Call for the MAKE/SENSE PhD Programme 2026
FHNW
- Institution
- FHNW
- Position type
- PhD
- Subject area
- Humanities & Arts
- Application deadline
- 27 September 2026
- Location
- Windisch, Aargau, CH
- Funding
- Fully funded position
This position is outside the fields we mentor
We mentor STEM applicants only. If your research aspirations are outside STEM subjects, you're very welcome to use this board and apply directly; we just aren't the right people to mentor you.
The full advert is above and the university's own application link is below — both free to use, with or without us.
About this position
Flexibility, self-determination, creativity, interdisciplinarity – our mission
Your tasks
The PhD is carried out in partnership between Basel and Linz and hosted by the Critical Media Lab at the Institute Experimental Design and Media Culture in Basel. Supervision is provided jointly by faculty from both institutions. The programme combines individualized mentoring with monthly colloquia and an annual assembly.
- Situated Artistic Research: Supports practices that challenge dominant epistemologies through embodied, affective, and experimental modes of inquiry.
- Infrastructural Critique:Engages with institutional, technological and research infrastructures as sites of critique, abolitionist intervention, collective reimagining, and world-making.
- Critical Media:Explores how knowledges are read, written, mediated, and circulated through practice-based approaches to reading and writing, publishing, and expanded formats.
The current list of PhD supervisor can be found in this link:
Public events and collaborations with external partners complement the programme.
Please note that doctoral positions in the programme are not funded.
Your profile
Applications are welcome from artists, curators, publishers, designers, and culturalorganisers holding an MA degree (120 ECTS) or an equivalent qualification.
This call is for the pre-proposal submission, which must include:
-Motivation letter listing 2 preferred supervisors and rationale, plans for financing the PhD (need for support to external funding applications or grants you plan to apply for) (2 p. A4)
-Project outline (2–3 p. A4, excl. references) including: research question, short state of the art, relevance and topicality regarding areas of concern (at least one), proposed methods and proposed outcomes
-Curriculum Vitae
-Portfolio (art/design/curatorial/writing samples)
-MA and BA diplomas (incl. transcripts)
Selection process and key dates:
1st Round (Pre-Proposals)
Deadline September 27, 2026
Notification of results: Mid-November2026
2nd Round (Full Proposal)
Interviews: Mid-January 2027 (Week 2/3)
Notification of Results: End of January 2027
Your prospects:
The FHNW encourages its staff to undertake continuous professional development in their field and beyond. Whether focused on teaching or research, lecturers are offered a variety of CPD approaches that are on equal terms and tailored to their personal circumstances: the support offered by the FHNW provides the requisite methodical tools. After all, the curiosity and professional development of the staff helps drive the development of our university – and vice versa.
Your benefits:
Wide range of university sports
Cultural programme of lectures, concerts, theatre and films
Established implementation of equal pay
Targeted promotion of doctoral projects
Sabbatical for professors for research and practical projects
Annual working hours and time allowance for further education, administration and university development
Start Date: per 01.03.2027.
Your workplace
Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW
Bahnhofstrasse 6
5210 Brugg-Windisch
Any questions?
About the position:
Prof. Dr. Lucie Kolb , Programme contact , Contact: +41 61 228 40 22
About the recruiting process:
Dr. Felipe Castelblanco, Programme contact, Contact: +41 61 228 41 25
Will you soon belong to our team? We look forward to your application until 27.09.2026.
www.fhnw.ch/en/about-fhnw/schools/academy-of-art-and-design
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Apply directly to FHNW
Emerging Scholars Council is not the employer and does not recruit for this position. It is advertised by FHNW, and your application goes to them. We help students prepare and strengthen their applications.
Go to the official application page →Applications close 27 September 2026.