Join SONYA: 2 PhD Positions on Urban Polluter Elites and Sufficiency Now Open!

We are delighted to announce an open call for two fully funded, four-year PhD positions within the project “Governing just transitions from the top: Barriers and levers to align urban polluter elites with sufficiency corridors”, hosted by the Just Transitions Chair of Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) as part of the SWIFFT programme. 

The Just Transitions Chair seeks to contribute to the emerging research agenda on polluter elites and sufficiency by investigating who urban polluter elites are, how they relate to other social-ecological classes, and what institutional, political, spatial, infrastructural, and cultural factors shape their engagement with sufficiency. This transdisciplinary project also explores governance pathways to advance sufficiency for a just transition.

Each PhD student will develop their own thesis project within this broader research agenda. We welcome applications from candidates with diverse disciplinary backgrounds who are interested in contributing to a cutting-edge topic of strong academic and societal importance.

The successful candidates will be co-supervised by an interdisciplinary team: Chair holder Dr. Aurore Fransolet (ULB-SONYA), and co-coordinators Prof. Tom Bauler (ULB-SONYA) and Prof. Bas van Heur (VUB-COSMOPOLIS). 

• Application deadline: 15 August 2025

• Start date: November 2025 (flexible)

• Location: Brussels, ULB-VUB USQUARE Campus

The full call for applications is available via the following link.

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact Aurore Fransolet (aurore.fransolet@ulb.be), Tom Bauler (tom.bauler@ulb.be) and/or Bas van Heur (bas.van.heur@vub.be).