role of the Western museum in the urban landscapes of two of the world’s imperial capitals: Paris and London. She will explore critical questions surrounding museums today: what should guide current and future forms of collecting—collecting what, for whom, to what end, how, and where? More information about the programme will be available in the new year.
Distant Islands, Spectral Cities
For the fourth edition of the Banister Fletcher Global Fellowship, Olivier Marboeuf 'Distant Islands, Spectral Cities' programme examines the 'boomerang effect' (Aimé Césaire) of 'the invention of the Caribbean' on Western societies. In particular, it looks at all the human, cultural, economic and epistemological consequences of this 'invention' on the infrastructures and sociabilities of the capitals of the major empires that contributed to it: Paris and London.
Distant Islands, Spectral Cities
Olivier Marboeuf's programme examines the 'boomerang effect' (Aimé Césaire) of 'the invention of the Caribbean' on Western societies. It looks at all the human, cultural, economic and epistemological consequences of this 'invention' on the infrastructures and sociabilities of the capitals of the major empires that contributed to it: Paris and London.
Urban Life at the Extensions
Professor Simone’s Fellowship Programme is entitled Urban Life at the Extensions. It engages in collaborative work with the Beyond Inhabitation Lab and a number of frontline associations and networks in the Paris area to build a series of seminars and joint investigations. It explores the notion of ‘extensions’ in ways that themselves exceed the focus on extension of city form to suggest that going beyond can take place anywhere and is manifested not only in new territorial formations but also in ways of living and inhabiting.
Urban Life at the Extensions
Professor AbdouMaliq Simone's programme that will engage collaborative work with the Beyond Inhabitation Lab and a number of frontline associations and networks in the Paris area to build a series of seminars and collaborative investigations.
Commons, Wilds, Infrastructures
For the second iteration of the Banister Fletcher Fellowship, the University of London Institute in Paris in partnership with the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), is delighted to welcome Dr John Bingham-Hall to lead a programme of research that will explore some of the implications of the new focus on ‘green infrastructures’ as they are playing out in the cities of Paris and London. You can check the programme by clicking on the image below.
Commons, Wilds and Infrastructures
Discover Dr John Bingham-Hall's programme that will explore some of the implications of the new focus on ‘green infrastructures’ as they are playing out in the cities of Paris and London.
The Quantification of Urban Space
During her Banister Fletcher Fellowship, Dr Min Kyung Lee curated a series of events that aimed to understand the social, cultural and epistemological consequences of the comprehensive quantification project on the urban forms and inhabitants of metropoles such as London, Paris and beyond. Her lectures focused on the Second Empire Paris and Interwar France, while the two panel conversations she convened brought together perspectives from around the world and a range of disciplines from law to data science to art and architectural history.
The Quantification of Urban Space Programme
Discover Dr Min Kyung Lee’s, first Banister Fletcher fellow, programme on the Quantification of Urban Space.