Call for Applications: for Scholarship- “Justice dimensions of sustainability-oriented transformation processes in rural areas”, Application deadline: November 2, 2026
With funds from the Hans Böckler Foundation, up to 3 PhD scholarships will be awarded within the doctoral college “Justice Dimensions of Sustainability-Oriented Transformation Processes in Rural Areas” (PK 060) at the University of Vechta, starting in June 2027 at the earliest. Within the University of Vechta, the doctoral college is affiliated with the Vechta Institute of Sustainability Transformation in Rural Areas (VISTRA).
Sustainability transformations have become a central topic of scientific, social and political discourse in recent years. However, as dynamic processes of change, transformations are also accompanied by social impacts that are not perceived as positive by all those affected (including “transformation pains”). Thus, they raise questions of social justice that have so far been little understood, empirically researched, and reflected upon. The aim of the doctoral program is to make a significant contribution to closing this gap. The doctoral college places special emphasis on processes in rural areas. In order to examine the different sustainabilityoriented transformation processes, their different facets, aspects and concepts of justice, the doctoral program pursues a comparative case study approach across individual dissertations that explicitly includes quantitative and mixed-methods approaches.
Examples of dissertation topics include, but are not limited to
• Transformation of the energy sector: Energy affordability and new (in)equity relations between urban and rural areas;
• Spatial justice: Equitable livelihoods, social places and local resilience;
• Uncertainty about the “right” ethical standard (normative uncertainty) as a practical and theoretical problem in designing just transformations;
• The role of risk and uncertainty for perceived (in)justice in transformation processes
• Justice issues in socio-technical transition and innovation processes (e.g. in digitalization, bio-economy);
• Justice-relevant effects of supraregional nature and climate protection policies (e.g. accounting for urban-rural relations, between the global North and South));
• Gender justice in the design of transformation processes;
• The role of trade unions in shaping just sustainability transformations;
• etc.
We welcome applications from fields relevant to the topics of the doctoral program, such as human geography, social sciences, applied ethics, economics, sustainability science or psychology. Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches are welcome and supported; applications with a quantitative or mixed-methods design are explicitly encouraged. Good German and English language skills are required for the application (at least level B2 for German, C1 for English); the doctoral thesis can be written in English. Further inquiries related to the program may be addressed to any of the researchers involved with the doctoral college.
Application deadline for scholarships is November 2, 2026
For more details, refer here
