Doctoral student in Economic History – Neighborhood effects over the life course - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Assigned duties

Those appointed to doctoral studentship shall primarily devote themselves to their studies, aimed to result in a doctoral degree. Work carried out during the studentship consists of participation in researchprojects as well as successful participation in postgraduate (third-cycle) courses. Those appointed todoctoral studentships may also work, to a limited extent, with educational tasks and administration at the Department of Economic history. However, duties of this kind may not comprise of more than 20 percent of a full time post.

The PhD position is linked to the research project The long reach of the neighborhood: Health, education and earnings in Landskrona, Sweden, 1904-2015, funded by Handelsbankens forskningsstiftelser. The PhD student will work in this project in collaboration with other project members and will be affiliated with the Centre for Economic Demography at LUSEM (CED, www.ed.lu.se).  

Eligibility / Admission requirements

A person meets the general admission requirements for third-cycle courses and study programmes if he or she has:

• Been awarded a second-cycle degree; or
• Satisfied the requirements for courses comprising of at least 240 credits of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the second-cycle; or
• Acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

(Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 7, Section 39)

Specific admission requirements for doctoral studies in each subject are specified in the relevant general syllabus, available at https://www.lusem.lu.se/study/phd

Other requirements

A proficient level of English is required in both written and oral communication.

Basis of assessment

Admittance of a doctoral student is based on an assessment of the candidate’s ability to benefit from third-cycle studies, see the general syllabus for third-cycle studies, available at www.lusem.lu.se/study/phd.

The applicant’s ability to benefit from third-cycle studies and research will primarily be assessed on the basis of academic results from the first and second cycle.

Applicant’s general competence:

• Quality and content of previous written work, such as a Master’s thesis.
• Ability to participate actively in both the Department’s and CED’s research environment.
• Ability to perform independent scientific work.
• Good statistical and econometric knowledge.
• An interest in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and programming
• Data management skills and experience in working with large individual-level databases.
• Proficiency in written and oral communication.
• Good abilities in statistical programming.
• Relevant educational background, for example in economic history, demography, geography, economics, or statistics.
• Other relevant experiences for third-cycle education, such as work experience.

We are interested in applicants with a strong commitment and interest in historical demography/geography with a focus on neighborhoods, quantitative demographic and spatial analysis, and working with large micro-level longitudinal databases. Experience in working with STATA and GIS software are considered valuable merits.

Project

This project study how neighborhood conditions in childhood influence health and socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood. This will primarily be achieved using geocoded longitudinal microdata at the address- and block-level for the city of Landskrona, 1904–1967, which are linked to Swedish national registers, 1968–2015. The project provides a long-term perspective on interactions between social, economic and spatial aspects of neighborhoods, and outcomes of health, social attainment/mobility and education.

The project will use detailed geographic and longitudinal demographic data to estimate neighborhood conditions at the address- and block-level. The geocoded microdata is combined with several variables measuring socioeconomic and demographic conditions. Econometric analyses and spatial regression analysis will primarily be used, including both individual- and family-level socioeconomic and demographic data and dynamic measures of neighborhoods, as well as distance to roads, schools, etc. One major part of the project is to measure the conditions of individuals growing up in Landskrona, 1904–1967, and study outcomes in adulthood regardless of where in Sweden they reside by using linked national register data for the period 1968–2015. Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques are used for most of the spatial aspects that relates to geocoding, neighborhood measures and spatial analyses.

Terms of employment

Fixed-term employment, maximum four years (fulltime studies).

Only those admitted to third-cycle courses and study programmes at a higher education may be appointed to doctoral student.

For regulations concerning employment of doctoral students etc, see the Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 5, Sections 1-7.

For regulations concerning admission to third-cycle courses and study programs, see the Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 5, Sections 34-41.

Application procedure

Please use Lund University job application portal when applying: http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/about/work-at-lund-university

The application must be written in English.

The application should contain:

• Personal letter in which the applicant gives a short description of him/herself and his/her research interests and its relevance for the project.
• Curriculum vitae.
• Grade transcripts.
• Master thesis or similar degree projects.
• If appropriate, documented language skills relevant for third-cycle studies.
• Other documents that the applicant wishes to submit.

The applicant is encouraged to name a maximum of two teachers or researchers who can give recommendation letters, but we do not consider recommendation letters with the application.