The PhD Programme at the AA is a full-time, four-year course that trains scholars and researchers in the fields of architectural history and theory, urban studies and technology. Its ambition is to learn from architectural knowledge and its history in order to understand the built environment at large. The programme is not based on the application of one specific research method, but instead provides a platform for candidates to develop their own methods. Beyond their individual lines of inquiry, however, all candidates and staff share an understanding of architectural form as an index of sociopolitical processes. This attitude provides a springboard for research that engages with both the materiality of the built world and its cultural dimensions. We question the traditional separation of theory and design, and see thinking and practicing as activities that are intrinsically connected. This connection becomes ever more important as we face new social and environmental crises.