The Faculty of Architecture La Cambre Horta, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Research Group Landscape, Urbanism, Infrastructure, Ecologies is recruting a PhD student to work within the ARC projet GImME (Gendered Imaginaries of Mobility and Ecology) under the supervision of Claire Pelgrims and Meike Brodersen. Situated at the intersection of mobility studies, urban design, and sociology the GImME project will uncover the gendered, normative underpinnings of current mobility systems and explore transformative pathways towards a more inclusive and sustainable mobility culture using a multi-site, multi-method approach combining content analysis, policy analysis with qualitative interviews and ethnographic, mobile and audiovisual go-along methods.

We offer a doctoral grant for a four-year doctoral trajectory including a research component of approximately 90% of the workload for the preparation of a doctorate. You will actively participate in the day-to-day functioning of the research group and Faculty. As the program is in French, proficiency in French, at the beginning of the appointment, is required.

The research part of this vacancy is situated at the intersection of mobility studies, urban design, and sociology. The PhD student will take part in the collaborative research project ‘Gendered Imaginaries of Mobility and Ecology’ (ARC 2026-2030) led by Dr. Meike Brodersen. By reaching across the otherwise disparate disciplinary fields, the GImME project will uncover the gendered, normative underpinnings of current mobility systems and explore transformative pathways towards a more inclusive and sustainable mobility culture. Policies and innovations for future mobilities are often inherently androcentric, while previous studies of mobility and gender insufficiently account for the gender eco gap. Through the concept of imaginaries, the project recognises mobility as shaped not only by technological and infrastructural factors, but also by deep-seated cultural norms and gendered ideologies. The project challenges traditional planning paradigms by highlighting the symbolic and socio-cultural dimensions of mobility and explores how underlying androcentric and techno-solutionist assumptions may inhibit transitions to sustainability.

It proposes a novel, integrated analytical framework for both the social (re)production of mobility imaginaries and their potential transformation, as a structuring force in the production of mobility systems. Rather than focusing on individual behavioural change, we show how imaginaries are transformed at the household level. Based on four distinct urban and peri-urban study sites, the project applies a multi-site, multi-method approach combining content analysis, policy analysis with qualitative interviews and ethnographic, mobile and audiovisual go-along methods to understand how gendered mobility imaginaries are inscribed into spaces and policies, emplaced in collective everyday practices at the household level and translatable between different environments and social groups.

[…]

Submission Guidelines

Apply, at the latest on 16/10/2026, with the following documents:

• your CV;
• your motivation letter;
• your diploma (not applicable for ULB alumni) and transcripts.

After an initial selection, a shortlist of candidates will be contacted for interviews during October/November.

Do you have questions about the job? Contact Dr. Meike Brodersen at meike.brodersen@ulb.be .