Phd Positions In Participatory Design Futuring Fabulation Of Sustainable Futures With Youth And Local Communities

The Center for Software Technology, part of the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, University of Southern Denmark (SDU), invites applications for one or more 3-year PhD positions within the NNF-funded project "Grønne og blå bæredygtige vej: Going in Sustainable Green/Blue Directions through Design Futuring". The positions are available from September 2026, and the specific start date will be agreed upon with the successful candidates.

About the project

The green transition demands collective envisioning of transformative solutions. Climate change's rising sea levels and storm flooding threaten much of Denmark's land, requiring collective shifts in land use. Proposed solutions such as playgrounds or farmland for storm drainage demand collective discussion with diverse stakeholders, including children and youth. Denmark is well positioned for the green transition with historical and ongoing cooperative sustainability efforts. Meanwhile, AI may offer innovation for sustainability, but AI uses so much water, electricity, and minerals. To consider these tradeoffs, AI education should include holistic understanding of AI's benefits and risks.

This project offers a unique approach and interesting research challenge combining sustainability, AI education, and design futuring with children.

This research will include workshops that:

• Teach children about sust ainability and AI including AI's environmental, social, and ethical impacts
• Leverage design futuring, interactive technology, and AI to help children express their ideas for the green transition, particularly around local issues of water and land use

This supports children gaining skills in

• Civic engagement for sustainability
• Respectfully considering multiple viewpoints
• Agency, teamwork, creativity
• Using AI ethically without over-reliance

The research aims to contribute insights for novel educational approaches combining sustainability, AI education, and design futuring—offering deeper understanding of how children conceptualize sustainability and AI. This work will be relevant for the human-computer interaction (HCI) subfields design futuring and child-computer interaction. This research will build on past work supporting children in envisioning futures for their local communities (e.g., Pait et al. 2026 ) while adapting fabulation as an approach for design futuring ( Søndergaard et al. 2023 ). Key research methods are likely to include human-centered design, design futuring, qualitative methods (e.g., interviews, observation, ethnography), tangible and embodied interaction design, and educational approaches for teaching about the basics of computer science, ML, and AI.

For learn more about the research project, applicants are invited to contact Associate Professor Noura Howell, nouh@mmmi.sdu.dk .

What we offer

The SDU Center for Software Technology (CST) is part of the new SDU campus in Vejle, Denmark. CST and the Vejle campus are growing fast and collaborating closely with Vejle Kommune's community hub Spinderihallerne including their FabLab and BioLab .

What we expect: About the candidate

We are seeking highly motivated and ambitious PhD student(s) to join our research team. Successful candidates will have a strong command of written and spoken English and be able to work both independently and collaboratively in a multidisciplinary research environment. The candidate(s) should be eager to acquire new knowledge and skills, conduct high-quality research, disseminate results at international conferences, and publish papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Successful candidates may have prior degrees and/or experience in pedagogy, education, interaction design, industrial design, computer science, interactive technology, city planning, landscape architecture, digital media, and/or participatory crafts-based approaches.

Additional desired characteristics:

• Strong capability to engage with children and/or youth in the local context
• Excellent writing and communication skills
• Professionalism, responsibility, and project management skills
• Knowledge and/or experience around water, land (e.g., landscape architecture, city planning, aquatic ecology, biology, agriculture)
• Creative skills (e.g., graphic design, sketching, drawing, textiles, wood, clay, or other materials)
Computer science, software engineering, and interactive technology skills (e.g., AI, ML, programming, IoT, full stack web development, Arduino, Raspberry Pi)

Application

Before applying the candidates are advised to read the Faculty information for prospective PhD students and the SDU information on how to apply .

Assessment of candidates is based on the application material, and the application must include:

• Motivated application: cover letter explaining motivation for application and relevant experiences, accomplishments, skills, etc., as well as an overview of research interests
• Curriculum Vitae.
• Master’s and Bachelor’s degree certificates or equivalent, including transcripts of grades (original and an official English translation).
• Completed TEK PhD application form for 5+3 applicants. Find the form at the Faculty website .
• Completed TEK PhD form for calculation grade point average. Find the form at the Faculty website .
• An official document describing the grading scheme of the awarding universities (if not Danish).
• Only for applicants from programmes that evaluate thesis/examination project by approved/not approved: An official written assessment of the thesis or dissertation project from the grade giving institution. The statement must clearly state that the candidate has been among the top 30 pct. in the graduation class for the study programme.
• List of publications and maximum 2 examples of relevant publications (in case you have any publications).
• References may be included, you're welcome to use the form for reference letter at the Faculty website .
• A statement/documentation of other qualifications relevant to the position may also be included.

All documents must be in English and PDF format. CPR number (civil registration number) must be crossed out. All PDF-files must be unlocked, allow binding and may not be password protected.

SUBMISSION GUIDE: Motivated application must be uploaded under ‘Cover letter’ (max. 5 MB), Curriculum Vitae must be uploaded under ‘Resume’ (max 5 MB). All other documents must be uploaded under ‘Miscellaneous documents’ (max 10 files with a maximum 50 MB per file).

If you experience technical problems, please contact our email support .

The application deadline is June 1, 2026, at 11:59 PM/23:59 (CET/CEST)

Assessment and selection process

Applications will be assessed by an assessment committee. Shortlisting may be applied, and only shortlisted candidates will receive a written assessment. Read about shortlisting at SDU. Interviews and tests may be part of the overall evaluation. Read about the Assessment and selection process .

Conditions of enrollment/employment

Appointment as a PhD fellow is a 3-year salaried position, and the monthly gross salary incl. pension is 36.608 DKK. If you have relevant postgraduate experience, you may be placed on a higher salary step.

Applicants must hold a master’s degree (equivalent to a Danish master's degree) at the time of enrollment and employment. Employment is contingent on enrollment approved by the PhD School. Enrollment will be in accordance with Faculty regulations and the Danish Ministerial Order on the PhD Programme at the Universities (PhD order) . Employment will be in accordance with the collective agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations for academics in the state including the associated circular on the job structure for academic staff at Danish universities and the provisions for PhD fellows as described therein as well as the Protocol on PhD fellows signed by the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). Further information about salary and conditions of employment. Persons employed in the position may, based on a specific individual managerial assessment, be exempted from time registration, also known as a “self-organizer”.

The University of Southern Denmark wishes its staff to reflect the surrounding community and therefore encourages everyone, regardless of personal background, to apply for the position. SDU conducts research in critical technologies, which, due to the risk of unwanted knowledge transfer, is subject to a number of security measures. Therefore, based on information from open sources, background checks may be conducted on candidates for the position(s).

Further information for international applicants about entering and working in Denmark. You may also visit WorkinDenmark for additional information.

Further information about The Faculty of Engineering.