Doctoral student in Economic History – Innovation, technology, and mobility - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

The Department of Economic History is a research-intensive department that employs about 100 people: researchers, teachers, technical/administrative staff, and Ph.D. candidates. The department has a large PhD programme and co-ordinates three international Master programmes. The Department has a well established reputation for wide-ranging research with an emphasis on long-term processes, and with economic theory and quantitative methods as important methodological tools. Strong research areas at the department include economic growth and structural change, innovation, energy and sustainability, development economics, and economic demography, as well as financial history and education and the labour market. More information is available at the Department’s website: http://www.ekh.lu.se/en.

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 research projects as well as successful participation in postgraduate (third-cycle) courses. Those appointed to doctoral 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 projects ‘Innovation and firm performance during industrialization’ and ‘Social mobility in Sweden before and after the welfare state’. The PhD student will work in these projects in collaboration with other project members.

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 creditswere 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 https://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 the Department’s research environment.
• Ability to perform independent scientific work.
• Experience and interest in using econometric methods and GIS.
• Experience or interest in working with large micro-level databases.
• Proficiency in written and oral communication.
• Relevant educational background, for example in economic history, history, economics or geography.
• Other relevant experiences for third-cycle education, such as work experience.

We are interested in applicants with a strong commitment and interest in the drivers of long-run economic growth and development, as well as quantitative methods and working with large micro-level databases.

Project

The research projects span questions about long-run economic growth, innovation, and intergenerational mobility. Both projects use micro-level data and econometric methods to answer questions such as: i) How does innovation and the diffusion of new technologies affect the creation of new types of jobs? What determines who transitions into new work? How does the geography of new job creation change over time?; ii) How age affects innovation, with a particular focus on the demographic transition; and iii) Whether innovation and the diffusion of new technologies leads to increasing or decreasing intergenerational mobility. The projects take a cross-country perspective and span the 18th century to the present day.

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 beappointed 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 HigherEducation Ordinance, Chapter 5, Sections 34-41.

Application procedure

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

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, maximum 3 pages.
• 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 provide the names of a maximum of two teachers or researchers who are willing to provide references and the department can contact, but recommendation letters should not be included in the application.