Thirty-two doctoral researchers will split their time between Europe and Australia, earning double degrees while developing practical solutions for climate resilience, restoration, and regeneration. This programme addresses a critical gap: climate change is too complex for any single discipline or country to solve alone. Most PhD training remains siloed within one institution, one field, or one continent. DREAM+PLAN deliberately breaks those boundaries by embedding each researcher in an international, interdisciplinary network from the start. If successful, the programme will produce a cohort of early-career researchers who can move fluently between science, policy, technology, and community engagement. They will be equipped to design infrastructure that withstands climate disruptions, restore degraded ecosystems, and regenerate communities and economies. The training includes three annual doctoral schools using a novel scaffolding approach, aligned with EU Missions and the European Green Deal. The programme’s primary impact is on the research workforce itself—creating the next generation of leaders who can translate fundamental understanding into tangible pathways. This is not a single breakthrough project, but a deliberate investment in human capital. The researchers’ future work could reshape how cities plan flood defences, how farmers restore soil health, or how industries redesign supply chains for net-zero emissions.
View original technical description
RMIT EU spearheads the Driving Climate Positive Futures (DREAM+PLAN), a truly interdisciplinary, international and intersectoral PhD program, uniting European and Australian research via 32 doctoral positions for double degree. DREAM+PLAN brings together a community of visionary changemakers, leaders, who dream big and develop tangible pathways for solving local and global climate-related challenges, all united by a mission to create a positive impact, towards a more sustainable, fair, inclusive and thriving planet for future generations. The need for 1. resilience (ability to withstand and recover from disruptions), 2. restoration (ability to repair or rehabilitate degraded ecosystems) and 3. regeneration (fostering the renewal, revitalization and replenishment of ecosystems, communities) research is more acute than ever. The overarching objectives of DREAM+PLAN research training program is to create and deliver, legacy-worthy, novel, cutting-edge, 3i-centric training through best-practice multi-faceted, multi-modal group and individual training options for DCs. This will ultimately breed the next generation of high-performing ESRs, equipped with a unique set of skills and capabilities to fully comprehend and address the multifaceted nature and scale of climate change, across sectors. DREAM+PLAN’s training program is aligned to contribute to EU Missions, the European Green Deal and supporting RIS3 strategies and includes 3 annual doctoral schools, adopting a novel scaffolding approach. DREAM+PLAN will fully embrace diversity and through its ecosystem approach, develop pathways for ESRs towards new mindsets, behaviours, technologies, policies supporting the transition to more sustainable, fairer, and productive futures.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know