The PhD will study three selected cases by mapping and measuring the operation of the socio-technical system, including the formal and informal networks, work processes, organizational arrangements and scripts. This will help to understand how and at what point the subsoil as an artefact is connected to the joint decision making processes and governance arrangements. As such, it becomes possible to discern information on used governance models, the role and significance of the underground in the decision making process, and their successes and failure conditions. These analyses will help map network processes, both in terms of content and (non-human) actors, revealing which governance mechanisms enable or inhibit adaptive network collaboration.
 
•Conduct data collection through qualitative analysis of collaboration processes and the institutional arrangement for the governance of subsurface infrastructure networks, using actor-network theory;
•Write articles for international peer reviewed scientific journals;
•Write a PhD thesis;
•Support the NGInfra network operators to materialise the full potential of the study;
•Collaborate with other scholars in the research project;
•Participate in the Department Public Administration and Sociology of Erasmus University Rotterdam.

• Msc in public administration, social sciences, anthropology, sociology, or organization psychology;
• Candidate interested in governance and a socio-technical approach;
• Is a team player, working together with other researchers and practitioners of NGInfra partners;
• Needs to be proficient in spoken Dutch;
• Needs to be proficient in written English.

The appointment will be for a total of  four years. Phd student will be set to work at the Erasmus School of Social and behavioural Sciences, Rotterdam. The initial appointment will be for a period of one year, extendable up to three more years upon a positive evaluation.
 
You can find information about our excellent fringe benefits of employment at www.workingatvu.nl like:
• remuneration of  8,3% end-of-year bonus and  8% holiday allowance;
• solid pension scheme (ABP);
• a minimum of 29 holidays in case of full-time employment;
• participation in Individual Choices model.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) is a leading, innovative and growing university that is at the heart of society and actively contributes to new developments in teaching and research. Our university has ten faculties, and provides work for over 4,500 staff and scientific education for more than 23,000 students.

http://www.vu.nl/en/index.asp

The Faculty of Social Sciences  is one of the larger faculties of the Vrije Universiteit. Over 2,500 students and more than 250 employees are engaged in teaching and research on social-science issues. The faculty has 5 bachelor- and 7 master programs. In addition to Organization Science, the faculty offers bachelor and master programs in anthropology, political science, public administration, communication science and sociology. The main focus of research is societal resilience (see www.fsw.vu.nl/en/research/institute-for-societal-resilience/).