DFG Research Training Group Urban Future
The Research Training Group „Urban Future – managing transformations for a better health in blue cities“ examines how urban spaces along rivers and coastlines can be designed and managed to promote public health, ecological sustainability, and social justice. At its core is the concept of the „Blue City“: urban environments where water is not merely a resource or hazard, but an integral component of urban planning, infrastructure, and societal identity. The RTG bridges natural, health and economics & social sciences to decode the complex interactions between urban transformations, water-related challenges, and public health outcomes.
The RTG is operated by the University of Bonn and the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) and various partner universities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The heart of the RTG is the structured, interdisciplinary training program that places strong emphasis on developing systems thinking, transdisciplinary research, and the development of meta-competencies required for the interdisciplinary research of complex urban systems. Four research clusters (Urban Health Resilience, Urban Disease Ecology, Governance and Institutional Change, Adaptive Urban Ecosystems) form the conceptual foundation, operationally linked through four interdisciplinary research tracks.
Description
This cluster investigates how urban communities in Blue Cities cope with, adapt to, and build resilience against water-related health stressors such as flooding, drought, heat islands, air pollution, and unequal access to clean water. It focuses on social determinants of health, vulnerable populations, and the role of ecosystem services of green-blue infrastructure, participatory planning, and community-based health initiatives. The cluster integrates epidemiological, sociological, environmental and urban planning perspectives to develop strategies that link health protection with social equity and urban adaptation capacity.
Example PhD Topics and corresponding methods:
- Urban Food Systems
- Nutritional analysis, dietary surveys, health outcome measurements, intervention studies
- Soil Health and Soil Functions
- Soil surveys to quantify soil health indicators, Ecosystem & Functional Measurements
- One Health & Planetary Health Resilience
- Human (mental) health assessments, environmental exposure measurements, longitudinal studies, spatial analysis, socio-ecological analysis, intervention/transformative studies
- Urban Blue and Green Infrastructure
- Health impact assessment, Human (mental) health assessments, environmental exposure measurements, KAP surveys, perception surveys, spatial analysis, ecosystem services accounting
Supervisors:
Prof. Dr. Ina Danquah; PD Dr. Timo Falkenberg; Prof. Dr. Martin Hamer; Prof. Wiltrud Terlau; Prof. Dr. Mariele Evers
Description
Urban Disease Ecology explores the ecological and environmental drivers of disease in urban water landscapes. It focuses on water- and vector-borne infectious diseases, climate-induced health risks, and the interplay between urban morphology, water quality, and human health. The cluster applies One Health approaches to understand how changes in land use, water management, and urban density influence pathogen transmission. Research aims to develop predictive models, monitoring systems, and prevention strategies specifically tailored to the dynamics of Blue Cities.
Example PhD Topics and corresponding methods:
- Antimicrobial Resistance
- Microbiological sampling, cultural and molecular analyses, resistance profiling, surveys, water quality analysis, transmission and impact modelling
- Helminth Infections and NCDs
- Parasitological, microbiological and immunological analysis, clinical examinations, biomarker analysis, mouse model for mechanistic insight
- Urban Microbiome & Dietary Ecology
- Microbiome sequencing, dietary pattern analysis, meta-genomic analysis, computational analysis
- Vector-Borne Disease
- Climate monitoring, entomological surveys, temperature mapping, vector modelling, pathogen detection
Supervisors:
Prof. Dr. Christian Borgemeister; Prof. Dr. Achim Hörauf; Prof. Dr. Marc Hübner; Dr. Indulekha Karunakaran; Prof. Dr. Nico Mutters; PD Dr. Marijo Parcina; Dr. Manuel Ritter; Prof. Dr. Marie-Christine Simon; Dr. Nicole Zacharias.
Description
This cluster analyzes how political, institutional, and societal structures enable or hinder urban transformations towards better health in Blue Cities. Considering health and environmental systems it examines the complex water-health-governance nexus, including institutional and policy instrument design, inter-sectoral-collaboration, financing mechanisms, and participatory decision-making. It also addresses the political economy of institutional and technological change, and investigates the impact of urban interventions and resulting implications for institutional design. Research investigates how governance systems can be adapted to climate change, population growth, and unequal resource distribution. The goal is to generate evidence-based recommendations for inclusive, transparent, and adaptive urban development.
Example PhD Topics and corresponding methods:
- Biodiversity-Based Bio-Economies
- Economic impact assessment, policy and value chain analysis
- Cross-Sectoral Governance
- Stakeholder mapping, policy analysis, governance framework development, case studies
- Urban Transformation & Pharmaceutical Innovation
- Case study analysis, technology assessment, policy evaluation, innovation studies
- Political Economy of Health Equity and Technological Change
- Political economy analysis, institutional economics, policy process tracing, case studies, impact analysis
- Urban Healthcare Policy Implementation
- Institutional economics, case studies, impact analysis, microeconometric evaluation
- Climate-Responsive Health Policy
- Policy and infrastructure mapping, Spatial analysis, Policy evaluation, implementation research and economic impact assessment
Supervisors:
Prof. Dr. Katja Bender; Prof. Dr. Jan Börner; Prof. Dr. Anna-Katharina Hornidge; Prof. Dr. Simona Helmsmüller; Dr. Christoph Strupat.
Description
Adaptive Urban Ecosystems focuses on the planning, management, and ecological functionality of blue-green infrastructure in urban environments. It addresses land-use systems, future water infrastructure, nature-based solutions, and the resilience of urban ecosystems to climatic and socio-economic shifts. The cluster combines engineering, ecological, and planning approaches to study how urban systems can be sustainably designed through adaptive management, circular economy principles, and integrated water resource management. Research provides the scientific basis for multifunctional Blue Cities that link ecosystem services with urban quality of life.
Example PhD Topics and corresponding methods:
- Coupling Mechanisms of Urbanization
- Hydrological modelling, System dynamic modelling, analysis of ecosystem services
- Biodiversity and Human Wellbeing
- Biodiversity surveys, spatial data analysis, socioeconomic surveys
- Urban Soil Management
- Soil sampling, soil biodiversity surveys, morphological or molecular soil organism identification, soil health indicators, spatial analysis
- Urban Decision Environments
- Coupled Ecological-Economic Systems Modelling, Collective Learning Dynamics
- One Planetary Health
- Integrated modelling, framework development, systems thinking, commons governance studies
Supervisors:
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Barfuss; Dr. Bibiana Betancur; Prof. Dr. Lisa Biber-Freudenberger; Prof. Dr. Mariele Evers.
Call for Applications
DFG-Research Training Group (RTG)
„Urban Future – managing transformations for a better health in blue cities“
10 doctoral research positions (all genders)
in the interdisciplinary field of urban health
Application process & documents
The selection process is two-stage. Applications will be evaluated by the RTG Selection Committee, and only the most qualified candidates will be invited to a virtual interview.
- Curriculum vitae (tabular format)
- Higher education degree certificate(s) and full transcript(s) of records, including an explanation of the grading system of all previous studies.
- Motivation letter (max. 500 words)
- Research exposé (max. 1500 words)
- Interdisciplinary research statement (max. 500 words)
- Two letters of recommendation
- English language proficiency certification (B2 level (CEFR, TOEFL or equivalent))
In accordance with the Landesgleichstellungsgesetz (LGG) NRW, women will be given preference in cases of equal suitability, qualifications and professional performance, unless reasons relating to another candidate prevail.
Complete applications have to be submitted via the application portal by 19.10.2026
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