Doctoral student in Economic History

Doctoral student in Economic History – Socio-Spatial mobility, neighborhood policy and immigrant integration in Malmö and Copenhagen

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 project ‘Escaping Segregation: A Longitudinal Analysis of Socio-Spatial mobility, neighborhood policy and immigrant integration in Malmö and Copenhagen’. The PhD student will work in this project 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. Proficient Swedish language skills are desirable but not required. Demonstrated quantitative skills are required and good abilities in data management of large databases and statistical programming are considered as merits.

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.
• Good knowledge in statistical and quantitative methods.
• An interest in Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Skills in data management and experience in working with large individual-level databases.
• Proficiency in written and oral communication.
• Relevant educational background, for example in sociology, demography, geography, economics, or economic history.
• Other relevant experiences for third-cycle education, such as work experience.

We are interested in applicants with an interest in the individual-level consequences of segregation as well as the mechanisms determining immigrant integration, in addition to strong skills in the management and analysis of longitudinal individual level data. Experience in working with STATA and GIS software are considered valuable merits.

Project

The doctoral student will work within the research project "Escaping Segregation: Neighborhood Dynamics and Immigrant Integration in Malmö and Copenhagen: A Longitudinal Study." This project investigates how neighborhood characteristics and segregation impact the integration of first- and second-generation immigrant children in Malmö and Copenhagen, specifically examining the long-term effects of residential segregation on key socio-economic outcomes. Sweden and Denmark have experienced significant immigration in recent decades while adopting different policies. Their geographical proximity and socio-economic and cultural similarities provide a unique opportunity to clearly identify policy impacts. We expect a changing pattern of segregation due to differences in migration flows, policy and economic development between the two locations. We also intend to investigate the phenomenon of "white flight" and its implications on neighborhood segregation. The project will in detail measure the effects of segregation over time for children of immigrant descent. We will evaluate short-term consequences, such as school results (GPA, grades), and mid-term effects, including entry into higher education, labor market transitions and residential decisions. Econometric analyses and spatial regression analysis will primarily be used, utilizing rich geocoded register data (1986-2023) for both Sweden and Denmark. Hence, we can obtain precise neighborhood locations (geo-coded) and detailed cohabitation information. Our comparative approach allows us to consider specific outcomes for immigrants originating from the same country but migrating to two different receiving countries.

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 HigherEducation 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, 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 name a maximum of two teachers or researchers who can give recommendation letters, but we do not consider recommendation letters with the application.