Brussels Centre for Urban Studies

07/09/2026

🎓 PhD Defense: The Research Group Cosmopolis Centre for Urban Studies (VUB) and the Research Group OSA Urbanism & Architecture (KULeuven) have the honor to invite you to the public defense of the PhD thesis of Céline Drieskens to obtain the degree of Doctor of Sciences.

🌍 Thesis Title: Housing as a Matter of Justice: Politics & Practices beyond the Right to Housing in Brussels

🔍 About the Research: This research turns to Brussels as the backdrop for its empirical study, and asks: how do collective forms of resistance for housing justice take shape in a context where the right to housing is legally enshrined, yet housing politics are fragmented and growing housing precarity is largely normalised? Situated within housing justice scholarship, it advances housing justice as an analytical lens through which to politicize the housing crisis and reframe it as a collective and systemic issue. Advancing housing justice serves as a way to expand the political horizon of right-to-housing frameworks, allowing for an understanding of how rights acquire meaning and political force through collective struggle.

The field work for this research builds on traditions of militant ethnography as a politically engaged method, focusing on activist participation from within struggle and rooted in the principles of mutual aid, accountability and long-term embeddedness. Through its multi-sited militant ethnography, this research reframes the right to housing through housing justice, demonstrating how collective practices often exceed what is commonly articulated within rights-based frameworks. In doing so, it advances housing justice as a lens through which housing struggles become visible and politically central.

💡Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from this work!

📅 11 September 2026 (15.00-17.00h)
📍 Usquare Campus, Boulevard General Jacques 210, Brussels
🔗 Register to join online or in person: https://framaforms.org/phd-defense-friday-11-september-2026-celine-drieskens-1786301007

10/08/2026

💡 Wetenschapsfestival: Call for VUB Research Presentations

The Wetenschapsfestival is the largest science event in Flanders and Brussels. On 15 November 2026, the Muntpunt library will serve as a central location for public outreach. The event offers VUB researchers a platform to present their work to the general public. This is an opportunity to raise the profile of research, engage directly with visitors and inspire people of all ages to take an interest in science. VUB researchers get the opportunity to share their research in various formats.

📅 Date: 15 November 2026 (10.00–17.00h)
🏢 Location: Bibliotheek Muntpunt, Muntplein 6, 1000 Brussel
❗ Deadline: Register with your research until 4 September 2026

🔗 More information and registration: https://urbanstudies.brussels/news-events/wetenschapsfestival-call-vub-research-presentations


🔗 More information and registration:

29/07/2026

🎫 Conference: GATHERINGS Final Conference

The GATHERINGS project explored surveillance practices in public space, looking at their effectiveness, privacy protection, and economic and social costs. The Research Group Crime & Society (CRiS) from VUB is one of the ten consortium partners exploring the intersections of security, privacy, and cost.

❗Day 1: Final Conference

In the Final Conference, practitioners, policymakers, researchers, industry and civil society will be brought together to share the project’s main results. The day will include keynote contributions from experts in the field and the launch of the project’s book: EU Handbook on Surveillance of Public Gatherings.

🏢 Location: VUB Main Campus, Promotion Room, building D.2.01
📅 Date: 16 September 2026 (9:00–17:00)

❗Day 2: Mobilisation and Mutual Learning Workshop

In this workshop participants will be invited to test the project’s Awareness-Raising Campaigns on the use of surveillance in public gatherings. The workshop is designed for practitioners, policymakers and researchers who want to explore practical communication approaches.

🏢 Location: VUB Main Campus, LIC Learning Theatre
📅 Date: 17 September 2026 (10:00–12:00)

🔗 More information: https://urbanstudies.brussels/news-events/gatherings-final-conference

17/07/2026

🚨Vacancy: Coordinator for House of Sustainable Transitions🌍

The House of Sustainable Transitions (HOST) is looking for a new coordinator! HOST is an interdisciplinary platform at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. You will become part of the support team and will facilitate the daily operations of HOST.

📂 In this role, you will keep HOST running smoothly by bringing structure to daily operations, administrative workflows, and financial tracking. At the same time, you will act as the team's central connector, building warm relationships across the VUB and the wider Brussels sustainability ecosystem to help turn exciting new ideas and collaborations into reality.

🔎 HOST is looking for a proactive organizer and natural connector who has a passion for sustainability, societal change, and the role of research in driving this transition. Ideally, you bring experience in project coordination, feel right at home with digital collaboration tools, and speak excellent English and Dutch, with French being a plus!

🏢 Location: VUB Main Campus
📅 Starting date: 1 September 2026
💼 Contract: A fixed-term contract (1 year, with the possibility of extension), with an employment rate of 80% to 100% (to be discussed mutually)

⏳ Apply by: 26 July 2026
🔗 More details on the position: https://urbanstudies.brussels/news-events/vacancy-coordinator-house-sustainable-transitions

26/06/2026

🚨Vacancy: Postdoctoral position on polluter and wealth elites💎

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to coordinate the Chair in Decarbonisation and Justice of the Swifft Collective, a collaborative initiative between ULB and VUB. The Chair Holder will develop a research agenda for just socio-ecological transitions and the regulation of polluter elites, who disproportionately contribute to carbon-intensive practices and investments. The researcher will co-supervise two PhD projects in collaboration with the Chair’s co-promoters, Prof. Tom Bauler (ULB-SONYA) and Prof. Bas van Heur (VUB-COSMOPOLIS), and will also develop their own research project.

