PhD Fellow in Radical Preservation for Biodiversity Enhancement through Co-construction

Aarch; Aarhus; Hybrid; DKK 320,000 - 440,000; Full time

Job summary

Aarhus School of Architecture invites project proposals that embed radical preservation of abandoned buildings and biodiversity enhancement within the village community and the natural environment from which they are to emerge.

The PhD project is part of UTOPIA THY and involves full-scale interventions in Bedsted Thy, collaborating with village communities and knowledge institutions to develop regenerative nature and village development methods.

Responsibilities

• Planning and carrying out a PhD research project and composing a PhD dissertation
• Authoring and co-authoring scientific articles and other types of academic dissemination related to the PhD research project
• Participating in and completing PhD courses in accordance with the regulations of the PhD programme
• Participating in and co-organising workshops, seminars and conferences
• Carrying out teaching in the school's educational programmes in subjects related to the PhD project and the knowledge areas of the research labs
• Completing a stay at a research institution outside Denmark of no less than two months
• Participating actively in the academic and social life of The PhD School and Aarhus School of Architecture

Job description

PhD Fellow in Radical Preservation for Biodiversity Enhancement through Co-construction

Would you like to take part in the uncovering and activation of unseen aspects of our cultural heritage and enhancement of biodiversity, through transformation, within existing built environments, in collaboration with an active local community?

Across most of the Western world, rural areas are undergoing profound changes. Social migration from the rural areas towards the larger cities, driven by the mechanisation of agriculture and the centralisation of public institutions, has led to rural depopulation, leaving countless villages with vacant, deteriorating houses and disconnected infrastructure.

The PhD call is aiming at the unseen aspects of our cultural heritage in conjunction with the material resources embedded in buildings, emptied of function, in areas affected by depopulation. It seeks to identify opportunities for expanding our current heritage apparatus to encompass more than conventional conservation and preservation based on upholding and prolonging. Aarhus School of Architecture invites project proposals that combine biodiversity-enhancing approaches to preservation, controlled decay, and subtractive as well as reuse-based transformation practices. Moreover, these practices are to be further developed in close collaboration with the surrounding local community. In short, the buildings emptied of function should be investigated as dynamic assets for those living in their immediate vicinity.

Partially ruined rural villages are often regarded as being subject to inevitable decline. Rather than interpreting this development as a loss, however, the PhD project should investigate how exchanges of cultural and historical knowledge can emerge through the transformation of buildings at the intersection of natural and cultural processes, potentially strengthening local community cohesion. Bearing in mind, the Urban Renewal Fund, Denmark’s National Afforestation Plan and the Green Tripartite Agreement, these partially ruined villages represent considerable potential for transforming buildings that have lost their original purpose into biodiversity-enhancing interfaces across species, while engaging with the cultural histories embedded within them.

The PhD project will form part of UTOPIA THY , an interdisciplinary co-construction and research project spanning a specific village community in Thy, municipal government and local and national knowledge institutions. Through full-scale interventions, UTOPIA THY transforms abandoned buildings and unused village spaces in Bedsted Thy into new communal spaces shaped by hybrids of cultural-historical building remnants and afforestation. The project unfolds as a village laboratory for developing methods for integrated regenerative nature and village development.

Aarhus School of Architecture invites project proposals in which the knowledge production to a substantial extent is based on Research through Design. The transformation at full-scale of one or more abandoned buildings in Bedsted Thy is therefore expected to provide the framework for developing and testing combined strategies for radical preservation and biodiversity enhancement. Through these interventions, the project should explore how transformation strategies incorporating controlled decay can activate cultural-historical dimensions while simultaneously initiating pockets of biodiversity.

Co-construction embedded in the local community and local stakeholders should be an integral part of the project proposal. This should facilitate an exploration of how the interventions can mediate between people and nature and potentially strengthen place-specific identity formation. A theoretical framework drawing on international approaches to transformation and forms of coexistence with nature, in partially unregulated societal contexts, could furthermore inform the development of the project’s notions of aesthetics and understanding of nature, both internationally and in the local context of Thy.

Collaboration with a concurrent PhD project in anthropology will provide an opportunity to strengthen the project’s inherent interdisciplinary dimensions. In particular, a focused understanding and involvement of the local community can enhance the relevance and long-term viability of physical interventions.

