We are incredibly proud to share that our MSc Town Planning (Chartered Apprenticeship) graduate Louise Brace has been awarded the RTPI Research Excellence Student Award at the 2024 Planning Research Conference.
This award, which recognizes the outstanding research of planning students globally, is a testament to Louise’s dedication and the quality of her work.
Her dissertation “The Role of Local Planning Authority Plan Making in Rural Renewable Energy Production,” explores a pressing issue combining topics around climate change, energy security, and local governance.
Through her research, Louise developed a criteria-based policy evaluation framework that could considerably improve how Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) support renewable energy (RE) development in future.
Reflecting on her achievement, Louise shared further insight into her research and findings: “The analysis identified widespread policy focus on constraints to RE development but only rare consideration of key enabling factors such as grid connectivity. Furthermore, fundamental benefits such as contributions to net zero emissions targets or energy demand were not routinely considered.”
“My thesis concluded that the framework could be used as a tool to consistently improve LPA policies by ensuring the holistic and comprehensive consideration of factors influencing RE development. Its ability to apply positive weighting factors could provide the opportunity to address overly constraining criteria and standardise more proactive policies to ensure the acceleration of RE.”
“The University of Brighton’s Town Planning MSc focus on climate change and sustainability was what attracted me to the course originally, and I have since gained highly relevant knowledge through modules in environmental impact assessment and sustainable construction as well as the core subjects focused on planning theory, practice, and policy. I began the course at the start of a second career in planning and have hugely benefited from the supportive and inspiring learning environment offered by Brighton.”
Andrew Coleman, who supervised Louise’s work, emphasised the importance of her findings: “Louise’s research thoroughly investigated the way in which planners balance the need to help meet net zero targets against competing demands to protect rural landscapes and suggested a practical toolkit for planners to use. Her dissertation was an excellent blend of the theoretical and practical and well deserved winning the Award”.
Louise’s achievement continues the University of Brighton’s strong history of success in these awards, further highlighting the strength of our Town Planning MSc program.
Georgia Wrighton, course leader for Town Planning MSc, commented: “We are delighted that Louise has won this prestigious award, competing with accredited planning schools globally. Her exemplary research highlights the highly relevant and topical issues explored by University of Brighton Town Planning students, and we are very proud of Louise and all our students’ contributions to progressing planning practice.”
Congratulations to Louise on this well-deserved award! We’re excited to see the continued impact of her work in local planning and renewable energy development.
Interested in shaping the future of planning? Learn more about our Town Planning MSc course here.
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