📅 Start date: Autumn 2026
⏳ Application deadline: 3 September 2026
🔗 More details on the position via this
https://urbanstudies.brussels/news-events/vacancy-postdoc-researcher-polluter-and-wealth-elites

15/06/2026

🚨Vacancy: Flows in the Construction Sector🏗️

We are looking for 2 PhD researchers to conduct research on the Brussels construction sector as a nexus of labour, materials, and capital, from the nineteenth century to the present. The PhD trajectories are part of the broader interdisciplinary research project ‘Flows in the Construction Sector. Urban-Environmental Histories of Labour, Materials, and Money’, a collaboration between the VUB research groups VUB Architectural Engineering Lab, Social History of Capitalism, and Cosmopolis Centre for Urban Research

The two PhD researchers will develop their own research proposals within the broader project framework. Possible research trajectories include:
👷‍♂️mobility, migration, and entrepreneurship: who builds the city?
🚧Risk, precarity, and responsibility: under what conditions is the city built?
♻️ Extraction, circulation, and sustainability: where do building materials come from, how do they circulate, and at what cost?

📅 Start date: 1 November 2026
⏳ Application deadline: 8 July 2026
🔗 More details on the open positions via the link in bio

12/06/2026

You have two more weeks to submit your proposal!

Does your organisation face urban challenges and need research-based expertise to address them effectively? Would you like to collaborate with dedicated students who can contribute their academic expertise and unique interdisciplinary perspectives? If so, we invite you to respond to this call for project proposals by 30 June 2026!

Please also check our project page for examples of student work from previous years: https://urbanstudies.brussels/project-seminar-applied-urban-research

🚧 Are you part of a citizen association, urban planning department or firm, NGO, cultural institution or other public, civic or private organization? Facing urban challenges and seeking research-based expertise? Willing to work with passionate students with interdisciplinary perspectives?

📢 Call for Project Proposals 2026/27
We are looking for project proposals that address a clear research question or issue, based on and anchored in the professional activities of your organization. Our annual Project Seminar in Applied Urban Research engages students in transdisciplinary research with non-academic organizations to address common urban challenges. Students work in small groups on a project or research question commissioned by a public, civic or private organization as the main client. Clients are expected to propose a well-defined project, interact with students at key moments, and provide professional support throughout the academic year. Students combine desktop research and empirical investigation to produce output that responds to the client’s brief.

📄In the project proposal, clients are invited to present their organization, describe the issue that needs to be addressed by the students, its relevance to the organization, the envisioned methodology and timing, and the expected output.

Eager to participate?
📆 Submit your proposal by June 30, 2026
🌍 Proposals welcome in EN, NL, FR, or DE.

🔗 For more info: https://lnkd.in/e-YFjh8b

09/06/2026

On Thursday, Ward Van Hemeledonck will give a presentation on discourses around micromobility transportation modes🛴

🔍 Electric micromobility, such as e-bikes and trottinettes, is getting more popular and is promoted as a sustainable alternative to car trips. However, their acceptance is often contested, and these transport modes are at the heart of social and political debates on safety, public space, accessibility, and legitimacy. Ward’s presentation is based on a critical discourse analysis of electric micromobility in newspaper articles. He discusses how some modes become associated with ideas of sustainability, health, and progress, and others are linked to risk, nuisance, and social disorder.

🛵 Join the presentation to reflect on legitimacy and mobility justice with electric micromobility examples!

📍Where?
U-Square, U.A.0.03 (Blvd Géneral Jacques 210A, 1050 Ixelles)

📆When?
June 11, between 12:00 and 13:15. Stay longer for an informal discussion and dessert🍰

👉Read more and register on our website

26/05/2026

Here are a few pictures from Sara Marzio’s presentation, which took place last Thursday during a Cosmopolis Lunch seminar. Sara discussed the role of Nature-based solutions for urban waterfront regeneration, exploring the divergence between theory-based categories and contextual, real-life examples. We would like to thank Sara for the presentation, and invite everyone to the next lunch seminar on June 11th (it’s going to be the last before the summer!)

19/05/2026

On Thursday, Sara Marzio will give a presentation on how Nature-based Solutions can be used for urban waterfront regeneration

🔍Waterfronts are increasingly more vulnerable to climate change and environmental degradation, which require more sustainable and adaptive responses. These challenges are particularly pressing in urban spaces, where grey infrastructure and space restrictions make urban waterfronts particularly vulnerable and important in the urban ecosystem. In her presentation, Sara explores how Nature-based Solutions can support urban waterfront regeneration by observing real-world case studies. She will present the most recurring approaches, discussing how the practice-based approaches differ from theoretical approaches, and discuss the many roles of NbS.

Join the presentation to learn more about Nature-based Solutions for urban waterfronts!

📍Where?
U-Square, U.A.0.03 (Blvd Géneral Jacques 210A, 1050 Ixelles)

📆When?
May 21, between 12:00 and 13:15. Stay longer for an informal discussion and dessert🍰

👉Read more and register on our website https://urbanstudies.brussels/news-events/cosmopolis-lunch-seminar-w-sara-marzio