May 12-17, 2025
Call for applications: December 2, 2024 – January 31, 2025
The PhD Academy is led by:
- Duke University
- Exeter University
- Stellenbosch University
Rural communities are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, having long relied on farming, fishing, and the natural environment for their livelihoods. Strategies to enhance climate resilience and to support rural flourishing will need to be multi-pronged, including institutional support and investments in in-situ adaptation, ‘migration as adaptation’, and more sustainable agricultural practices and food systems. Transitioning to sustainable agri-food systems is critical to averting food insecurity and climate-driven social and ecological disasters, yet this transition requires more than technical solutions. It calls for a new vision of rural transformation and rural thriving.
This PhD Academy invites participants to learn from leading thinkers working in the fields of rural development, migration studies, climate adaptation, and sustainable food systems.
The Academy addresses three inter-related themes:
- rural transformation and sustainability transitions;
- migration, adaptation, and rural resilience;
- sustainable agri-food systems.
Participants will have the opportunity to workshop their research with peers and faculty, participate in field visits to small farms outside Venice, and benefit from faculty-led workshops strengthening transversal skills. Workshops will focus on participatory scenarios planning, measuring well-being outcomes, and visual methods (photo voice).
Faculty
Kerilyn Schewel, Duke University
Lee Miller, Duke University
Neil Adger, Exeter University
Ricardo Safra de Campos, Exeter University
Rika Preiser, Stellenbosch University
Topics
Each day will include lectures/workshops led by faculty as well as dedicated time for PhD students to workshop a question, method, or chapter.
The PhD Academy will include topics such as:
- A Research Agenda for Rural Transformation
- Systems Thinking, World Views, and Sustainability Transitions
- Migration, Adaptation, and Climate Change
- Agri-Food Systems
- A field trip
Who can apply?
This international PhD Academy is offered to PhD students, post-docs, and early career researchers working in the interdisciplinary fields of rural development, climate adaptation, sustainable food systems, and/or migration studies. This includes (but is not limited to) researchers from the natural and social sciences (e.g., geography, sociology, economics, anthropology, environmental sciences, agricultural sciences, health, regional planning among others).
Fees & grant support
Full fee waiver scholarships are available for students from VIU member institutions. In addition, grant support is available to support partially or fully the costs of international travel. Accommodation is provided free of charge.
Four fee-waiver scholarships and Erasmus+ mobility grants (international travel, accommodation, meals) are available to support the participation of doctoral students from Stellenbosch University. For further information please write to Stellenbosch University Outgoing Student Mobility: matiesabroad@sun.ac.za
The participation fee for students of non-member institutions is Euro 1,100 (incl. VAT). The fee is inclusive of tuition, course materials, accommodation, lunches, social events, and taxes.
Students from non-member institutions are not eligible for VIU grant support.
VIU Alumni are eligible for a reduced fee.
Applicants must submit the (1) application form, (2) a letter of motivation – which should include a short bio and a brief description of the candidate’s research project, (3) a curriculum vitae, and (4) a photo.
For further information please download the brochure and the program or write to: phdacademy@univiu.org
Co-funded by Erasmus+ Project 2022-1-IT02-KA131-HED-000068420 in the context of the Erasmus+ VIU Mobility Consortium 2021-2027.
