The PhD candidate will conduct research within an EU-funded project on business models for data marketplace platforms. Data marketplaces enable an ecosystem of organizations to share data. Whereas there have been many local pilots, this project aims to scale up and integrate platforms to a pan-European level. The project offers the unique opportunity to study the birth, evolution and upscaling of data marketplace platforms, to which academics normally would have no access.

The candidate will conduct research on designing digital platform architectures and business models for sharing company data through marketplace platforms. Methods may include (action) design research, case studies (with 15 businesses in the project consortium) and surveys. During the PhD, the applicant will conduct this research and prepare scientific articles presenting the research. To enable the applicant to do this successfully, the faculty of TBM and TU Delft offer personal and professional training courses in the form of a graduate school, in which the applicant will participate. Furthermore, the applicant will be mentored by several senior and junior faculty members. 

Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the research project, the applicant will have a relative large degree of freedom concerning the specific research path.

For more information about the research project, please visit: https://trusts-data.eu/

The applicant should have a particular interest in digital platforms, open data and business models. We seek candidates with a personal drive to improve and acquire new knowledge. As this position is multidisciplinary, we invite applicants with diverse backgrounds, including but not limited to information systems, information management, computer science, and digital business fields. Applicants must have completed a master degree or equivalent education. Furthermore, applicants should demonstrate a solid background in articulating themselves in English. 

Fixed-term contract: 4 years.

TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, a discount for health insurance and sport memberships, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged. An International Children’s Centre offers childcare and an international primary school. Dual Career Services offers support to accompanying partners. Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities. 

As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment; an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor; and a Doctoral Education Programme aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills. Please visit www.tudelft.nl/phd for more information.

Technische Universiteit Delft

Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) is a multifaceted institution offering education and carrying out research in the technical sciences at an internationally recognised level. Education, research and design are strongly oriented towards applicability. TU Delft develops technologies for future generations, focusing on sustainability, safety and economic vitality. At TU Delft you will work in an environment where technical sciences and society converge. TU Delft comprises eight faculties, unique laboratories, research institutes and schools.

Faculty Technology, Policy and Management

The Faculty of TPM contributes to sustainable solutions for technological challenges in society by combining the insights from engineering with the humanities and the social sciences. The PhD researcher will be positioned in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) section, within the Engineering Systems and Services (ESS) department of TPM. The core activity of the department is to model, understand, forecast, and shape emerging technological innovations and user patterns in the sectors of energy, mobility and ICT, and use these insights for improved design, regulation and operation of such engineering systems.  

The ICT section has world-leading research programs on digital platforms and ecosystems, open data, and digital business models.

The digital platforms program focuses on how to design multi-sided and open platforms that create economic and societal value. Designing digital platforms requires understanding of architectural and governance issues (e.g. degree of openness) as well as business model and user issues (e.g. value-creation through multi-sidedness). Ongoing digitalization (e.g. Internet-of-Things) is increasing the opportunities but also raising novel issues, such as the implications of open platforms on privacy and security. 

The open data program focuses on how to design infrastructural and institutional arrangements that incentivize open data sharing and use behavior of different actors (e.g. companies, governments, researchers) from different domains (e.g. different industries, research disciplines).

https://www.tudelft.nl/en/tpm/