NEXtra DAAD Scholarship

NEXtra (Resource Nexus for Sustainability Transformations) offers opportunities for doctoral studies in a joint programme of TU Dresden, UNU-FLORES and IOER. Through the EPOS (Development-Related Postgraduate Courses) programme, the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) provides a stipend for 3.5 years. NEXtra doctoral researchers, whose primary supervisor is at IOER/ TUD, are hosted at DLGS and subject to similar expectations as their DLGS peers.  In addition, NEXtra fellows fulfil TUD and UNU-FLORES requirements, and gain unique access to the UN system.

The programme focuses on sustainability transformations through a Resource Nexus perspective, examining interlinkages between environmental resources and their management's synergies and trade-offs. Doctoral students from the Global South and diverse disciplines are trained to become agents of transformation who will contribute to sustainable development both in their home regions and globally.

In 2026, IOER is represented with the following topics: 

1. Topic 1. Building the Circular City: A Resource Nexus lens on planning barriers and urban revitalisation. Supervisors: Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Robert Knippschild (Faculty of Environmental Sciences, TU Dresden and IOER); Dr. Alexey Alekseenko (UNU-FLORES); Dr.-Ing. Georg Schiller (IOER).
2. Topic 3. Construction follows availability – Resource Nexus strategies for urban-regional development minerals. Supervisors: Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Wende (Faculty of Architecture, TU Dresden and IOER); Dr. Alekseenko, Alexey (UNU-FLORES); Dr.-Ing. Georg Schiller, (IOER); Dr.-Ing. Habil. Regine Ortlepp, (IOER).
3. Topic 4. Data-driven investigation into the spatial relationship between economic restructuring and the resource nexus in the context of developing countries. Supervisors: Univ.-Prof. Dr. sc. pol. Artem Korzhenevych (Faculty of Business and Economics, TU Dresden IOER); Prof. Dr. Edel Günther (UNU-FLORES / Faculty of Business and Economics, TU Dresden); Prof. Dr. Serena Coetzee (UNU-FLORES / Extraordinary professor, University of Pretoria). 
4. Topic 8. Land Use Dynamics of Large-scale Infrastructure Projects in the Global South from a Resource Nexus Perspective. Supervisors: Prof. Martin Behnisch (Faculty of Environmental Sciences, TU Dresden and IOER); Prof. Dr. Serena Coetzee (UNU-FLORES / Extraordinary professor, University of Pretoria); Dr.-Ing. Sikder Sujit Kumar (IOER); Dr. Zarei, Azin (Research Associate, UNU-FLORES).
5. Topic 9. Operationalizing transformative capacity for environmental resource governance: A mixed-methods assessment approach for urban and regional systems. Supervisors: Prof. Artem Korzhenevych (Faculty of Environmental Studies, TU Dresden / IOER); Prof. Marc Wolfram (IOER, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science, TU Dresden); Prof. Dr. Serena Coetzee (Head of Education (UNU-FLORES) / Extraordinary Professor, University of Pretoria); Associate Professor Nerhene Davis (University of Pretoria).

Please note: All questions and enquiries should be directed to UNU-FLORES who manage the application process.