CIB hosts three annual competitions for Awards:

  • The CIB Sebestyén Future Leaders Award
  • The CIB Best Doctoral Research Award
  • The CIB Keith Hampson ECR-Industry Award
  • The CIB Makarand Hastak Visiting Scholar Award (new in 2026).

The following table shows the timeline and different milestones for each award. Details of the Vistas Funding competition can be seen here.

Sebestyén Future Leaders AwardMakarand Hastak Visiting Scholar AwardBest Doctoral Dissertation AwardKeith Hampson ECR Industry AwardVistas Funding
Call text publicationlate-JanuaryAprilMayJuneSeptember
Preparation and submission
of applications		February – MarchApril-MayMay – SeptemberJune – OctoberOctober– December
Evaluation of the submitted applicationsAprilJune-JulyOctoberNovemberJanuary – February
Announcement of winners via emailMayAugustNovemberDecemberMarch

Details of the criteria of these CIB awards and how to enter are set out below.

The CIB Sebestyén Future Leaders Award

This was named after the late Prof. Gyula Sebestyén, former CIB President (1971-74) and Secretary General (1980-1993), and was launched as the CIB Gyula Sebestyén Award in 2002. News articles here

CIB Student Chapters are invited to submit proposals for projects that are in line with the CIB objectives for the yearly CIB Sebestyén Future Leaders Award. The Award is worth up to 2500 Euros.

The purpose of the Award is to expose future leaders of the building sector to the latest developments in building research. A proposal for the Award will only be considered if the CIB Student Chapter concerned actively collaborates with one or more CIB Commissions in the development and execution of the proposal and if the proposal supports the Work Program of a Commission. The proposal should demonstrate a new collaborative link between student(s) and the Commission.

Preferred Scope

Preference will be given to proposals with defined outcomes that address the CIB Vistas Programme mission, vision and values, outlined here.

Generating a Proposal

Proposals submitted by CIB Student Chapters will be to carry out an agreed project with a CIB Commission (or more than one). The proposals will include evidence that the Chapter has discussed and agreed the nature of the task(s) with the relevant Commission. Once a Chapter has finalized a description of the project in collaboration with the relevant Commission and has obtained the agreement and support of the Commission Coordinator(s) in writing, that Chapter can enter a proposal for the Award.

Submission of Proposals

There is a limit to ONE (1) proposal per Student Chapter. Therefore, the Student Chapter may need to coordinate and select the best proposal from their University.

Proposals must:

  • describe in detail the task the Chapter and the Commission have agreed will be carried out by the Chapter.
  • include a statement from the relevant Commission Coordinator certifying that the Chapter has actively collaborated with the Commission in developing the Proposal and that agreement has been reached between the parties as to the description of the task.
  • state a date on which a report on the outcome of the Proposal will be submitted to CIB for publication in a CIB Newsletter. This should be no later than 12 months after confirmation of the Award.

The latest call text for this award can be seen here.

Past Winners

The CIB Best Doctoral Research Award

CIB’s Student Chapters Committee seeks to advance built environment research by recognizing and rewarding outstanding work of emerging researchers. Accordingly, a Best Doctoral Research Award is given annually to recognize researchers whose PhD has been confirmed by their faculty advisor no earlier than 18 months before the application deadline for the call which is always on 30 September every year. Submitted dissertations are judged by an Awards Committee appointed by the CIB Board. In selecting the award recipients, the Awards Committee considers the following: importance of the built environment issue; writing style, readability, and flow; methodology; and the contribution of the research.

Award

The Best Doctoral Research Award carries with it a €1,500 cash prize for the winner and a €500 cash prize each for the 2 top runners-up.

