The PhD Programme at the AA is a full-time, four-year course that trains scholars and researchers in the fields of architectural history and theory, urban studies and technology. Its ambition is to learn from architectural knowledge and its history in order to understand the built environment at large. The programme is not based on the application of one specific research method, but instead provides a platform for candidates to develop their own methods. Beyond their individual lines of inquiry, however, all candidates and staff share an understanding of architectural form as an index of sociopolitical processes. This attitude provides a springboard for research that engages with both the materiality of the built world and its cultural dimensions. We question the traditional separation of theory and design, and see thinking and practicing as activities that are intrinsically connected. This connection becomes ever more important as we face new social and environmental crises.
The programme supports challenging, speculative dissertations that interrogate architecture and its history, as well as its professional and disciplinary mandate. Each candidate is tutored by a Director of Studies and a Supervisor throughout the duration of the programme, and their work is evaluated by both internal supervisors and external experts. Every year, candidates must present the results of their research in an open forum, allowing guests and staff to discuss its methodology, content and argument.
In parallel with the development of an individual thesis, each participant will be provided with a background of historical and theoretical thinking through weekly discussions with their Director of Studies and Supervisor, regular seminars with guest scholars and an annual symposium that encourages discussion between invited guests, students and staff. Participation in collective activities and school-wide debate is a crucial component of the PhD experience, and is monitored and assessed as part of the students’ yearly review process. Candidates are also encouraged to test their research by teaching in the Intermediate, Diploma and Taught Postgraduate programmes at the AA.
PhD candidates at the AA include researchers in architecture, urbanism and other subjects related to the built environment, and the programme requires that prospective candidates have experience in conducting independent investigations and study in their respective fields. Priority will be given to applicants who propose original, well-defined and provocative research hypotheses, and prospective researchers must all be able to support their hypothesis with a mature and coherent existing body of work in their chosen field. The AA is an Affiliated Research Centre of the Open University, which validates the AA’s PhD programme and offers candidates and supervisors further academic support. Upon acceptance to the programme, candidates prepare a thesis abstract, preliminary table of contents and bibliography that is submitted to the Open University for registration. This first proposal becomes the core of the thesis that they then develop in subsequent years.
The PhD Programme comprises a set of activities that run in parallel to encourage and stimulate collective discussion among participants. These take the form of tutorials, seminars, guest seminars, end of term presentations and symposia.
Tutorials
Directors of Studies are available every week for tutorials and discussion about a candidate’s in-progress work. Candidates are encouraged to remain in constant contact with their Director of Studies to ensure the continual development of their thesis.
Seminars
In Terms 1 and 2, the Directors of Studies hold seminars that connect the PhD Programme with other postgraduate programmes. Alongside these, the Programme Co-ordinator runs an open seminar on Rethinking Doctoral Research, providing candidates with a shared platform to discuss methodological issues. Additionally, the multi-year trajectory of the Forms of Care working group – a project on the relationship between environmental and social crises – connects candidates’ interests with the AA’s Climate Matters initiative.
Guest Seminars
The PhD Programme organises a series of guest seminars which invite contemporary researchers to present their work and introduce their methodologies. These seminars encourage debate on alternative topics, positions and media; they question fundamental interpretations of what constitutes research, how it can be pursued and what agency it offers in the present day.
End-of-Term Presentations
At the end of each term, candidates present a portion of their in-progress thesis to a panel of invited critics. Second-year candidates present their work in December, at the end of Term 1, while first-year candidates are reviewed in March, at the end of Term 2, in order to receive preliminary feedback to prepare for their Upgrade Exam, which takes place at the end of the academic year. Third-year candidates undergo a ‘ninth-term review’ at the end of Term 3 to enable them to enter the write-up phase. These presentations are a compulsory part of the PhD Programme.
Annual Symposium
The PhD Programme organises an annual symposium in collaboration with candidates; these sessions are devoted to specific topics and incorporate the contributions of invited guests. The intention is that the proceedings of these events will eventually be collated in the form of a book. Recent symposia have been held on the themes of Algorithmic Controversies, The Politics of Construction, Domestic Frontiers and Architecture and Labour. In May 2024, the PhD Programme hosted the AHRA Symposium Invisible Actants: Undoing, Remaking and Building-with.