Josie Chambers from Utrecht University recently invited the Transformations Community to share the next edition of Transformative Research for Sustainability Challenges, a PhD course examining how research can contribute more directly to just and sustainable futures.

Participants will be encouraged to question the assumptions underlying their own research and consider how its design, implementation, analysis, and communication influence its contribution to societal and environmental change.

Through lectures, case studies, practical exercises, peer learning, and reflection, the course explores four dimensions of transformative research: pluralising, empowering, politicising, and embedding research in society.

The course is open to doctoral candidates from any university, with places for up to 35 participants. Three partial scholarships covering the course fee and accommodation are available to PhD candidates from institutions in the Global South.

Application deadline: 27 September 2026