Rules and Submission Procedures

The completed dissertation must have been confirmed by the faculty advisor no earlier than 18 months before the application deadline for the call which is always on 30 September every year. The award eligibility spread of 18 months will allow for students who might confirm the PhD at the end of the cycle to submit in the following year’s competition; however, students can only submit one time.  If you submitted your dissertation last year and did not win the award, you are NOT eligible to apply again next year. The author of the dissertation must be a member of the CIB Student Chapter.  Doctoral researchers wishing to be considered for the award should submit the following materials to their University CIB Student Chapter Faculty Liaison:

  1. A detailed dissertation abstract in PDF format, not to exceed 4 pages. The abstract should explain the research question addressed in the doctoral thesis/dissertation, the importance of the research, how the dissertation builds on prior work, samples, hypotheses, methodologies, and research results.
  2. A letter from the researcher’s committee chair (in PDF format), not to exceed 2 pages, attesting that the completed dissertation was confirmed no earlier than 18 months before the application deadline for the call which is always on 30 September every year. This letter may be in the form of a nomination and may include an assessment of the importance and quality of the work.
  3. The complete dissertation in PDF format.

Each University with an active Student Chapter may only select 1 doctoral thesis/dissertation to submit to CIB for consideration.  Therefore, individual Universities and CIB Student Chapters must decide the process for selecting the lone nominee.  The University’s CIB Student Chapter Faculty Liaison needed to submit the required materials for the nominee as an email attachment by the deadline which is always 30 September.

Selection

An Awards Committee selected by the CIB Board will evaluate all applications. The top 3 doctoral researchers will be notified by 31 October of their selection.  They will be invited to deliver a presentation in November to compete for the CIB Best Doctoral Thesis/Dissertation Award.  Presentations will last 5 minutes and will be followed by a question and answer period with the judges. We envision the event open to all CIB members.  A winner’s webinar will be held in December.

Past winners

CIB Keith Hampson ECR-Industry Award

In June 2022 CIB was delighted to announce the inauguration of a new award generously endowed by Keith Hampson, CIB President from 2019 to 2022.  

Keith Hampson

The award aims to recognise and encourage industry collaboration by Early Career Researchers (ECRs), and was announced during the first plenary session of the World Building Congress 2022 hosted by RMIT in Melbourne. 

Background and Aim 

The overarching purpose of the award, to be known as the CIB Keith Hampson ECR-Industry Award is to promote new and innovative connections between ECRs and the built environment industry. Professor Keith Hampson built a prominent career connecting research with the built environment industry through engaged partnerships, including as CEO of the Sustainable Built Environment national research centre (SBEnrc) in Australia. This annual award is intended to provide ECRs with an opportunity to develop and foster industry connections as they begin their research careers. The aim is to encourage ECRs to put forward innovative ideas for the development of improved engagement with industry in their research. Examples might include travel to an industry event, participation in an industry study tour, a pilot research project with industry, etc. The proposal should demonstrate a new or strengthened collaboration between the ECR and the industry partner and describe how the collaboration will benefit both the ECR and industry partner.  

Eligibility 

The competition is open to ECRs, including doctoral research students, attached to CIB through Full or Associate Members, or who are Individual Members. ECRs are defined as those researchers within 5 years of their doctoral degree award date, but the intention is to be inclusive so in the event of any uncertainty on eligibility, please contact the CIB secretariat. 

Award 

The Award for the winning proposal will be a sum of up to €1,000. All funds must be utilised in the calendar year following the application and award announcement. 

Proposals 

A proposal of maximum length 2 pages should: 

  • describe in detail the activity that the individual will engage in and with which industry / industry partner(s); 
  • describe how the proposal demonstrates a new or strengthened collaborative link between the individual and industry;  
  • how the individual’s career will benefit from this activity; 
  • how the industry partner/s will benefit from this activity;  
  • the potential for the collaboration to continue; 
  • include a timeline for activity completion in the year; and, 
  • an outline budget of how the individual will utilise the €1,000 grant. Leveraging of any additional funding from industry, governmental agency, research institute, etc will be highly regarded.  

The proposal must include a statement/letter from the relevant industry partner(s) certifying that the individual and the industry partner(s) agree on the activity (this letter should be treated as an appendix/addendum and does not count towards the 2-page maximum).  

The latest call text can be seen here.

