Scholarship winner Camilla Burke.
Camilla Burke has been announced the recipient of the inaugural MGS Women in Architecture scholarship for women studying architecture at Monash University.
The annual travelling scholarship is for women in their third or fourth year of Monash University’s architectural program. Burke will use the scholarship to look at the phenomena of Mega Cities by visiting Moscow, Ghuangzhao, Tokyo and Mumbai, and by undertaking structured learning.
McGauran Giannini Soon Architects (MGS) created the scholarship after realizing that there is a relatively low number of women in decision-making roles, or at executive levels, in architectural practices. The architects at MGS recognized that they could use their experience to encourage women studying architecture to turn their goals and aspirations into successful careers and grow into confident and mature architects.
Eli Giannini, a director at MGS, has bittersweet recollections of her student years. It wasn’t until she was the recipient of a university bursary to attend the DOMUS winter school that she met renowned Italian architect Anna Castelli Ferrieri and realized her own desire to emulate this woman architect.
In choosing the recipient of the scholarship, an important consideration was the enthusiasm and thought that applicants had put into the paths along which their degree will take them, particularly in terms of travel-related study in architecture. How these thoughts and plans can be applied to their academic studies and how that will contribute to their aspirations was also considered.
MGS directors. Standing L–R: Mun Soon, Joshua Wheeler, Eli Giannini and Chris Jones. Seated L–R: Rob McGauran and Cameron Lacy.
Funding for the scholarship is $6,500 and is awarded annually, with students also being provided with direct mentorship by the directors of MGS throughout the final two years of their Masters of Architecture.
To be eligible for the scholarship you must be all of the following.
- an Australian or New Zealand citizen (or a holder of a permanent resident visa or permanent humanitarian visa)
- a female student who has completed the Bachelor of Architectural Design
- enrolled or intending to enrol full time in the Master of Architecture in the Faculty of Art and Design at Monash’s Caulfield campus
- intending to pursue travel-related study in contemporary architecture.
To apply for the scholarship, go to the Monash University website.
