Robin Bartram Receives 2026 Neubauer Collegium Faculty Research Award

Robin Bartram, PhD, Associate Professor at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, has been awarded a 2026 Faculty Research Award from the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, an institute at the University of Chicago that supports collaborative, interdisciplinary research addressing significant social and cultural questions.

Bartram received the award for Housing Imaginaries, an interdisciplinary project co-led with Adrienne Brown, Professor in the Departments of English and Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity. The project examines the role of imagination in confronting the housing crisis in the United States, with particular attention to Chicago.

Using a multi-method approach that includes interviews, conversations, and engagement with cultural archives, the research explores how housing is imagined by practitioners, advocates, residents, and cultural producers, past and present. By centering imagination as a critical analytic tool, the project seeks to move beyond disciplinary impasses that can limit how housing challenges are understood and addressed.

Housing Imaginaries will culminate in academic and public-facing publications, as well as a public convening that brings scholars, practitioners, and community members into dialogue. The project aims to advance housing scholarship and advocacy while demonstrating the intellectual and civic value of cross-disciplinary collaboration at the intersection of culture, policy, and social practice.

The Neubauer Collegium Faculty Research Award supports innovative partnerships that bridge disciplines and connect scholarly inquiry to pressing societal issues. Bartram’s award reflects the Crown Family School’s commitment to research that informs policy, practice, and public understanding.