Proposal Assessment 

The Judging Panel, appointed by the CIB Student Chapters and Early Career Researchers Committee, assessed proposals on the extent to which they are likely to contribute to the following: 

  • promotion of CIB and its objectives; 
  • stimulation and facilitation of information exchange between the researcher and industry; 
  • demonstrates a new or strengthened collaboration between the researcher and industry;  
  • the practical feasibility of the activity; 
  • the potential for the researcher’s career to be enhanced;  
  • impact on industry; 
  • the likelihood that the collaboration between the researcher and the industry partner(s) would continue; 
  • the likelihood that the activity described in the proposal will be completed within calendar year 2023; and, 
  • writing style, readability, and flow; impact; and originality and creativity. 
Announcement of the Winner 

The inaugural winner is notified at the end of October. The Awardee is publicised in the CIB Newsletter as soon as possible after that date. 

Reporting 

The winner of the Award is required to report on the activity immediately after its completion, and is expected to draft a CIB newsletter article on the outcome. Any dissemination of results obtained through the funded activity should acknowledge the CIB Keith Hampson ECR-Industry Award.  

Past winners

CIB Makarand Hastak Visiting Scholar Award 

In April 2026 CIB was delighted to announce the launch of the CIB Makarand Hastak Visiting Scholar Award, generously endowed by the CIB Immediate Past President Makarand (Mark) Hastak., CIB President from 2022 to 2025.  

Overarching Goal
Makarand Hastak, CIB President 2022-2025

he overarching goal of the CIB Makarand Hastak Visiting Scholar Award is to support and promote collaboration between Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in different regions of the world in the building, construction and built environment sector. This award seeks to prioritize UN Sustainable Development Goals, early career researchers, and collaborations between different continents and regions of the world.    

The fund of €3,000 is available to an individual from one CIB Full or Associate Member to visit another CIB Full or Associate Member. Funds are to be utilized for travel support for the Visiting only. Funds are not intended to be utilized as salary support or for equipment.  

It is envisioned the researcher will be able to spend at least 5 – 10 business days at the host institution, and the award winner is expected to acknowledge CIB in any output resulting from the visit.

Dates of the visit should be between September 2026 and end of March 2027.  

Eligibility

The applicant must be a researcher from a CIB Full or Associate member organisation. They:

  • need to get in touch with their fellow scholars in another Full or Associate member organization of CIB and obtain their consent for being their host for this visit associated with this funding call.
  • must then develop the proposal together with the collaborator (fellow scholar/s) in the host organisation.
  • need to obtain a recommendation letter from the host organisation, confirming their willingness and interest in hosting them.
Submission

The applicantion should include the following documents:

  • CV,
  • Support letter from the hosting organisation (signed by the head of unit/school/faculty), and 
  • Support letter from the applicant’s own organisation to indicate their agreement with this visit.
  • A two pages proposal including:
    • Applicant details (name, position, years of experience, institution, website, contact information),
    • Host institution research partner contact (name, position, institution, website, contact information), 
    • Description of the intended collaboration,
    • Explanation of how the individual and the host institution will benefit,
    • Envisioned output (e.g., workshops, seminars, joint publications, jointly developed funding proposals), and
    • Proposed dates of the visit. 
Evaluation process

The received applications will be sent for review by an evaluation committee formed by members of the CIB Future Leaders Committee or other CIB members plus Makarand Hastak.

If the evaluation committee is not satisfied with the quality of the applications, the amount of the award will be reserved for the next year to be awarded to one or two applicants if their applications are approved by the evaluation committee.

What are we looking for

Fostering New Collaborations – we want to see evidence of new collaborations

Fostering Global Collaborations – Collaborations from different countries are required, and we would prefer to see collaborations from different continents and regions. Collaborations from within the same country will not be considered.  

Type of collaborations – CIB is interested in all types of collaborations that result in some form of research output. Augmenting the visit with community and professional association lectures, and/or classroom/laboratory teaching, and student mentorship will be viewed favorably.  

UN Sustainable Development Goals – A clear link to one or more of the UN SDGs is required.

Please contact sina.moradi@cibworld.org if you have any further questions on any of the above calls.