Contact Award Winner:
Karin Helms, professor, Institute of urbanism and landscape, The Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO)
Outstanding Educator in Landscape Architecture: Between 1999 and 2020, Professor Helms taught more than 1,000 students at the École Nationale Supérieure de Paysage (ENSP) Versailles-Marseille, through design studios, courses, and diploma projects.
At AHO's Institute of Urbanism and Landscape, she teaches approximately 20 students each semester, including 12 to 15 students enrolled in the international Master's programme in Landscape Architecture (IMLA) .
Many of the students she has taught now work as landscape architects in Norway, in their home countries, or elsewhere in Europe. “I´m very pleased that I´m still in contact with many of them, hearing about their way of being a landscape architect, a profession in constant evolution”, says Helms.
Her long-standing commitment to educating and mentoring new generations of landscape architects has earned recognition far beyond Norway.
Demonstrates outstanding teaching
Professor Helms received the prestigious ECLAS Outstanding Educator Award at the annual conference of The European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools (ECLAS), held at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) from 16 to 19 September 2026.
The award recognises educators who demonstrate excellence in creativity, teaching quality, pedagogical innovation, use of technology, integration of interdisciplinary perspectives and methods, and the ability to inspire and motivate students.
The ECLAS jury also highlighted Helms’ contribution in establishing, 15 years ago, the European Master in Landscape Architecture (EMiLA), a master’s programme offered by five leading universities and schools of landscape architecture across Europe. AHO will join the partnership in the autumn semester of 2026.
“The Award means a lot to me, as recognition of having helped many landscape architecture students become professionals in the field ”, says Helms.
Received the award in front of 400
The European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools (ECLAS) is an association of European educators and researchers in landscape architecture. Among its initiatives is the highly regarded academic journal Journal of Landscape Architecture.
ECLAS promotes extensive collaboration and networking among universities and higher education institutions across Europe.
This year's conference at TU Delft brought together more than 400 participants to explore the theme “Take Care: Planetary Landscape Architecture.”
The programme featured more than 20 academic sessions and ten workshops, gathering researchers, educators, and professional communities from across Europe. Helms and five colleagues from the Co-regenerative Research Group at AHO presented their ongoing research projects at the conference.
“I was proud to receive the prize in front of many peers and colleagues,” concludes Helms, this year's recipient of the ECLAS Outstanding Educator Award.