The call for hosting the 2026 AESOP PhD Workshop is now open!
All Full and Associate AESOP Member institutions are warmly encouraged to apply[1].
The deadline for the submission of bids is February 21st, 2025.
The decision will be made by the Council of Representatives at the meeting which will take place during the AESOP 2025 Heads of School Meeting in Liverpool, on March 12th, 2025.
AESOP PhD Workshop - Organization Guidelines
General rules for applying for the organization of an AESOP event:
- Candidate institutions should send in their proposals to the AESOP Secretariat General (
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) in the form of a note of up to 5 pages by the given deadline. - The Council of Representatives of AESOP, at the meeting following the proposal submission deadline, will examine the proposals and vote to select the future host.
- Each candidate will be given a 10-minute time slot in the agenda of the Council of Representatives meeting to present the proposal. It is strongly recommended that the candidates use this opportunity to address the Representatives directly. If a candidate institution does not choose to present its proposal, it may settle for an online presentation or ask a member of the Council to do the presentation.
- The selected host will also be asked to present the concept of the Workshop to the General Assembly, which will take place during the AESOP Congress in Istanbul (July 2025).
Information the candidates should provide:
1. Information about the University and School/Department/Faculty:
- the profile of the University and the School/Department/Faculty, including details about contribution to planning research and planning education,
- the reasons for which the School/Department/Faculty wishes to organize the event,
- the organizational and technical capacity of the University and School/Department/Faculty to handle the event,
- details about AESOP experience e.g. details about faculty members being a past track chair, session chair, etc.; participation in previous congresses; faculty members served in AESOP office functions; etc.
- the financial capability of the University and the School/Department/Faculty to support the event. A proposal for the price range of registration fees should be supplied. It is to be noted that:
- despite collecting the event registration fees, certain payments may have to be made very early during the preparation process before the registration is open,
- the host is responsible for local sponsorship and support.
- In case the registration fees cover less than 100% of the budget, AESOP may decide to cover the incurred deficit up to 2.000€.
2. Information about the location:
- accessibility of the location and accommodation capacity at the location (N.B. The hosting institution should provide accommodation to the PhD Workshop participants, included in the registration fee),
- attractiveness of the location from the perspective of planners,
- estimated cost of attending the event for participants (transport, etc.).
3. Information about the proposed topic, format, and location of the Workshop.
Candidate institutions need to be aware that:
- A generic contract for the PhD workshop is available here. The contract will be required to be signed before the Heads of School meeting in 2026.
- The fee shall cover participation, lodging, meals and social programme during the Workshop.
- The selected candidate will have to form a Local Organizing Committee (LOC), including a member of the AESOP Young Academics Network Coordination Team, and a representative of the LOC will have to participate to the AESOP 2025 Congress in Istanbul (July 2025), for transfer of experience.
- The selected candidate will have to secure with their institution the availability of the venue and support of the institution’s administration.
- The LOC will be required to interact very closely with the AESOP Conference Officer and the AESOP Young Academic Network member included in the LOC, concerning decision-making on key elements such as the identification of the Mentors and Co-Mentors, the definition of the Workshop Program etc.
- The selected candidate will have to organize the PhD Workshop, on a topic which is related to Spatial Planning.
- The PhD Workshop should be organized in the Autumn 2026, in order not to contradict with other AESOP-related activities (e.g. HoS and YA conference in the Spring 2026, WPSC 2026 in July in Helsinki).
The recent AESOP PhD Workshops took place in:
- 2010: Seili Island, Finland
- 2011: Kostelec and Czernymi Lesy, Czech Republic
- 2012: Izmir, Turkey
- 2013: Belfast, Ireland
- 2014: Delft, Netherlands
- 2015: High Tatra, Slovakia
- 2016: Leuven, Belgium
- 2017: Aveiro, Portugal
- 2018: Karlskrona, Sweden
- 2019: Ferrara, Italy
- 2020: No workshop held due to COVID-19 pandemic
- 2021: Bratislava, Slovakia
- 2022: Narva, Estonia
- 2023: Poznan, Poland
- 2024: Grenoble, France
Practical information:
1. Applications are to be sent by email to the AESOP Secretariat General at
2. Accepted file formats:
a) text files: .docx, .doc, .rtf, .pdf
b) image files: .jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp, .tiff, .pdf
c) video files: .mpeg, .mpg, .mpe, .mov, .wmv
3. The application will be included in the materials for the Council of Representatives meeting in the format sent to the Secretariat General.
4. In case the files are extremely large it is strongly recommended to send compressed files (.zip).
[1] Joint applications are also welcomed, however, both institutions need to be an AESOP Full or Associate Member. It is also stressed that there needs to be a lead institution driving the event. If an applicant is a consortium, a clear statement about which partner will be the contract holder is necessary.
