Qualification Programme

The following information concerns the second funding phase (10.2026–03.2031)

 Aims

The qualification programme complements the research training group’s scientific goals. It includes 12 funded doctoral researchers and 9 associated doctoral researchers. Additionally, one postdoctoral researcher has the opportunity for qualification and career advancement. The exceptional interdisciplinary composition of the team of supervisors reflects the empirical focus of the programme. It covers the scientific approaches needed to fully address the outlined challenges of urban future‐making.

The qualification programme is tailored to support the PhD projects in an innovative way by organizing the programme into three themes. These themes serve both as a conceptual tool for structuring research interests and as an organizational framework for our disciplinary and interdisciplinary dialogues. The participating researchers of each themes assume rotating responsibility for curatorship of collective activities over the span of the 3-year programme.

First, we make use of rotating interdisciplinary tandems of professors for the hosting of collective seminars and workshops in order to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue in the three clusters. Second, in response to the needs of the group, the collective activities are complemented by smaller working groups, and by participation in disciplinary colloquia of the relevant faculties and departments, to also allow for in-depth disciplinary debates. Third, the reflection on and testing of research methods at the intersection between reflection- and solution-oriented perspectives is part of the programme. Finally, elements of the programme that focus on group dynamics and provide hands-on skills for collaborative work are also deployed strategically and have now been integrated into the qualification programme early on.

Structure and timeline

The qualification programme follows a structured timeline, consisting of an introductory semester, a core programme development phase, and a final wrap-up phase.

In the introductory semester, a kick-off meeting fosters connections among researchers, postdoctoral researchers, and supervisors. The meeting sets expectations for the coming 3 years and establishes joint supervision for doctoral researchers. Throughout this semester, doctoral researchers organize their topics and agree on supervision with scholars. An interdisciplinary workshop at the end of the first semester finalizes joint supervision and presents research topics.

The core development phase spans 24 months (semester 2 until semester 5) and involves individual and collective research activities. Plenary and group activities, interdisciplinary workshops, and a public lecture series facilitate discussions across the different disciplines. Formative activities enhance research skills and individual profiles. Internationalization, networking, and research-practice exchanges occur during this phase.

The final semester, the wrap-up phase, allows doctoral researchers to concentrate on completing their dissertations. Formative activities are reduced to support the completion of work and future career placements. The semester includes an interdisciplinary workshop and a final conference with international outreach.

Activities

The qualification programme encompasses three types of activities: collective and peer-to-peer activities, skill-building activities, and internationalization, research-practice, research-outreach activities.

Collective activities such as research colloquia and workshops include the whole group of researchers, encouraging transversal and interdisciplinary dialogues. In the second funding phase, our interdisciplinary collaboration on the key questions will be operationalized by organizing the discussion along three themes. These themes are addressed in the main collective seminar and in the interdisciplinary workshops, in different semesters within the core 24-month programme phase of each cohort. Each RTG member is thus expected to link up with and contribute to these three themes, with individual focal points to be defined at the beginning of each semester. Rotating interdisciplinary tandems of professors will be responsible for the organization of the seminars and workshops, successively dedicated to one of the three themes per semester.

Peer-to-peer activities and smaller working groups are directly related to the themes and allow for in-depth disciplinary exchange.

Skill-building activities support researchers’ individual profiles, disciplinary interests, and timely progress.

The ‘internationalization, research-practice, research-outreach’ cluster helps early-career researchers expand their networks within and beyond academia, facilitating future career placements and practice opportunities.