The International Association for China Planning (IACP) is pleased to announce the 2025
Karen Polenske Best Student Paper competition for the 19th IACP conference, which will take
place in Xiamen, China, July 3-6, 2025.
Eligibility:
- must hold an active IACP membership at the time of application
- an IACP student member enrolled in universities outside of China
- either the sole author or the lead author of a paper that has been accepted for presentation at the 19th IACP Conference.
- will be able to join and present the paper at the 19th IACP conference in person.
- past winners of the same award are not eligible to apply again.
To be considered for this award, please email a full paper in English by May 5th, 2025, to the IACP award committee led by Sylvia He, sylviahe@cuhk.edu.hk.
Submitted papers will be evaluated by a review committee selected by the IACP award committee. The winner will be announced at the conference in Xiamen. The winner is required to present the paper at the 19th IACP conference. The winner will receive free conference registration, free lodging, plus US$1,000 (or Chinese RMB of an equivalent value).
This award, established in honor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Karen
Polenske – a prominent regional economist and a leading scholar of China’s sustainable development – is awarded annually to student IACP members who present excellent research at major international planning conferences. Currently the IACP presents one Polenske award at their annual conference in China and one Polenske award at their annual membership meeting in the United States during the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) conference. The Karen Polenske Best Student Paper Award has been made possible by generous donations given by several distinguished individuals who are mostly Professor Polenske’s former students.
Please Note: This is a different award from the ACSP-IACP Karen R. Polenske Best Student Paper.
Starting this year, the membership requirement for award applications has changed: applicants must hold an active IACP membership at the time of application to be eligible for the above awards. A screenshot showing active IACP membership status must be submitted along with the other required documents.
Please note that applicants may only apply for one of the following Best Paper Award categories: IACP Best Student Paper Award, Karen R. Polenske Best Student Paper, or Urban Digital Transformation and Healthy City Award. However, they may also apply for other awards, such as the IACP Travel Awards and the ACSP/IACP Karen R. Polenske Best Student Paper award.
The Karen R. Polenske Best Student Paper award, established in honor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Karen Polenske – a prominent regional economist and a leading scholar of China’s sustainable development – is given annually to student IACP members who present excellent research on China’s urban planning and development at major international planning conferences. Currently the IACP presents one Polenske award at the IACP annual conference in China and one Polenske award at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) conference.
IACP raises and maintains donations to the Polenske Fund under the leadership of two volunteers:
SHEN, Qing (Chair), and
YAN, Meizhi (Co-Chair).
Current donors (in alphabetical order) to the Polenske Fund include:
Second round (2020 and after):
CHEN, Hao;
FAN, Peilei;
GUO, Wei;
HE, Shiqian;
LI, Xiangming;
LIU, Jianzheng;
YAN, Meizhi;
YANG, Zhizhong;
ZHAN, Guo;
ZHANG, Yabei; and
MIT China Lab
First round (before 2020):
CHEN, Junyu / YAN, Meizhi;
LI, Xiangming / YANG, Qi;
YANG, Jiawen; and
YANG, Zhizhong.
Zhenhua Li (2024): PhD candidate at City University of Hong Kong,
Chen Yang (2023): Ph.D. candidate in School of Planning at University of Waterloo.
Tao Tao (2022): Ph.D. candidate in Humphrey School of Public Affairs at University of Minnesota.
Sicheng Wang (2021): Postdoctoral Research Associate at Michigan State University.
Sicheng Wang (2020): Ph.D. candidate in Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.
Tianren Yang (2019): Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cambridge.
Zifeng Chen ( 2018): PhD student in Urban Planning and Design at University of Hong Kong.
Xinyi Wu (2017): PhD student at the University of Minnesota.
Kailai Wang (2016): PhD student in City and Regional Planning at Ohio State University.
Jianzheng Liu ( 2015): PhD candidate in Urban Planning and Design at University of Hong Kong. Currently post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Faculty of Architecture of The University of Hong Kong.
Chung Ho Kim (2014): PhD candidate in Urban Design and Planning at University of Washington. Currently Assistant Professor at University of Seoul.
Yingchan Zhang (2013): PhD student in Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern University.
Hao Huang (2012): PhD candidate in Geography at University of Utah. Currently Assistant Professor of Social Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology.
Nick Smith (2011): PhD student in Urban Planning, Harvard University. Currently Assistant Professor of Social Sciences (Urban Studies), Yale-NUS College.
Suwan Shen (2010): PhD student in Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida. Currently Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Hawaii at Manoa.