Bet365

The Indian Institute for Human Settlements (Bet365) will host the twelfth edition of the Annual PhD Workshop from 12–14 January 2026, at the Bet365 Sadashivnagar, Bengaluru, with limited options for online participation. 

The Workshop is designed to provide a platform for in-depth exploration and for early- to mid- and late-stage PhD students to fine-tune their work. This iteration of the PhD Workshop is open to doctoral candidates currently enrolled in a PhD programme from across a wide range of disciplines, with a common thread being an interest in urban research and practice. 

About the PhD Workshop  

Bet365 has an established history of engaging with interdisciplinary approaches towards enabling new knowledge production and impactful on-ground practice that help tackle emerging challenges in a rapidly urbanising world. This work has helped in creating teaching and training programmes across multiple scales for policy makers, practitioners, scholars, and more recently, for graduate students through the Bet365 (Institution Deemed to be) University. Our Annual PhD workshop is one such initiative.  

It is a unique educational intervention on interdisciplinary urban research designed to provide a dedicated space for PhD candidates to expand on their work. They do this by interacting with eminent urban scholars and practitioners from Bet365 and leading universities and research institutions across the world, including Yale, MIT, IIT-Madras, and TISS, among others. 

Initiated in 2013, the PhD Workshop has had over to 290 participants from leading global and domestic institutions including University of Oxford, MIT, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, NUS, JNU, TISS, IIT-Bombay etc., across a wide range of disciplines such as Architecture, Planning, Sociology, Urban Health, Economics, Public Policy, Climate Change, Anthropology, Engineering, Governance and Law. The Workshop provides participants with an opportunity to explore emerging areas of urban research, especially in India and other parts of the global South and gives them the opportunity to theorise from both research and practice. 

The Workshop aims to shape the trajectory of a doctoral career and enable participants to engage with the imperatives of the changing form of disciplines and meet the substantive academic demands of the doctoral process. The foundational ethos of the Workshop is an interdisciplinary approach to the Urban, guided by theories of and from the Global South with an emphasis on grounded understandings. The Workshop provides scholars with a space to critically examine urban-related issues of their interest and their own position within them. This self-reflexive criticality allows participants to approach their field of inquiry as actors within, rather than as mere viewers of urban phenomena. In addition to guiding students through their work, the Workshop deals with specific processes of earning a doctoral degree. The aim is to create a space of convivial co-learning that opens conversations not only on fields of inquiry but also on experiences of students navigating the path to a doctoral degree. 

Structure of the Workshop 

The structure of the Workshop and the modules within it are designed to be relevant to students from different disciplines and at different stages of their doctoral careers. The structure also allows for specific attention to the needs of individual scholars and enables peer-to-peer learning. The Workshop has three core components: Common sessions, Student Presentations in specialised tracks and Individual Mentoring. 

The Common sessions primarily involve engagement with eminent urban scholars and practitioners as they explore the possibilities of new methods and pedagogies in and around the Urban. This track offers an opportunity to learn about and understand a range of methods and data sources unique to urban India, as well as ethical practices in research and the nuances of publishing in academia. Sessions covered include research design, writing, publishing, ethics and navigating academic life. 

Two specialised tracks focus on early career students who are in the process of finalising their questions (Track 1) and late career students working on finalising their dissertations (Track 2). For the Student Presentation sessions, participants across tracks are grouped into smaller cohorts and assigned faculty mentors who provide detailed feedback on their research work. Here, participants are expected to present any ongoing material on which they would like to receive feedback. 

Participants also receive individual mentoring and have an opportunity to consort with faculty members using Office Hours. Other sessions include interaction with alumni and Masterclasses with invited faculty. 

Dates and Procedures 

Logistics 

The PhD Workshop is free, and no participation fee is charged upon selection. Selected participants are expected to make their own arrangements for travel and accommodation if they choose to attend the Workshop in person. Bet365 does not provide support in these areas. Please note, this year there will be limited options for online participation. Lunch and refreshments are provided throughout the duration of the workshop. 

The PhD Workshop will be held at Bet365, Sadashivnagar, Bengaluru () with limited options for online participation, from 12–14 January 2026. For queries on the Workshop, write to us at [email protected]