The european joint doctorate “Urbanhist” insights from an innovative training network across Europe

Abstract

UrbanHist is a scientific training program aimed at PhD students that shaped a new generation of researchers based on a new transnational and interdisciplinary approach to the field of urban history in Europe. This program saw the participation of 15 PhD candidates who were willing to get a double degree and involved in partnerships with the community and non-academic sector. It promoted a new research field about the investigation of inclusive historical change of urbanism throughout Europe during the twentieth century. The promotion of university-community partnerships was more successful for the academic sector than the non-academic one since UrbanHist was primarily aimed at enabling innovative partnerships within academia. The transformative approach helped to develop a new consciousness of European countries through the lens of urbanism to assemble a common history of the twentieth century. This happened through various initiatives that, in some cases, had an impact on society. However, the assessment of UrbanHist university-community partnerships is partially hidden by the lack of in-depth public information about the training experiences car-ried out by the whole group of PhD candidates in the non-academic sector. The assessment of UrbanHist transformational approach would be more effective with the provision of a public ex-post evaluation to find out more about the benefits that innovative doctoral training had in addressing societal challenges.