The Research Committee 21 (RC21) of the International Sociology Association, the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR) and the IJURR Foundation invite applications from PhD students for up to 25 places on our 8th Doctoral School in Comparative Urban Studies, to be held in Vienna from 9 to 22 July 2026. The School is being held in conjunction with the RC21 Conference (20-22 July 2026) held at the University of Vienna on the theme of “Inequalities and the City. Old Issues, New Challenges” (see https://rc21-vienna2026.org/). The School is co-organised in collaboration with the Chair of Urban Sociology at the University of Vienna (Prof. Yuri Kazepov and collaborators).
Aims
The School is aimed at PhD students at the beginning of their doctoral studies. As in previous editions (see https://www.rc21.org/en/summer-schools/), the School will focus on the interaction of theory, methodology and methods in the (comparative) study of cities and urban and regional socio-spatial processes. The School addresses key questions such as: What research approaches, methodologies and methods are appropriate to make sense of the changes occurring in contemporary urban society? How should we make use of, or combine, different qualitative and quantitative sources of data and research methods? What is the value added of comparative research in urban studies to understand how and why cities across the world are changing?
Themes
Within those discussions on theory, methods and comparison in urban studies, the themes of the 2026 edition of the RC21 Conference will be addressed, namely how old and new inequalities are produced, expressed, contested and addressed in cities and regions across the globe – and how we can study them from various disciplines of urban and regional studies. Cities have long been spaces where social, economic, political and environmental inequalities are produced and addressed through various forms of collective action. Questions of access to housing, basic goods, employment, livelihoods, education, welfare services, and public spaces have historically shaped social sciences, in particular urban and regional studies, and remain central today. These persistent challenges intersect with multiple, intertwined dynamics that are reshaping (urban) life in complex ways. Across the world, in the Global ‘North’ and ‘South’, inequalities are deepening under the combined effects of economic and technological transformations; climate change; environmental degradation and depletion; armed conflicts; neo-colonial, exclusionary and xenophobic political projects, etc. To some extent, those dynamics challenge traditional analytical, methodological and theoretical frameworks for understanding inequalities, citizenship, integration, belonging, and the collective action capacity of social actors and institutions.
Format
The School provides PhD students at the beginning of their doctoral studies with an opportunity to learn from each other and from established scholars from diverse disciplines and parts of the world, through both formal classes and informal interactions. The language of the School will be English. The program includes 10 days of activities (9 – 19 July 2026) following by 3 days of attendance at the RC21 conference (20 – 22 July 2026). Each day will typically comprise presentations by one or two scholars in the morning, providing insights into the use of various methods in urban and regional research, and in the theory and practice of comparison. Those sessions will draw from the scholars’ own research and entail a discussion with the students. In the afternoon, students will present and receive feedback on an individual paper presenting their doctoral research, in discussion with their peers and guest scholars, so as to link the discussion of research methods and approaches to their own work. In addition, guest lectures, site visits in Vienna, and practical sessions on how to publish in urban and regional studies, will be offered.
Fees and scholarships
For students registered for a doctoral research degree in an academic institution located in countries classified in the ISA category A (see https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/membership/table-of-economies-by-category):
· The full fee for the School is EUR 1,000. This amount covers the organisational costs and includes: accommodation for 14 nights (from 9th until 23rd July 2026, in single private rooms in a student residence located in a shared flat with a shared kitchen and shared bathroom), a welcome reception/dinner and a final reception/dinner, a Vienna public transport travel card, site visits/tours, online access to readings and teaching materials, the registration fee for the RC21 conference, and RC21 membership for 4 years.
· The payment of the fee to RC21 will be due in April 2026. The fee does not cover your travel expenses to/from Vienna, your daily subsistence expenses (meals, drinks), and private travel/health insurance for the duration of your trip.
For students currently registered for a doctoral research degree in an academic institution located in countries classified in the ISA category B & C (see https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/membership/table-of-economies-by-category):
- Funding from the IJURR Foundation and RC21 allows us to offer approx. 10 full scholarships to students currently registered for a doctoral research degree in an academic institution located in countries classified in the ISA category B & C. Scholarships will cover reasonable travel expenses (in economy class), visa costs, accommodation for 14 nights (from 9th until 23rd July 2026, in single private rooms in a student residence, located in a shared flat with a shared kitchen and shared bathroom), a welcome reception/dinner and a final reception/dinner, a Vienna public transport travel card, site visits/tours, online access to readings and teaching materials, the registration fee for the RC21 conference, and RC21 membership for 4 years.
- The scholarships do not cover daily subsistence expenses (meals, drinks), not private travel/health insurance for the duration of your trip.
- Important note: The visa and travel expenses of student participants who are granted a full scholarship will normally have to be paid upfront by the participants, and will be reimbursed shortly after the School upon presentation of receipts and original tickets.
- One scholarship will be earmarked for a Palestinian PhD student who fits the academic requirements of admission.
Eligibility
The School is aimed at PhD students at the beginning of their doctoral studies (1st or 2nd year ideally), who are still finalising their research design and methodological approaches and have not started – or not yet finished – their field work. The School is not suitable for students who are at the end of their PhD studies, as it focuses on introducing and discussing the use of various research designs and methods, and thinking about the development of students’ research design, and/or comparisons in urban studies.
Organising institutions
RC21 – the Research Committee 21 on the Sociology of Urban and Regional Development of the International Sociological Association – is a non-profit scientific association established in 1970 to promote theory and research in the sociology of urban and regional development, and – in so doing – create an international community of scholars who will advance the field of urban and regional studies.
The IJURR Foundation (previously Foundation for Urban and Regional Studies) was set up in 1995 as a charity. Its main source of income is the surplus generated by the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, run by a wholly-owned subsidiary of the IJURR Foundation. The aims of IJURR Foundation are to ‘promote and improve social scientific research, education and scholarship in the field of urban, rural and regional studies’.
