PhD student in Consumption, Marketing and Retail - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

The department seeks to strengthen its research profile in Consumption, Marketing & Retail. We welcome high-quality applications with an explicit social science approach to consumption, marketing, and retail. The proposed research should relate to areas where the department has a strong track record. The proposed PhD project can be connected to either consumption, marketing or retail or a combination of these areas. Examples of possible topics include, but are not limited to:

Consumption:

• Digital platforms and consumption
• Consumption and mobility
• Circular consumption
• Plant-based consumption
• Sufficiency and consumption

Marketing:

• Digitalization and marketing
• Social media marketing
• Marketing and degrowth
• Critical marketing

Retailing:

• The digitalization of retail work
• Retailing and urban development
• Sustainable retailing
• Circular retailing 

Applications should be grounded in consumption, marketing or retail issues with high societal relevance. The successful candidates will be part of the research group Consumption, Marketing & Retail (more information on the research group here, https://www.ses.lu.se/en/research/our-research/consumption-marketing-retail) and the proposed project is expected to contribute to and fit within the group’s research profile.

Duties

As a doctoral student your main obligation is to complete your PhD studies, which primarily includes an independently written doctoral thesis. The position may involve departmental duties, mainly in the form of teaching, up to 20 per cent of fulltime working hours, in which case the appointment will be extended by the equivalent number of hours. The doctoral student will have access to a workplace at the Department of Service Studies, Campus Helsingborg. The doctoral student must be present at the department and actively participate in the research and teaching environment.

Eligibility

The general syllabus and other information about the PhD programme in Service Studies is available at https://www.ses.lu.se/en/research/doctoral-studies.

Students with basic eligibility for third-cycle studies are those who have completed a second-cycle degree, have completed courses of at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits are from second-cycle courses, or have acquired largely equivalent knowledge in some other way, in Sweden or abroad.

Students meets the specific entry requirements if he or she has completed course requirements of at least 30 credits in social sciences at second-cycle level in a main subject such as service management, business administration, human geography or sociology, or has acquired equivalent knowledge. The applicant must also have completed an independent degree project of at least 15 credits at second-cycle level.

Assessment criteria

The employment of doctoral students is regulated in the Swedish Code of Statues 1998: 80. Only those who are or have been admitted to PhD-studies may be appointed to doctoral studentships. When an appointment to a doctoral studentship is made, the ability of the student to benefit from PhD-studies shall primarily be taken into account. In addition to devoting themselves to their studies, those appointed to doctoral studentships may be required to work with educational tasks, research and administration, in accordance with specific regulations in the ordinance.

The applicants will be ranked based on an overall assessment of the quality of their submitted degree projects and papers, research proposal, grades from previous studies, relevant work experience, and personal suitability. As doctoral studies in Service Studies are very demanding, the applicant must be highly motivated and able to work independently under time pressure. Proficiency in both written and spoken English is also a requirement.

The following qualifications are considered a merit:

• a strong interest in consumption, marketing and retail issues documented through previous work, for example through a degree paper,
• documented ability to independently, and in collaboration with others, carry out research projects,
• previous experience of publishing,
• interest in contributing to teaching at the Department of Service Studies and working with students.

A limited number of applicants will be asked to provide a written work sample during the final stages of the admission process, after which a shortlisted number of applicants will be called to interview.

Type of employment

Limit of tenure, four years according to HF 5 kap 7§.

Application procedure

Applications are to be submitted electronically via the Lund University application portal. The application must include (incomplete applications will not be considered):

1. a letter of introduction in Swedish or English, of maximum 1000 words, containing a short presentation of yourself as an applicant and your qualifications, as well as a brief description of why you are interested in the doctoral programme in Service Studies at Lund University,
2. a brief draft of the research proposal in Swedish or English, comprising a maximum of 2,000 words including references, containing a description of a research area and research problem, purpose and possible research questions, as well as method/s and a plan for the study,
3. a curriculum vitae in Swedish or English that demonstrates your qualifications for doctoral studies in Service Studies,
4. a master’s thesis, i.e., a degree project in Swedish or English, corresponding to at least 15 credits at second cycle level in service management, business administration, human geography, sociology or another discipline deemed equivalent,
5. names and contact details of two reference persons,
6. other documentation of relevance to the position.

You may be asked to supplement the application with a grades certificate within 14 days after the application deadline.