Action 3- Reflexive Workshops by Junior Researchers

Summary posters

The SMUS Action 3, (Post)Doctoral Programme, allows academic research to be conducted at both the doctoral and postdoctoral levels. It thus supports and connects diverse research projects examining social and environmental changes unfolding throughout different world regions and connected to wicked urban problems (WUP). Developing methodological research skills relative to transdisciplinarity, spatial methods, and practice-led research sheds new light on the paradoxical nature of WUP. This in turn results in the basis for: (a) a wider comprehension of WUP across developing countries, enabling for comparison between them; (b) identifying common patterns and practices for dealing with WUP; and (c) implementing contextual knowledge (i.e. based on the personal, local and strategic as well as on specialized disciplinary contributions through open transdisciplinarity).

Against this backdrop, the SMUS Action 3 – Step 1, PhD Training Programme, took place in 2025 (see the poster below for further information). Designed to help participants formulate a sound doctoral research proposal, the programme provided them with the necessary resources and skills to develop proposals addressing both content-related issues (e.g. research question, hypothesis, research design, and method selection, etc.) and logistics (e.g. timetable, budget, and fieldwork planning). Alongside lectures and presentations on topics such as research design, sustainability research, and transdisciplinarity, the training programme included thematic excursions Action 3 – Junior Researchers Experiences on Thematic Excursions and a series of reflexive workshops.

To organize the workshops, participants worked in groups to select a topic to be examined through the lens of the WUP. During each session, the participants prepared and delivered a discussion on the subject being addressed from a WUP perspective, facilitating critical discussion on how to approach and research the WUP. The following posters offer an overview of the workshops.

Reflexive Workshop: Summary Posters

Please click on the link below the images to view the pdf posters