Overall, Aarhus School of Architecture invites project proposals that embed radical preservation of abandoned buildings and biodiversity enhancement within the village community and the natural environment from which they are to emerge.

All the advertised positions are full-time positions (37 hours per week). The workplace is Aarhus School of Architecture, Exners Plads 7, 8000 Aarhus C. And PhD students are expected to be actively and regularly present in the PhD school environment.

The responsibilities of a PhD student include:

• Planning and carrying out a PhD research project and composing a PhD dissertation
• Authoring and co-authoring scientific articles and other types of academic dissemination related to the PhD research project
• Participating in and completing PhD courses in accordance with the regulations of the PhD programme
• Participating in and co-organising workshops, seminars and conferences
• Carrying out teaching in the school's educational programmes in subjects related to the PhD project and the knowledge areas of the research labs
• Completing a stay at a research institution outside Denmark of no less than two months
• Participating actively in the academic and social life of The PhD School and Aarhus School of Architecture

What we offer you

At Aarhus School of Architecture, we offer a creative and innovative research and teaching environment to which PhD students also contribute actively.

In 2021 we moved into Denmark's first new built school of architecture, in the heart of Aarhus, with greatly expanded workshop facilities and an open structure that appeals to collaboration across the school's many academic environments. Take a look at our facilities .

The new building has made the school a more integrated part of the city and the surrounding area; an area that is now an environment that is creative and dedicated to social commitment. An environment in which tomorrow's architecture is created in collaboration with architecture firms and other stakeholders of the building industry, entrepreneurs, the municipality, the citizens of Aarhus, and partners from all over the world. Being a Scandinavian institution, we have a long-standing tradition of cultivating a local approach to architecture. This tradition is also our starting point for a strong international focus.

Employees of Aarhus School of Architecture enjoy opportunities to work with people of different age groups and from many different cultures. We work together across the institution, and we all play an important role. For which reason, our voice is heard regardless of the position we are employed in. We believe that we create the best framework for an attractive and vibrant workplace through mutual recognition and by focusing on cooperation.

Would you like to take part in the uncovering and activation of unseen aspects of our cultural heritage and enhancement of biodiversity, through transformation, within existing built environments, in collaboration with an active local community?

Across most of the Western world, rural areas are undergoing profound changes. Social migration from the rural areas towards the larger cities, driven by the mechanisation of agriculture and the centralisation of public institutions, has led to rural depopulation, leaving countless villages with vacant, deteriorating houses and disconnected infrastructure.

The PhD call is aiming at the unseen aspects of our cultural heritage in conjunction with the material resources embedded in buildings, emptied of function, in areas affected by depopulation. It seeks to identify opportunities for expanding our current heritage apparatus to encompass more than conventional conservation and preservation based on upholding and prolonging. Aarhus School of Architecture invites project proposals that combine biodiversity-enhancing approaches to preservation, controlled decay, and subtractive as well as reuse-based transformation practices. Moreover, these practices are to be further developed in close collaboration with the surrounding local community. In short, the buildings emptied of function should be investigated as dynamic assets for those living in their immediate vicinity.

Partially ruined rural villages are often regarded as being subject to inevitable decline. Rather than interpreting this development as a loss, however, the PhD project should investigate how exchanges of cultural and historical knowledge can emerge through the transformation of buildings at the intersection of natural and cultural processes, potentially strengthening local community cohesion. Bearing in mind, the Urban Renewal Fund, Denmark’s National Afforestation Plan and the Green Tripartite Agreement, these partially ruined villages represent considerable potential for transforming buildings that have lost their original purpose into biodiversity-enhancing interfaces across species, while engaging with the cultural histories embedded within them.

The PhD project will form part of UTOPIA THY , an interdisciplinary co-construction and research project spanning a specific village community in Thy, municipal government and local and national knowledge institutions. Through full-scale interventions, UTOPIA THY transforms abandoned buildings and unused village spaces in Bedsted Thy into new communal spaces shaped by hybrids of cultural-historical building remnants and afforestation. The project unfolds as a village laboratory for developing methods for integrated regenerative nature and village development.

