Healthier Places for Healthier People and Planet

1. Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

2. Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru

3. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

4. Royal Town Planning Institute

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Developing your own research topic proposal that addresses our call themes and priorities, outlined in the AD[A]PT Call for Proposals document.

Respond to a set research brief that has been developed by the academic team with input and feedback from our 13 partner organisations.

DescriptiDesigned, altered and shaped by architects, planners and other built environment professionals, our 'lived-in' environment underpins our existence and affects the health and wellbeing of all living entities, for good or ill.

Our research agenda will focus on the amplified impacts that the decisions made by built environment professionals can have on our collective efforts to reverse the trajectory towards climate breakdown and catastrophic biodiversity loss. In the face of these complex, parallel existential crises we need new ways to confront barriers that built environment professionals experience when attempting to deliver healthier places supporting a healthier planet and healthier lives.

We contend that creating healthy places through improved design will lead to a healthier people and planet. Despite decades of research giving us clear guidance on what kinds of designs better support health, a theory-practice gap persists, meaning delivering healthy places through design and adaptation is the exception rather than the norm. What is less well known is why, given this knowledge-base, the delivery of buildings and spaces that nurture and support health and wellbeing is not standard practice. We believe that architectural design and humanities research holds the key to addressing this theory-practice gap.

Our research agenda will focus on the amplified impacts that the decisions made by built environment professionals can have on our collective efforts to reverse the trajectory towards climate breakdown and catastrophic biodiversity loss. In the face of these complex, parallel existential crises we need new ways to confront barriers that built environment professionals experience when attempting to deliver healthier places supporting a healthier planet and healthier lives.on text goes here

Our research agenda will support doctoral architectural, design and humanities projects that:

●      identify barriers to built environment professionals creating healthy places

●      devise strategies and tactics to overcome the above identified barriers

●      problem-solve through design-led arts and humanities methodologies.

AD[A]PT will deliver a new generation of interdisciplinary doctoral scholars whose research specifically addresses barriers faced by built environment professionals to:

●      meet targets for the UN’s sustainable development goals, fulfilling the UK government’s pledge towards net zero, and biodiversity net gain towards a healthier planet

●      exceed life, health and fire safety standards in buildings to ensure healthier people

●      create healthy places that nurture, are accessible, inclusive and supportive of a rich diversity of life.

AD[A]PT will address the above research problem through studentships that uncover how to better, and more consistently, achieve known best practices towards a healthier people and planet through delivering healthier places. Our consortium is uniquely placed to achieve this through:

●      humanities research that explores different ways of understanding the problem

●      arts research that conceptualises these theorisations and tests their reception, and

●      design-based methodologies that translate those ideas into real-word practice.

Studentship projects will have the full benefit of being embedded in the inherently interdisciplinary schools of architecture and planning, with strong links to their allied professional bodies. We are looking for candidates that can demonstrate being adept at problem-solving and working collaboratively beyond disciplinary silos.

We are soliciting student-generated proposals that create more narrowly focused research projects in response to the broader research vision. Potential thematics your proposal could focus on within the open call are:

●     Generational differences (e.g. healthy ageing / healthy youth)

●     Inclusion, representation and justice

●     Healthy (urban) places (placemaking and community)

●     Green spaces

●     Cultural heritage

●     Regenerative practice

●     The role of the built environment professions

●     Homes and housing

●     Policy and design governance

●     Life and fire safety 

●     Healthy buildings

●     Healthcare environments

Proposals for investigating the above topics need to be grounded in arts and humanities research methods. While we are particularly interested in interdisciplinary proposals that utilise visualisation tools, use of AI in design, and/or arts-based research practice, we are open to a wide range of arts and humanities modes of inquiry.

Candidates applying for PhD programs have usually undertaken both an undergraduate and a master’s course, typically from a recognised UK university (HEI) or equivalent international institution. For information on what qualifications from outside the UK are accepted at each of our host institutions, please see the relevant webpages to help determine your academic eligibility. For any non-English language transcripts and certificates, certified official translations must be provided alongside the originals.

If in doubt as to whether you have sufficient credentials to meet the application requirements, please email the relevant institutions’ administrative contact to check before submitting.

Please note that according to UKRI funding rules, students who have already commenced their doctoral studies are not eligible for studentship awards and should not apply.

This call is open to both Home students and International candidates.

To be classed as a Home student for the purposes of fees, candidates must meet one of the following criteria, and the associated residency requirements (generally three years residency prior to the start of the course):

●      be a UK National

●      have settled status

●      have pre-settled status

●      have permanent residency, such as indefinite leave to remain or enter

●      be an Irish national (Irish nationals’ eligibility is derived from the UK-Ireland Common Travel Area Agreement).

If a candidate does not meet the criteria above, they would be classed as an International Student. For further information, please see here.

While international applications are welcome, please also note that due to UKRI funding rules, we are limited as to the number of total awards that can be awarded to international students (capped at 30% of the total number of studentships within our program). Studentships will only be funded up to the Home fees amount for all students; therefore, international students will have to cover the shortfall in fees either themselves or through a separate grant

Please also note the place of tenure requirements of the grant if awarded: both Home and International Students must be resident in the UK for the majority of their studies. The Student must live within a reasonable travel time of their Research Organisation or collaborative organisation to ensure that they are able to maintain regular contact with their department and their Supervisor. This is to ensure that students are not isolated and receive the full support, mentoring, training and access to facilities required to complete their research successfully and to a high standard. The only exceptions to these requirements are to cover periods of absence that are an essential part of their study e.g. fieldwork, study visits or conference attendance. There should be appropriate flexibility within the training grant to support periods of study overseas subject to adhering to UKRI guidance.

For your project to be eligible for AHRC funding, it needs to sit within their funding remit. In terms of mixed methods projects, your project needs to use primarily arts and humanities methods and methodologies on AHRC funded subjects/disciplines.

In the AD[A]PT proposal form, you will be asked to state under which subjects your project is eligible. Please refer directly to the subject list and clarifications provided on pages 37-44 in the document below when answering this question in the form: https://www.ukri.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AHRC-200525-ResearchFundingGuide-Version7.2-May2025.pdf

For interdisciplinary proposals, please additionally refer to the following statement:

“In order for a proposal to be eligible to be submitted to the AHRC, the majority of the research, i.e. the main focus of its research questions/problems, must lie within the Arts and Humanities. For proposals that cross Research Council boundaries the Research Councils have put in place the following agreement”: https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/get-support-for-your-project/if-your-research-spans-different-disciplines/