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School of Environment, Education and Development

Sharing research and earning commendations in Belfast

18 Sep 2025

Colleagues from our Department of Planning, Property & Environmental Management shared their research and earned commendations at the 2025 UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference which was hosted by Ulster University in Belfast last week.

Presenting at the 2025 UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference

Seven colleagues from our Department of Planning, Property & Environmental Management attended the 2025 UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference which was hosted by Ulster University in Belfast last week. 

Sharing research

The team presented new research on trust in local government and environmental planning, the greening of public space for children, educating planners on innovative urban design principles, AI and planning, planning for multi-functional places via green infrastructure development, and using local intelligence to support liveable neighbourhoods. 

They also organised and delivered round tables on educating urban designers (Dr Phil Black) and rural planning (Prof. Ian Mell) and supported roundtables on PhD/early career development (Dr Amy Phillips and Dr Lei (Lucia) Li) and publishing (Prof. Ian Mell).

Conference highlights

Highlights from the conference included an inspiring keynote by Professor Mark Tewdwr-Jones (UCL/CASA) on the future of planning in the digital age, a thought-provoking roundtable by Daniel Slade (RTPI) on planning and local government reform in the dynamic setting, and a roundtable with the Chief Planners of England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland on planning as a career. The event also featured engaging study tours, including Maritime Belfast, which highlighted the city’s dynamic regeneration and waterfront development.

Awards and commendations

The conference also included the Royal Town Planning Institute Awards for Research Excellence. Two members of the team (Dr Phil Black, for his co-authored book 'Applied Urban Design', and Prof. Ian Mell, for his co-authored book 'Rural Planning Futures') were nominated for the Patsy Healey Excellence for Planning Research Award, which was eventually won by Dr Jason Slade (University of Sheffield). Dr Guibo Sun was part of team led by Dongsheung He (University of Hong Kong) who won the Tony Crook Award for Early Career Research.