The International Graduate School (IGS) North-South is dedicated to advancing sustainable development worldwide and focuses on education at the PhD level to establish a leading international research network that analyses the impacts and opportunities of global change. The PhD programme emphasizes an integrative, partnership-based research approach, as well as innovation and application. More than 100 PhD candidates from around the world are currently enrolled.
The IGS North-South was developed within the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South. It is based on an inter-university agreement between the universities of Basel, Bern and Lausanne in Switzerland, and selected cooperation agreements with leading universities from countries in the global South and East. IGS North-South PhD candidates may attend courses offered by the school’s partner universities. The IGS North-South certificate “of Specialization in Sustainable Development” will supplement the degree they receive from their home institution.
In order to provide appropriate training, the IGS North-South offers disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary courses.
As part of Swiss National Science Foundation project FamilEA, a two-year postdoctoral contract/research fellowship in political science or related fields with a focus on East Africa has opened. Further information and requirements on the job opening, as well as information concerning the project can be found on the website of the Geneva Graduate Institute.
Application deadline: March 20, 2025.
Organized by the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) within the axis Integrated Design, Architecture and Sustainability (IDEAS) in partnership with the Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA, London), the PhD seminar “Neighborhoods in Transition II” will explore, from 26-28 April 2025, the potentials of urban slopes in the context of a post-carbon society. Combining architecture, urban studies, and sustainability, it engages doctoral students in understanding sloping neighborhoods through case studies, lectures, and discussions. Further information and registration
7 – 22 August 2025, Lugano, Switzerland. Further Information
The five-day intensive PhD spring school ‘Political Ecologies of the Countryside: agrarian roots, environmental transformations and capitalist conflicts’ will be held from 7-11 April 2025 in Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Further Information
The courses for the spring semester 2025 have been published and are open for registration.
With the formulated recommendations this report presents an important source for the IGS North-South and other (doctoral) education programmes to strengthen the process of decolonizing academia.
North–South research collaboration is still largely determined by power imbalances between the global North & South. So, it’s high time to decolonize research. Read the interview with IGS Alumni Ravaka Andriamihaja, who investigated the issues at stake for the KFPE.
Management Centre
International Graduate School North-South
University of Bern
Mittelstrasse 43
CH-3012 Bern
+41 31 684 52 71
+41 31 684 69 57
