AI in Architecture, Planning, and Environment
Research School: Open Call for Doctoral Students 2026
AI in Architecture, Planning, and Environment Program for Doctoral Candidates
Thematic Scope: AI-aided creative content generation and editing, data analysis and prediction, knowledge discovery and decision support in architecture, planning, and environmental transformation
We are excited to announce an open call for applications to the Research School AI in Architecture, Planning, and Environment Programme for Doctoral Candidates at TU Wien. We invite highly motivated doctoral students with diverse disciplinary backgrounds —architecture, spatial planning, geo-sciences, environmental engineering—to contribute to this evolving field and engage in cross-disciplinary research and collaboration. Join us in advancing the future of AI in sustainable architectural design, spatial and urban planning, and environmental transformation and build your international research network.
The Research School is intended as a three-year program that offers doctoral candidates at the Faculty of Architecture and Planning a structured support program to help them navigate the scientific expectations of their qualifications. It brings a group of doctoral candidates with similar research interests and thematically comparable dissertation projects together to create a critical mass of knowledgeable scholars who inspire, empower and help each other in pursuit of their doctoral degree. Senior coordinators and mentors provide participants with practical skills that help them on their way to their doctoral degree and create a platform for thematic exchange and mutual learning.
Through this research school, the faculty is strengthening its academic and international profile in doctoral studies that focus on AI-aided methods and workflows in architecture, planning and environmental transformation. The digital transformation asserts great formative impact on the disciplines of architecture and planning and provides novel inroads to questions of environmental transformation, utilizing data as part of impactful data-driven methods and workflows. As the role of data is becoming central to conceptual and methodological developments of the disciplines of architecture and planning, as exemplified by data-driven evidence- and science-based approaches, demonstrated in the advent and rapid development of Architectural Science, City Science, and Urban Science, artificial intelligence is taking center stage in data-driven methods and workflows, especially regarding AI-aided creative content generation and editing, data analysis and prediction, knowledge discovery and decision support in architecture, planning, and environmental transformation. The transformative impact of this development on the disciplines of architecture and planning cannot be overstated and requires considerable engagement and research to actively shape the disciplines.
The Research School invites applications from doctoral students whose dissertation projects address questions at the intersection of artificial intelligence and the disciplines of architecture, spatial planning, and environmental research — whether engaging AI as an applied method, a design instrument, a subject of critical inquiry, or a governance challenge. It welcomes research that deals with AI in architecture, planning, and environmental transformation, including but not limited to: generative AI and large language models in architectural design and creative content generation; machine learning for spatial prediction, land use analysis, and planning analytics; computer vision and image-based methods for built environment analysis; ML-based building performance simulation and environmental modelling; natural language processing for knowledge discovery in planning and policy documents; critical and governance perspectives on algorithmic decision-making in spatial disciplines; AI in participatory design and public engagement processes; and data ethics, algorithmic bias, and accountability in architecture and planning.
What’s in it for you?
● Access to the Competence Center for AI in Architecture, Planning, and Environment incl. lecture series, expert network, and ongoing research activities
● Research colloquia for presenting your research and international networking with leading scholars in the field
● Events for transdisciplinary exchange, reflection and learning with relevant experts that utilize AI-aided methods and workflows in architecture, planning, and environmental transformation
● A platform for informal exchange and peer learning with thematically related doctoral students from the faculty
● Resources for the bottom-up development of own complementary formats
Responsibilities and expectations:
Participants / doctoral students will:
● participate in all activities (AI|APE lecture series, jour fixes, colloquia, and workshops, …),
● present work progress and get multi-disciplinary feedback from renown scholars,
● co-organize peer-learning sessions and acquire new transferable skills,
Costs:
For selected doctoral students, participation in all events of the programme is free of charge. Travel and
accommodation to on-site meetings at the partner university will be partially covered by the programme.
Eligibility
The Research School offers 15 places. Doctoral students need to be recently enrolled or willing to enrol in the summer term 2026 with a supervisor at TU Wien or be enrolled at another Viennese university. Additionally, a limited number of international doctoral candidates of members of the advisory board of the Competence Center for AI in Architecture, Planning, and Environment can apply upon invitation. The selection aims at maintaining a balance between students from different disciplines, ensuring a diverse cohort that reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the programme.
Selection procedure
Submission requirements:
● Motivation letter also stating the current stage of the doctoral research (max. 1 page)
● CV incl. doctoral candidate’s affiliation with the faculty, the research field and topic of their dissertation, and the supervisor(s) (max. 3p.)
● Statement of the supervisor’s support to participant in the programme (max. 1 page)
● Exposé stating the context, aim, leading questions and methodology of the research (max. 3 pages)
All parts of the application must be compiled into a single PDF (max. 5 MB) and emailed to michael.hensel@tuwien.ac.at within the application period.
The application period runs from May 10 to June 20, 2026.
A decision will be made by the Research School’s coordinators, the Deans of Study, and representatives of the AKG and Fachschaft Doktorat. The decision will be communicated in mid-July individually via e-mail. The Research School will kick off in October 2026.
Coordination: AIAPE Competence Center for AI in Architecture, Planning, and Environment