Dr Diane Menzies
2026 Jellicoe Award winner

The International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) proudly announced that Dr Diane Menzies is the winner of the 2026 IFLA Jellicoe Award in Landscape Architecture.

The award is the preeminent award for landscape architects and the highest honour IFLA can bestow. The jury, composed of the chair, a member from each of the five IFLA regions worldwide and a guest member, agreed that “Diane Menzies had a profound and lasting impact on the global advancement of landscape architecture and that she has played a key role in expanding the scope of the profession.” Her career presents an unparalleled example of how indigenous knowledge, socio-political advocacy, and international politics can be integrated into modern design practices. As the first Indigenous person to serve as IFLA President, she has bridged Western landscape architecture with its design- and technology-oriented approaches with an Indigenous perspective on nature and landscape, drawing on its ancestral, spiritual, and ecological depth. She has transformed IFLA from a Western-centric body into a truly global federation extending its influence far beyond Europe and North America.

Dr Diane Menzies is a landscape architect, researcher, educator and international leader who has worked in landscape architecture for more than five decades. She has held leadership roles within the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA), including Secretary General and President, as well as leadership positions within the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects (NZILA). She has worked across more than 50 countries to strengthen the profession globally, engaging with governments, universities and professional bodies to promote landscape architecture,
support education and build international networks.

Her work is grounded in a te ao Māori (Māori world view) understanding that “nothing exists in isolation.” Whenua (land), people, wairua (spirit), mauri (lifeforce), whakapapa (genealogy) and the relationships between them are inseparable. This understanding has shaped her practice for more than five decades and guided her approach to landscape architecture as “not as a technical discipline alone, but as a relational and cultural practice.”

Diane has contributed to governance, research, teaching and practice, advancing Indigenous knowledge and cultural values within landscape architecture. As a Commissioner with the Environment Court of Aotearoa New Zealand, she was involved in resolving environmental conflicts through mediation and decision making across more than 200 cases. She has taught across all landscape architecture programmes in New Zealand and supervised Masters and PhD candidates.

Diane continues to focus on environmental change while upholding ecological and cultural integrity, deepening mātauranga Māori in design and planning, and supporting the next generation through mentoring, teaching and collaborative work. Her ongoing work is guided by whakapapa, kaitiakitanga and relational practice.

As an accomplished and passionate landscape architect, pioneering practitioner, researcher and influential international leader, whose work has advanced Indigenous knowledge and cultural values within landscape architecture, Dr Diane Menzies is the perfect recipient of the Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award.

The IFLA Jellicoe Award is the highest honour that the International Federation ofLandscape Architects can bestow upon a landscape architect. The Award recognizes a livinglandscape architect whose lifetime achievements and contributions have had a unique and lasting impact on the welfare of society and the environment and on the promotion of the profession of landscape architecture. The award is bestowed annually on an academic, public or private practitioner whose work and achievements are respected internationally.