PhD Students in Business Administration: marketing, social entrepreneurship - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Work tasks

The Department of Business Administration has two vacancies for PhD students, one in social entrepreneurship and monetary grassroots innovation, and the other with a focus on new business models for the transport sector.

The PhD programme in Business Administration at Lund University is a four-year program for a doctoral degree. The doctoral degree consists of two parts, courses (90 ECTS credits) and a thesis (150 ECTS credits). The main work task for a PhD student is active participation in the PhD programme, which involves independent research and taking courses that are part of the programme. The two vacancies are connected to the graduate school Agenda 2030.

About the graduate school Agenda 2030

Agenda 2030 is the framework for sustainable development that the world's nations have signed to end extreme poverty, reduce inequalities, solve the climate crisis, promote peace and equity and much more. In order to achieve the goals, research has several important roles: to identify challenges and conflicting objectives, contribute new solutions, generate dialogue and learning between different societal stakeholders and critically analyse the goals. Lund University aspires to be a part of the solution and has therefore started a graduate school focusing on research on societal challenges, sustainability issues and Agenda 2030. We seek applicants from various disciplinary backgrounds who want to take an active role in Agenda 2030 research. The graduate school offers a unique opportunity to gain interdisciplinary perspectives on global challenges and contribute to current research while deepening your subject knowledge.

The graduate school will have at least 12 doctoral students from all faculties of Lund University. You will be associated with a specific research studies programme, and simultaneously take part in the university-wide interdisciplinary research studies courses, developed on the basis of the issues defined by the global goals. The courses will provide the possibility to develop new forms of collaboration and work for change across disciplinary boundaries. Besides the research studies courses, you will participate in several activities linked to the graduate school in order to take an active part in the global sustainability agenda and to advance the research front on issues concerning Agenda 2030, for example through seminars, conferences, study trips and collaboration with various societal stakeholders.

About the project marketing of new business models in transport

With the developments in electrification and digitalization many new business models for individual and public transportation are being developed that have the potential to reduce environmental harms from the mobility sector. The questions in this project revolve around how these new business models are marketed and how they are perceived and used by travelers, and also, what potential they have to gain wide acceptance and use so that demand for current emission intensive personal transportation can decrease. The project is expected to use quantitative and/or experimental methods to draw generalizable conclusions that will benefit researchers, practitioners and decision makers inside and outside academia. In addition to connecton to the 2030 gradute school the doctoral candidate will have the possibility of participating in K2, Sweden's national center for research and education on public transport at Lund University.

About the project social entrepreneurship and monetary grassroots innovations

Growing inequality, apocalyptic environmental damage, and the protracted effects of a global financial crisis have resulted in a discussion on the role of our monetary system for the organization of society. At the same time, new technological and financial developments are giving rise to much experimentation on new forms of money. From community currencies to blockchain-based systems, a new breed of social and grassroots entrepreneurs build on the possibilities of new monetary technologies to address some of today’s global challenges. This PhD position is to look at how social entrepreneurs re-imagine, re-organize and re-claim money to address social, ecological and economic challenges.

Applications are welcome for PhD projects that focus on the institutional arrangements, practices and social norms communities develop as they govern and manage grassroots innovations for inclusive economic growth in informal urban settlements.

Eligibility/Entry requirements

To be qualified the applicant must hold a master’s degree and have completed 240 ECTS credits of university studies, including at least 60 second-cycle credits. Of these at least 90 credits must be accomplished in a subject relevant to the third-cycle study programme, including a degree project relevant to the research studies, equivalent to at least 15 credits. A person may also meet the specific entry requirements if he or she has acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

Applicants must possess very high proficiency in English, in speech and writing. Knowledge in Swedish is a strong merit.

Basis of assessment

Applicants will be assessed on the basis of their prospects of meeting the requirements for a doctoral degree (PhD) in Business Administration. Particular emphasis will be on the following:

• Academic merits, particularly at the Master’s level
• Bachelor and Master theses (with special importance attached to the master thesis)
• The submitted research plan
• Other merits and distinctions which attest to the applicant’s ability to perform in the PhD programme

The PhD student will be expected to conduct research in the context of the Agenda 2030 graduate school and projects focused on social entrepreneurship and monetary grassroots innovation or marketing of new business models in transport will be given preference.

Type of employment

The salaried position as PhD student is a four-year full-time employment at the Department of Business Administration, Lund University School of Economics and Management, Lund. Limit of tenure, four years according to HF 5 kap 7§.

Regulations concerning appointment as a PhD student can be found in the Higher Education Ordinance Chapter 5, 1–7 §§ and SFS 1998:80. For appointment to the position, the applicant is required to be eligible for admission to the doctoral (PhD) programme in Business Administration.

Application procedure

Only online applications are accepted. Your application should be written in English and contain the following documents:

• A complete application form, found at https://fek.lu.se/en/phd-studies/prospective-phd-candidates
• Letter of introduction
• Research plan of no more than 5 pages that includes a review of the relevant literature in social entrepreneurship and monetary grassroots innovation, alternatively marketing of and attitudes to new business models in the transport sector
• Degree certificates of your Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees
• Copy of your Master’s thesis, and, where appropriate, your Bachelor’s thesis
• Curriculum Vitae
• Copies of certificates and copies of any other documents that you wish to include in your application

All submitted documents must be attested as to their authenticity.