The INFONAVIT
through its Digital Network on Housing Information
in collaboration with the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEMex)
through the Scientific Information System Redalyc

Announces
the Second Issue of the Hispanic-American Grant for Research
Thesis on Sustainable Housing Infonavit-Redalyc

With the objective of learning about the principal results of postgraduate research related to housing in Hispano-America that contribute with the generation and wider diffusion of new knowledge, methods and analysis strategies on subjects of interest for the cities of the region, all those interested are welcomed to present their work under the following bases.

Bases

All theses presented to obtain a Masters or Doctorate degree before higher education institutions, whose programs are validated by Secretariats, Councils, Ministries or legal instances of education from their corresponding country. The Announcement is open to participants from all countries interested, as long as the research thesis is related to Hispano-American housing issues under the following categories and subjects:

Category A. Basic research (theoretical or theoretical and practical)

1.1 Housing funding

• Financial programs and application of subsidy
  Analysis of funding policies
  

1.2 Housing and community

• Accessibility to vulnerable groups
  Neighborhood organization
  

1.3 Housing development planning

• Urban planning
  Urban development
  Urban infrastructure
  

1.4 Development of information systems on housing

• Housing observatories
  Information banks on construction standards
  Application of geographical information systems (SIG) to housing policies.
  Evaluation systems for the quality of housing
  Certification systems for sustainability
  

1.5 Housing and urban land

• Analysis of land tenancy and housing property
  Land negotiation processes
  Analysis of land policies and tax collection
  Territory ordering aspects (normative, technical, processes)
  

1.6 Informal housing in Mexico

• Types of informal housing
  Housing regularization processes
  

1.7 Urban reconstruction and regeneration

• Neighbourhood rescue plans
  Land densification
  

Category B. Research applied to concrete realities with tangible results

1.8 Better practices and solutions that foster the quality of life in the social housing

• Typologies, materials and construction processes
  Application of sustainable technologies
  New technologies applied to the housing design and construction
  Application of design, materials and traditional techniques
  Horizontal housing / vertical housing
  Urban planning
  Accessibility for vulnerable groups
  Digital connectivity
  

1.9 Neighborhood Organization participation in the community processes

• Successful models of neighborhood organization
  Social participation in actions for the betterment of the community
  

2. Registration

Register and send all required documentation to the following e-mail address premio.tesis.vivienda@gmail.com. Registration forms can be downloaded from the Comunidad de Estudios Territoriales (Community of Territory Studies) webpage: http://estudiosterritoriales.org. No registrations will be accepted by any other means. Do not send hard copies of any document.

To be eligible to participate, the proposed projects must be theses defended in between the 1st of June, 2008 and 30th August, 2010. Works defended before June 2008 will not be eligible to participate. The projects must be presented in any of the three official languages of the grant (Spanish, Portuguese or English), despite the language in which the thesis was presented and defended.

Published theses or whose copyrights have been transferred to a third party will not be eligible to participate. The candidates must not enter works that are currently participating for any other grant, or that have received any other grant or that have been postulated for this grant in its previous version.

All projects will be only received in PDF file format in order to preserve the original layout of the documents. Please avoid protecting them with a password. Information about the conversion to this type of document can be found at the grant's webpage.

All participants are encouraged to file for the creative Commons License at http://creativecommons.org/international in order to guarantee the copyright of all submitted works.

3. Documentation

4. Prizes

First place: $5,000 USD, a commemorative statuette by the Mexican artist Hersúa, the publication of the research thesis and travel expenses to the award ceremony.

Second place: $3,000 USD, a commemorative statuette by the Mexican artist Hersúa, the publication of the research thesis and travel expenses to the award ceremony.

Third place: $2,000 USD, a commemorative statuette by the Mexican artist Hersúa, the publication of the research thesis and travel expenses to the award ceremony.

The third place will be granted only to Category B.
Research applied to concrete realities with tangible results

In case the jury grants a Mención Honorífica, the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico will provide travel expenses to the award ceremony.

5. Evaluation

The originality, scientific rigor and relevance of the scientific knowledge in the subject of sustainable housing studies, among other criteria will be taken into account to select the theses. Each thesis will be evaluated on a blind-peer basis; in case of results discrepancies, the research will be evaluated by a third peer whose decision will define the final evaluation. Menciones honoríficas will be granted only when the jury decides to do so unanimously. The jury is empowered to declare any of the places vacant. The decision of the jury is final. Prizes are indivisible. The designation of prizes will be carried out before a Public Notary.

6. Jury

The jury is composed of renowned academics in the field of Hispano-American housing studies. Besides, there is a quality jury formed by renowned personalities related to the housing field in Mexico. The members of the jury will be presented at the Community of Territory Studies http://estudiosterritoriales.org

Permanent Secretariat

Dr. Francisco Sabatini, Evaluation Jury representative
Lic. Nora Núnez Carranza, Infonavit Digital Network on Housing Information representative
Dra. Rosario Rogel Salazar, Community of Territory Studies representative - Redalyc representative

7. Dates

Register from May 21st to September 3rd
Results will be announced on the last week of November in the Community of Territory Studies webpage http://estudiosterritoriales.org.
The award ceremony will be held in December 2010 in Mexico City. Anything not stated in this Announcement will be decided by the Permanent Secretariat. For further information please send an e-mail to: premio.tesis.vivienda@gmail.com
http://estudiosterritoriales.org