Aarhus School of Architecture invites project proposals in which the knowledge production to a substantial extent is based on Research through Design. The transformation at full-scale of one or more abandoned buildings in Bedsted Thy is therefore expected to provide the framework for developing and testing combined strategies for radical preservation and biodiversity enhancement. Through these interventions, the project should explore how transformation strategies incorporating controlled decay can activate cultural-historical dimensions while simultaneously initiating pockets of biodiversity.

Co-construction embedded in the local community and local stakeholders should be an integral part of the project proposal. This should facilitate an exploration of how the interventions can mediate between people and nature and potentially strengthen place-specific identity formation. A theoretical framework drawing on international approaches to transformation and forms of coexistence with nature, in partially unregulated societal contexts, could furthermore inform the development of the project’s notions of aesthetics and understanding of nature, both internationally and in the local context of Thy.

Collaboration with a concurrent PhD project in anthropology will provide an opportunity to strengthen the project’s inherent interdisciplinary dimensions. In particular, a focused understanding and involvement of the local community can enhance the relevance and long-term viability of physical interventions.

Overall, Aarhus School of Architecture invites project proposals that embed radical preservation of abandoned buildings and biodiversity enhancement within the village community and the natural environment from which they are to emerge.

About the position

Enrolment in the PhD School with the aim of acquiring a PhD degree in architecture is a requirement for filling the position. The PhD programme is a three-year scientific course of study comprising teaching and dissemination in accordance with Bekendtgørelse om ph.d.-uddannelsen ved universiteterne og visse videregående kunstneriske uddannelsesinstitutioner .

All the advertised positions are full-time positions (37 hours per week). The workplace is Aarhus School of Architecture, Exners Plads 7, 8000 Aarhus C. And PhD students are expected to be actively and regularly present in the PhD school environment.

The responsibilities of a PhD student include:

• Planning and carrying out a PhD research project and composing a PhD dissertation
• Authoring and co-authoring scientific articles and other types of academic dissemination related to the PhD research project
• Participating in and completing PhD courses in accordance with the regulations of the PhD programme
• Participating in and co-organising workshops, seminars and conferences
• Carrying out teaching in the school's educational programmes in subjects related to the PhD project and the knowledge areas of the research labs
• Completing a stay at a research institution outside Denmark of no less than two months
• Participating actively in the academic and social life of The PhD School and Aarhus School of Architecture

What we offer you

At Aarhus School of Architecture, we offer a creative and innovative research and teaching environment to which PhD students also contribute actively.

In 2021 we moved into Denmark's first new built school of architecture, in the heart of Aarhus, with greatly expanded workshop facilities and an open structure that appeals to collaboration across the school's many academic environments. Take a look at our facilities .

The new building has made the school a more integrated part of the city and the surrounding area; an area that is now an environment that is creative and dedicated to social commitment. An environment in which tomorrow's architecture is created in collaboration with architecture firms and other stakeholders of the building industry, entrepreneurs, the municipality, the citizens of Aarhus, and partners from all over the world. Being a Scandinavian institution, we have a long-standing tradition of cultivating a local approach to architecture. This tradition is also our starting point for a strong international focus.

Employees of Aarhus School of Architecture enjoy opportunities to work with people of different age groups and from many different cultures. We work together across the institution, and we all play an important role. For which reason, our voice is heard regardless of the position we are employed in. We believe that we create the best framework for an attractive and vibrant workplace through mutual recognition and by focusing on cooperation.

We would like the position to be filled from 1 January 2027 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Additional information

Please direct any questions about the position to Associate Professor Mo Michelsen Stochholm Krag at [e-mail] / [phone].
Please note that staff at Aarhus School of Architecture will be on holiday during week 42.

The global changes the world is currently facing require action. At Aarhus School of Architecture, we educate and develop architects who take responsibility for the landscapes, cities, and buildings of the future.

We work for an architecture that is both beautiful and responsible – where aesthetics and ethics go hand in hand. With imagination as a driving force, we strengthen hope, rethink architectural practice, and connect time and place through transformation.

In strong, polyphonic communities, we collaborate across disciplines to explore the full range of architecture and educate architects who care for the climate, nature, and people – and who actively contribute to the development of society.

Together for a beautiful and responsible architecture