EAAE Research Committee

During the EAAE General Assembly in Chania in September 2009, a research committee was set up in response to a presentation by Hilde Heynen about the need to work around the issue of research in architecture. The committee has two objectives.

1. To prepare a full-fledged draft of a ‘research charter’, in order to have it approved by the EAAE General Assembly during the Chania meeting in 2010.
2. To discuss whether a ranked list of journal is a helpful tool in enhancing the research capacities of architectural schools.

The research committee consists of 26 members from 15 different countries (see the list included). These 26 members work in 4 different groups, and communicate with each other through e-mail, blog and skype conference calls. The timing of their activities is as follows:

• December 2009-February 2010: collecting comments on the ‘draft charter’
• March 2010: first revision of the draft charter
• February – March 2010: collecting comments, additions and opinions on the draft list of journals
• April 2010: collecting further comments on the revised draft charter
• May 2010: posting a revised text for the charter on the EAAE website, inviting comments from the wider community
• Summer 2010: processing comments and revising the charter text for presentation and approval at the Chania meeting in September 2010.

The EAAE Research Committee has continued work on the 3rd draft of the Research Charter presented in Chania 2009. Most of the work has been done through on-line meetings and exchanges of documents, although geographical sub-groups were formed to encourage members to meet.
All members were invited to two general meetings, the first held on 8th June in Leuven and the second in Paris on the 26th June.
At these two meetings significant progress was made and the 4th and 5th drafts of the Charter were proposed. It was decided that the EAAE Research Charter should consist of a short declaration (or statement) accompanied by a framework document, the latter intended to expand or explain the principles laid out in the declaration.
The 3rd, 4th and 5th drafts of the declaration are presented on the website www.eaae.be for information. The Framework structure only is presented and the full first draft is currently being reviewed by the Research Committee. We’ll add this to the on-line information shortly.

- 3rd draft
- 4th draft
- 5th draft

A final draft of the Declaration will be proposed for approval at Chania 2010, as will the Framework document. We propose that the Charter be reviewed at regular intervals and that the current charter be known by its “date of birth” eg EAAE Research Charter 2010
Comments on the 5th draft of the Charter declaration and/or Framework should be sent in advance of our meeting in Chania to hilde.heynen@asro.kuleuven.be or eaaesophiameeres@eaae.be

The research committee is open for new members. If you wish to be involved in its operations, please contact hilde.heynen@asro.kuleuven.be or eaaesophiameeres@eaae.be .

Last update: 09 Aug 2010