Architecture Curation and Culture, and Architecture History and Decarbonisation
January 30–April 27, 2026
Netherlands
The Chair of Architectural History and Theory (AHT) at TU Eindhoven invites doctoral research proposals in three inter-related research arenas.
The Curatorial Research Collective (CRC), directed by Sergio M. Figueiredo, invites doctoral research proposals that investigate the construction of architecture culture and curatorial practices with a particular emphasis on social, economic, political, and cultural systems.
Originally established for academic research and curatorial initiatives, the CRC continues to expand its advanced research intents by welcoming proposals for doctoral research that pertain to its research interests. Specifically, the CRC welcomes new doctoral research projects that question the work of formal and informal institutions shaping architecture curation and culture (such as museums, archives, centers, groups, movements…), or that probe the various initiatives that occupy the intersection of architecture and society (such as exhibitions, biennales and triennales, books, journals, public discussions and programs, support policies, new media…), or any other pressing issue shaping architecture culture. Furthermore, the Curatorial Research Collective invites innovative proposals that productively collide theory and practice, particularly those that reveal rather than smooth the breaks, difficulties, tensions, and discontinuities within architecture culture, in both its historical and contemporary condition.
Ultimately, the aim of the Curatorial Research Collective is to develop a working understanding of architecture curation and culture—particularly of the various moments and instruments that compose such cultural apparatus—through comprehensive studies allowed by doctoral research.
The track on History and Decarbonisation, directed by Daniel A. Barber, seeks ambitious multidisciplinary work that considers how historical knowledge impacts collective approaches to social challenges, and in particular the complex relationship between the history of architecture and the deepening climate crisis.
History and Decarbonization is focused, first, on an expanded global archive—overflowing with designs, experiments, and technologies; and with novel narratives, case studies, and disciplinary adjacencies. We invite research projects across the geographic and temporal spectrum that consider architecture as a medium in two important ways: As a screen, a façade, an image that registers social investments, and as a material substrate through which energy flows.
The History and Decarbonization track is also focused on research and production method in architectural-historical scholarship. At the limit—how can history facilitate decarbonisation? What are the stories and narratives or relevance, how can they be told, how do they relate to challenge sin practice, especially in tersm of the exploration of usable pasts and the persistence of customary practice and technology. Proposals that propose novel methods and outputs integrating critical analysis, historical research, and design research are also welcome, as are projects that take this multidisciplinary operationalism into technologies, materials, and computational method.
In the upcoming years, we also anticipate PhD openings in a third track, Heritage and Climate Change, directed by Deniz Ikiz, that concentrates on the nexus of cultural heritage and climate change. This track welcomes research proposals embodying heritage in its broad context, including cultural and natural, tangible and intangible assets and attributes. Specifically, this track will investigate further how heritage and communities are affected by climate change, how they can be transformed to become more resilient, and/or how they can contribute to global and local climate adaptation efforts. In this context, we will invite multi-, inter- and/or transdisciplinary research proposals that can draw upon environmental sciences, architecture and built environment, social sciences, and humanities. We encourage topics ranging from heritage climate risk assessments to climate justice and colonial legacies, as well as case studies across the globe. The Heritage and Climate Change track aims to bring together researchers from diverse knowledge areas and fields that explore the different ways in which heritage can support climate action.
Accepted PhD candidates will conduct advanced independent research on their topic supported by a daily supervisor and other members of the Chair of Architecture History and Theory at TU Eindhoven. PhD candidates are expected (and supported) to present their research and results through journal and magazine articles, conference papers, as well as public symposia and exhibitions. Opportunities for teaching research seminars and design studios are available for advanced candidates. Applications will be assessed based on the quality of the applicant, the quality, originality and potential impact of the proposed research, as well as how these fit within the track’s stated goals.
Accepted PhD candidates may choose to follow the doctoral program either in the Netherlands or remotely (with supervision being conducted online).
Application form
Application deadline: April 5, 2026 (at midnight CET) / Contact with select applicants: April 27, 2026 / Interviews with select applicants: May 11–15, 2026 / Notification of acceptance: June 1st, 2026 / Start of program: September 2026.
About AHT
The Chair of Architecture History and Theory (AHT) sits in the Architecture, Urban Design and Engineering Unit (AUDE) in the Department of the Built Environment at TU Eindhoven. The Chair supports research on history, heritage, and discourse, and offers lecture courses, seminars and studios concerned with the global history of architecture and its environments, for Bachelor and Master programs in AUDE. Through these and other collaborative activities we focus on how critical analysis of the built environment supports disciplinary and social transformation.
