Transformations in Architecture & Planning

The successful completion of the dissertation is an important first step on the path to an academic (or praxis) career. This step requires solid support from the university and among peers. The Research School is a three-year program that offers doctoral candidates at the Faculty A+R 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 their quest for PhD. 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. Furthermore, it promotes the international academic and transdisciplinary visibility of ECRs.

Architecture and spatial planning are essential to scientifically grasp and practically achieve socio-ecological transformations. They produce important transformation knowledge in transdisciplinary processes and aid the realization of much needed transformations towards greater sustainability. The related amalgamation of research and praxis, however, creates a significant challenge regarding academic qualification and scientific excellence, making doctoral research a balancing act of producing outputs for the academic community (i.e., scientific knowledge) and the praxis community (i.e., societal impact). The aim of the Research School is to tackle this issue.

The Research School unites doctoral students whose dissertation projects address questions of socio-ecological transformation from a variety of angles, ranging from analytical perspectives on the sustainability of infrastructures, space and place to concrete design or interventionist approaches to the transformation of the built environment, as well as research delving into the transformation of architecture and planning. The doctoral students follow a wide variety of projects, dealing with issues of governance, the transformation of large-scale infrastructures, experimentation, re-use, sufficiency and social innovation through an architectural and/or planning lens. 

This creates a critical mass of young scholars with similar research interests and thematically comparable dissertation projects to empower and inspire each other in their quest for a PhD and serves as a platform for mutual learning, social bonding and exchange, empowering doctoral students to facilitate formats of knowledge creation & exchange. The Work Programme is structured around the four major goals of the Research School: (1) Writing and publishing, (2) international visibility and networking, (3) transdisciplinary reflection and impact, and (4) self-efficacy and career development