The sixth Summer Institute in Urban Studies (SIUS) will take place in Belgium, between 7 and 11 July 2025. It will be jointly organized by the Urban Studies Institute (University of Antwerp), Brussels Centre for Urban Studies (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Stadsacademie (Ghent University), Leuven Urban Studies Institute (KU Leuven) and The University of Manchester. BRISPO is one of the research groups that are part of the Brussels Centre for Urban Studies.
The SIUS 2025 organizing committee also receives support from Urban Geography, an international and peer-reviewed journal at the forefront of urban scholarship.
More details on how, when and where to apply will be available here over the coming months.
The Summer Institute in Urban Studies provides an opportunity to investigate leading-edge theoretical and methodological questions, along with a range of associated career development issues, in the field of urban studies. After three Summer Institutes in Manchester in 2014, 2015, and 2016 it moved to a biennial footing, held around the world in partnership with other universities, with SIUS2018 taking place in Singapore in July 2018, and SIUS2020 taking place in Toronto. We are excited to host the event in Belgium in July 2025.
Generally, we tend to receive 100 to 125 applicants for each Summer Institute.
The Summer Institute features contributions from internationally renowned academics from across urban studies, from inside and outside of the host universites. The Summer Institute comprises an intensive, four-day programme of activities and is open to:
- doctoral students (usually post-fieldwork);
- post-doctoral researchers;
- recently appointed faculty and lecturers (normally within three years of the first continuous appointment).
The designing of programmes provides participants with an in-depth understanding of the innovatory developments and enduring controversies in urban studies. Our programmes provide mentoring and support in the different aspects of the academic labour process:
- applying for grants to design courses;
- editing books and special issues of journals;
- key controversies and debates;
- writing book proposals;
- publishing in journals;
- the challenges and opportunities of working at the academic/non-academic interface;
- the shifting boundaries of the field of “urban studies.
