A new architecture scholarship will support an Indigenous student through their degree and prepare them for a career in design thanks to a partnership between a global architecture practice and a major Australian university.
(L-R): Hayden Djakic (Buchan), Theresa Bower (artist), Bronwyn Fredericks (UQ) and Stephen Auld (Buchan).
February 16th, 2023
The inaugural Buchan Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Architecture Industry Scholarship is set to commence in 2023. The three-year scholarship will support a student through their undergraduate studies, providing for the essential needs of their campus experience. It will offer access to a diverse academic and professional network and engagement in industry opportunities.
“Education is a key focus of our Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP),” says Buchan CEO Stephen Auld. “We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are severely under-represented in the built environment. We support positive and meaningful change in this area and recognise the active role we can play in breaking down barriers to entry through financial and social support.”
Across Australia, more than 2,200 corporate, government, and not-for-profit organisations have made a formal commitment to reconciliation through the RAP program. The four RAP types – Reflect, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate – allow RAP partners to continuously develop and strengthen reconciliation commitments in new ways. Buchan’s scholarship is part of this wider approach.
Professor Bronwyn Fredericks, UQ’s pro-vice-chancellor Indigenous engagement, adds: “Education is a powerful tool and has a positive ripple effect — for the student, for the community and our society more broadly. Until we close the gap in higher education participation and outcomes, the goals of reconciliation will remain elusive.”
Wiradjuri woman, Theresa Bower, has a degree in architecture and is currently doing a Master of Philosophy at UQ. Her work there is focusing on embedding culture into the built environment, while she also forms part of Burrundi Design Studio. The story of the RAP with Buchan is being told through a collaborative artwork that depicts the aspiration to connect people, place, Country and culture in the future.
Related: Artist Emma Coulter at James Makin Gallery
“The expanding star icon represents education,” says Bower. “Its central core represents the university and the knowledge that is held within, reaching out to connect First Nations people to higher education in the built environment profession.”
Applications for the scholarship close on February 27 and Indigenous students can apply via the scholarships section of the UQ website here.
Buchan
buchangroup.com
Photography
Richard O’Leary
We think you might also like this article on Brenda L. Croft at Barangaroo.
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
The Sub-Zero and Wolf Kitchen Design Contest is officially open. And the long-running competition offers Australian architects, designers and builders the chance to gain global recognition for the most technically resolved, performance-led kitchen projects.
BLANCOCULINA-S II Sensor promotes water efficiency and reduces waste, representing a leap forward in faucet technology.
Schneider Electric’s new range are making bulky outlets a thing of the past with the new UNICA X collection.
Gaggenau’s understated appliance fuses a carefully calibrated aesthetic of deliberate subtraction with an intuitive dynamism of culinary fluidity, unveiling a delightfully unrestricted spectrum of high-performing creativity.
Architectus Principals Simone Oliver and Patricia Bondin are set to speak at WORKTECH Sydney this year, so we asked them for some sneaky early insights on workplace design.
Thursday 31st July – the 2025 INDE.Awards Gala is set to go off at Saltbox, part of Sydney’s Wunderlich Lane precinct.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
The Melbourne-based artist works at the intersection of art and architecture. In a new exhibition at MAGMA Galleries, he turns his focus on urban space and agency to a smaller scale.
Led by a treble award-winner, projects from across Queensland have recently been recognised at the Australian Institute of Architects Queensland Awards.