About the Project The Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University is offering two fully funded PhD scholarships through the AD[A]PT
Consortium's AHRC Doctoral Focal Award , supporting arts and humanities research for healthier people, places and planet. AD[A]PT offers the opportunity to work with our partners that include RIBA , RTPI , RICS , CIOB , Historic England , Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru , Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust , Cadw , RCAHMW , CIBSE , Design Commission for Wales , Landscape Institute , and Circus Eruption , some of which will support studentships in Collaborative Doctoral Awards, allowing students to be partly based within their organisation. Applicants can choose to apply through either an Open Call or a Set Brief . Both routes offer an equal opportunity to be considered for an AD[A]PT studentship; there is no advantage to choosing one route over the other. The key is to select the route that best suits your research interests, experience and proposed project. Open Call Themes Open Call Themes include: generational differences, inclusion and justice, healthy urban places, green spaces, cultural heritage, regenerative practice, built-environment professions, homes and housing, governance, life and fire safety, healthy buildings, or healthcare environments—showing alignment with the research vision and potential input from partners. Set Brief Set Brief: There is one set brief for the Cardiff University hosted studentships, entitled 'City (in)justices: belonging, inequality, and the politics of change'. Contemporary cities are the locus of change, diversity, personal and communal development but also of inequality, precarity, loneliness, social exclusions, and deprivation. They are entangled in the democratic deficit and increasingly shaped by the climate emergency. In this context, we ask, how have such dire conditions emerged and what are their (social, political, cultural, economic) forms? How can a very different kind of city emerge - an inclusive, equitable, democratic, and caring city - and what would be its form? Public health has undergone historical transformations and redefinitions, supported by scientific breakthroughs, political negotiations of social welfare, and more recently an intense focus on individual lifestyle changes. Moving forward from traditional biomedical and behavioural models of health, we invite applicants to query what a healthy and just city means in the 21st century, calling for critical examination and radical transformation of societal values and governing structures, placing equity, inclusion, and collective wellbeing at the core. By interrogating how tangible and intangible urban conditions reinforce social inequalities, the study seeks to expand understandings of the emerging forms of inequality and exclusion, and/or uncover the transformative potential of participatory design, activist collaborations, and community-led initiatives. Central to this approach is a commitment to intersectional explorations of urban inequalities, and the fostering of the political agency of marginalized groups, whose lived experiences and knowledge are essential to reimagining urban futures. This call asks for doctoral research proposals that engage with concepts of equity, diversity, and democracy, through the exploration of themes such as: Urban Justice and Displacement investigating the impacts of urban regeneration, focusing on how these processes lead to exclusion and loss of community, expanding from extant gentrification studies and drawing on ideas from, among others, Just City and Urban Commons frameworks. Urban Isolation and Belonging examining how urban precarity, transience, restricted access to education, housing, and employment, shape and emotional landscapes within the city, drawing, for example, on theories of urban affect and relational space. Intersectional Approaches to Urban Inequality using race, class, gender, and disability as lenses to understand how injustice is embedded in urban systems and explores how care networks—both formal and informal—emerge in response, informed by feminist and queer urban theories. Urban Collectivities and Social Movements as a means of making and shaping the city, of countering processes of privatisation and financialization, of fomenting inclusion and care, of giving voice to the under-represented, of conceptualising and testing alternative microcosms such as the ‘queer city’ or the fair city. Methodologies suggested (not exhaustive) The expectation is for proposals that employ humanities and/or social sciences methodologies. Human centred approach - ethnographic, archival, queer, trans & feminist, participatory action research, design methodologies and epistemology - that aims to contribute to societal change. How to Apply Applicants should ensure they utilise suitable arts and humanities methods to ensure their project design is eligible for funding, and consult full application guidance at the AD[A]PT website: www.adapt-phd.ac.uk/apply-here . You can find out more about AD[A]PT and how to apply, by looking at the AD[A]PT website , or FAQ page here: FAQ — AD[A]PT Updated 2026 . Please also consider signing up to one of the webinars on the “ Apply Here ” page, which are designed to allow applicants the opportunity to hear more from the team, and ask questions about the opportunity and how to apply. In the funding section of your online application, please specify that you are applying for the AD[A]PT project. Interviews are likely to take place early March 2027. Applicants must be available to start, in person, on campus by 1st October 2027. Applications should be received no later than 5:00pm (UK time) on 13th January 2027. For further details, please contact ARCHI-Research@cardiff.ac.uk . We particularly welcome applications from groups traditionally under-represented in postgraduate study. Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive environment for all. We welcome applications from all members of the global community irrespective of age, disability, sex, gender identity, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation. Funding Notes Full AHRC Doctoral Focal Award studentship tuition fee funding at UKRI home student rate, and full stipend and research training support grant. For any successful international candidate at Cardiff University, tuition fee difference between home and international students will be waived for the duration of the studentship. Both international and home students are welcome to apply, however AHRC limit the number of studentships awarded to international students. Successful candidates will join training and collaboration events with fellow AD[A]PT scholars at the Universities of Oxford Brookes and Falmouth. Applicants may apply for only one AD[A]PT studentship across the consortium.
