Dr. James Benedict Brown is Associate Professor (Universitetslektor) at Umeå University in northern Sweden.

James’ research and writing is primarily concerned with the social and pedagogical aspects of architecture. His PhD (Queen’s University Belfast, 2012) developed a pedagogical critique of the live project in architectural education. Examining a widely practised but under-theorised model of teaching architectural education, the thesis used twenty-one interviews with academics at sixteen HE institutions to develop a grounded theory of live projects. The thesis was shortlisted for the 2013 RIBA President’s Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis. The PhD was supervised by Prof. Ruth Morrow, Prof. Ashraf Salama and Mr. Keith McAllister, and examined by Helena Webster of Oxford Brookes University and Dr Ken Sterrett of QUB. A PDF of the thesis is available at bit.ly/JBB_PHD

James is the co-editor of A Gendered Profession (2016) and the author of Mediated Space (2018), both with RIBA Publishing.

James is a founder member of the association of architectural educators (aae) and was the Assistant Editor and Editor of the aae’s open access peer reviewed journal Charrette (ISSN 2054-6718) for four years.

Academic appointments

From July 2019 Universitetslektor (Assoicate Professor), Umeå Universitet, Sweden

2018 to 2019 Acting Course Leader, BA Architecture, Norwich University of the Arts

2017 to 2019 Associate Tutor, University of Nottingham

2017 to 2018 Visiting Lecturer, Royal College of Art

2016 to 2017 Senior Lecturer in Architecture, Leicester School of Architecture, De Montfort University

2015 to 2016 Lecturer in Architecture, Leicester School of Architecture, De Montfort University

2014-15 Undergraduate Studio Tutor, Leicester School of Architecture, De Montfort University

2014-15 Undergraduate Studio Tutor, Nottingham Trent University

2012-14 Lecturer in Architecture, Norwich University of the Arts

Education

2009-12 PhD in Architectural Education, Queen’s University Belfast

2006-08 Master of Architecture, University of Sheffield

2001-04 Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Architecture, University of Sheffield

Awards & Grants

2016 De Montfort University Teaching Innovation Project

2015 De Montfort University Teaching Innovation Project

2013 Shortlisted for the RIBA President’s Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis

2012/13 Higher Education Academy Discipline Workshop and Seminar Series

2010/11 CEBE Innovative Projects in Learning and Teaching

2010/12 Dept. for Employment & Learning (Northern Ireland) Research Studentship

2009 Queen’s University Belfast Emily Sarah Montgomery Travel Scholarship

2009/10 Queen’s University Belfast Research Studentship

2009 Queen’s University Belfast Special Research Scholarship

2007 University of Sheffield Sir H.K. Stevenson Traveling Scholarship

2000 Winchester College Drew Travel Scholarship