Griffith University: Long-running success continues for Griffith planning stars
Griffith University Urban and Environmental Planning students and alumni were well represented as this year’s winners at the Minister’s Planning Awards and Planning Institute of Australia Queensland Awards for Planning Excellence.
Griffith students have been dominating these awards for three consecutive years and this year won two of the three awards from among seven Queensland universities.
The ceremony was held on Friday, November 11 in Brisbane.
Minister’s Planning Awards
Fourth year Bachelor of Urban and Environmental Planning/Bachelor of Science student Georgia Quick won the Female Student in Planning Award, following in the footsteps of 2021 winner Ruby Stockham and inaugural 2019 winner Jasmine Divall.
This makes it three for three for Griffith in this category as the awards were cancelled in 2020.
Georgia was awarded a one-month paid internship at the State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning.
Both former winners now work at the Ministry after their successful internship.
Recent alumni of the Bachelor of Urban and Environmental Planning (Honours) Tayla Miller won the Thesis or Research Project Award with her Honours Thesis “Integrating First Nations Values, Perspective and Knowledge into State of Environment Reporting: A Case Study of Queensland State of Environment Reporting”.
Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) Queensland 2022 Awards for Excellence
Tayla Miller also won the PIA Queensland Award for Planning Excellence in Tertiary Student Project category with her Honours thesis.
This was Tayla’s third award after winning the 2022 Planning Institute of Australia and Queensland Young Planners Student Innovation Showcase back in July.
Tayla’s Honours project was part of a new initiative of linking Honours research projects to industry placements and was conducted in collaboration with the Department of Environment and Science, Environmental Policy and Planning and was supervised by Dr Aysin Dedekorkut-Howes.
The judges were impressed with the breadth of engagement undertaken for the project – with collaboration between the researcher, indigenous traditional owner groups and government agencies. The judges were also impressed with the potential for the recommendations to be incorporated across multiple Australian and international jurisdictions, leading to better representation of traditional knowledge in government decision-making.
Bachelor of Urban and Environmental Planning (Honours) alumni Ruby Stockham was a runner up for Wendy Chadwick Young Planner Bursary.
Bachelor of Urban and Environmental Planning (Honours) alumni Tim Beck received a commendation for Young Planner of the Year category for his outstanding contribution to his workplace and the industry in a relatively short time.
The judges praised Tim’s dedication exhibited through his strong work ethic and technical skills along with the contribution he makes leading the Queensland Young Planners Group mentoring program.