Three Curtin researchers from the School of Design and the Built Environment have been awarded the 2025 Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) WA Award for Planning Research for their project that strives to safeguard housing in the face of natural disasters.

The project by Dr Francesca Perugia, Dr Courtney Babb and Dr Rebecca Scherini identifies and maps the decision-making processes of stakeholders involved in housing delivery and examines how data is accessed, shared and applied across different stages of planning and delivery.

The team will now go in the running for the 2026 National PIA Awards in the Research Excellence category, with the winners to be announced at the PIA National Congress in Canberra in May next year.

Congratulations to Dr Perugia, Dr Babb and Dr Scherini on this achievement. Thank you as well to John Curtin Distinguished Professor Steven Rowley, Director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI)’s Curtin Research Centre, academics from the RMIT and UNSW, and everyone else involved in the project.

A man and three women stand side-by-side in front of a red media wall. One woman is holding a framed certificate.
(L-R) Dr Courtney Babb, Dr Rebecca Scherini, Dr Francesca Perugia and Lisette Traves.