01.10.2018 / News

Danish Arts Foundation awards prize for research into climate adaptation

Katrina Wiberg has been awarded a newly established prize for daring research by the Danish Arts Foundation

Water has always been essential to our civilization, but how can we prepare for a future where increased rainfall causes floods and presents challenges for urban development? Katrina Wiberg has taken a closer look at this issue in her PhD project, and she has just received the Danish Arts Foundation’s prize Dristighedsprisen for generating public interest in the qualities of architecture in an innovative and courageous way through her research.

The motivation of the Danish Arts Foundation for nominating Katrina Wiberg’s project:

“She has courageously insisted on creating an understanding of how we can benefit from using landscapes as guidelines for where and how we build towns. She reaches out to a wider public through video presentations, exhibitions, and by defending her PhD thesis in a public arena – but also by engaging in discussions with other professional groups.”

The prize is a new award presented by the Danish Arts Foundation, which is awarded for the first time ever. The award comes with DKK 50,000.

“I’m very grateful for the award, it’s really motivating that they have noticed the project, and I hope receiving the award will help further the debate on how we can develop our cities further”, says Katrina Wiberg, who defended her PhD dissertation in June 2018 and is employed as an assistant professor at Aarhus School of Architecture.

“We are very pleased that the Danish Arts Foundation has given this award to Katrina Wiberg. At Aarhus School of Architecture, we want to engage in society through our research, and this is something Katrina is very good at. Research into architecture can be many different things, and Katrina’s research is a good example of something that is really germane and relevant to both other professional groups and the population at large”, says Charlotte Bundgaard, head of research at Aarhus School of Architecture.

Read more about Katrina Wiberg’s research project in her dissertation available at the school Library.