Call for Papers /// 2026 Rice Architecture Dissertation Colloquium, 6–7 March 2026, Rice University, Houston, USA

2026 Rice Architecture Dissertation Colloquium

6–7 March 2026

Rice University, Houston, USA

The Rice School of Architecture invites submissions from doctoral students for its second dissertation colloquium, to be held at Rice University in Houston on March 6 and March 7, 2026.

As political boundaries and national identities change, as economic dependencies grow more volatile, as the scale of globalization expands in concert with ever more intensive resource extraction and planetary warming, reference frames within architectural history are also shifting and, with them, the discipline’s approaches to methodology, epistemology, and practice. The colloquium seeks to address these pressing issues by presenting new research in architectural history—in its broadest sense—while also rethinking the field’s narratives, periodisation, geographic reach, and methods for collecting historical evidence. An open platform for the exchange of ideas and questions about architectural methodology, the colloquium will illuminate how internal and external disciplinary forces not only advance but shape architectural historiography.

As many as eight participants will each present a twenty-minute paper, to be followed by feedback from a respondent. The presentations should be based on a cohesive portion of the participant’s research, framed through the lens of the project’s specific methodological approach. Applicants must be currently enrolled in a doctoral program and have completed at least one year of dissertation research.

Submissions should include a full draft of the presentation (approx. 2,500 words), an abstract outlining the methodological approach (300 words maximum), and a brief note from the dissertation advisor confirming the applicant’s status and progress within the program. Candidates selected for participation in the colloquium will be notified by the end of January 2026. The Rice School of Architecture offers a modest stipend to help offset travel costs.

Please send electronic submissions (PDF files, not to exceed 10 MB) to Reto Geiser, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Academic Affairs (reto.geiser@rice.edu) by January 2, 2026.

For more information about the Rice School of Architecture, please visit http://arch.rice.edu  and @ricearch on Instagram.

Rice University School of Architecture, 6100 Main Street, MS-50, Houston, TX 77005.

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