Professor Lesley Lokko - RIBA’s 100 Years of Validation Lecture

Celebrating 100 years of RIBA educational validation (1924-2024)

Paradigm Shift(s)

Leggate Theatre - Victoria Gallery Museum, University of Liverpool

20th March 2024 - 5:30 pm

The lecture will be live streamed into Reilly lecture room in a parallel event, more details here.

In March, we’re celebrating 100 years since RIBA validated its first architecture course at the University of Liverpool in 1924. With 235 programmes running across the globe, the validation programme has grown significantly over the last century. Today, RIBA validation is an evidence-based, peer review system working both nationally and internationally as a critical friend to schools of architecture, reviewing standards and relevance in today’s world, encouraging excellence, and ensuring a positive student experience.

To celebrate this milestone, on 20 March 2024, Professor Lesley Lokko, acclaimed author, educator and curator and recipient of the 2024 Royal Gold Medal for architecture, will deliver a lecture reflecting on the history of architectural education and requirements for the future at Liverpool University. The lecture is jointly hosted by RIBA and Liverpool School of Architecture.

Abstract

"Validation comes in many guises - from professional validation of competency to personal affirmations of worth. Social media has turned it into an art form, but there’s no substitute for the validation of one’s peers. It’s a critical and necessary part of growth, not to be confused with approval." - Prof Lokko. The RIBA 100 Years of Validation lecture will look at validation - particularly educational validation - through the lens of wider paradigm shifts, particularly those that have occurred over the last thirty years.

Biography

Professor Lesley Lokko, recipient of the 2024 Royal Gold Medal for architecture, founder of the African Futures Institute, curator of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale and recipient of the 2020 Annie Spink Award for excellence in architectural education.

Introduced by:

Muyiwa Oki, RIBA President; and
Professor Ola Uduku, Head of School at Liverpool School of Architecture.

Reflecting on the milestone, RIBA President, Muyiwa Oki said:

“Education is at the heart of RIBA’s purpose: to facilitate the advancement of architecture. For a century the RIBA has been central to shaping the content and delivery of architecture courses across the globe – ensuring students of architecture are best placed to tackle the pressing challenges faced by the profession and society.

As someone who has dedicated her career to reforming and rebalancing architectural education, there could be no one more worthy to host this celebratory lecture than our 2024 Royal Gold Medallist, Professor Lesley Lokko.”

Professor Lesley Lokko said:

“Validation comes in many guises – from professional validation of competency to personal affirmations of worth. Social media has turned it into an art form, but there’s no substitute for the validation of one’s peers. It’s a critical and necessary part of growth, not to be confused with approval. It’s an honour to have been asked to give this important lecture.”

Professor Ola Uduku said:

“We are delighted to mark the centenary of our being the first school of architecture to achieve RIBA validation by welcoming Royal Gold Medallist Lesley Lokko to present the validation lecture. We could not ask for a more appropriate and worthy personality to give the platform to speak from, as we celebrate this seminal event.’’

Programme

5.30pm Drinks and canapés for invited guests.

6.30pm Introduction from Muyiwa Oki, RIBA President and Professor Ola Uduku, Head of School, University of Liverpool.
Lecture by Professor Lesley Lokko: founder of the African Futures Institute and Curator of the 2023 International Architecture Biennale in Venice.
Q&A after lecture moderated by Professor Ola Uduku, Head of School, University of Liverpool.

8.00pm Lecture ends

8.00-8.30pm Closing drinks

For specific access needs and further enquiries please call +44 (0)151 795 8359 or email lsaevent@liverpool.ac.uk

Please note: Photography & filming will take place during the event, for use by the university and its partners for marketing and promotional purposes. If you do not wish to be included in the photographs, please speak to a member of staff or the photographers.