Maastricht Sustainability Institute (MSI) at the School of Business and Economics (SBE) of Maastricht University offers a 4-year PhD position, starting on June 1, 2020. Eligible candidates must have successfully completed a Master’s degree (MSc or MA) in Sustainability Science, Business and Economics, or another Social Science study with courses in the areas of sustainability, sustainable consumption, and/or circular economy and have high competence in written and spoken English. Students of Design or Engineering studies with affinity with social science, who have worked with stakeholders in a sustainability, circular economy or sustainable consumption project, are also eligible.

We are looking for a candidate who has the competence and interest in working on a challenging research topic of ‘sufficiency’ and slowing consumption in the Circular Economy from a business perspective. The candidate will work in close collaboration with a new ambitious 5-year European Research Council (ERC) project, ‘Circular X’, which is about experimentation with circular business models. The PhD candidate will specifically emphasize ‘sufficiency’ in the Circular Economy context, by focusing on viable business strategies, tools and methods for sufficiency. Strong collaborative and networking skills are desirable because the project will involve engagement and developing new connections with business.

The candidate will be working in a broad multidisciplinary team, led by Prof Nancy Bocken, based at Maastricht Sustainability Institute (MSI), Maastricht University.

The candidate is expected to contribute to teaching activities at the department, taking max. 15% of her/ his time. The candidate is also expected to be involved in case study research with companies. Experience with studying or working in a company context will be beneficial.

We offer a dynamic and challenging job in an internationally oriented organisation. MSI has strong collaborations with other institutes and departments at Maastricht University and elsewhere.

We are looking for a self-driven, curious person who is interested in research, who is a critical and systematic thinker who can easily shift between the concrete and abstract and has a record of high academic achievement (e.g. good grades and master thesis, other research papers and/or involvement in other academic activities). In the project, you are expected to engage with circular economy, sufficiency and business issues in direct encounters with practitioners, i.e., those working in businesses. Applicants are asked to send their CV, a motivation letter (max. 1 page) and a 1500-2000-word (excl. references) short research proposal on the topic of sufficiency in the circular economy.

Remuneration will be according to standard salary levels for PhD students starting with a gross monthly salary of € 2.325,00 with a yearly growth to € 2.972,00 (based on a full-time appointment). Each year the standard salary is supplemented with a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.

You should be willing to move to (the vicinity of) Maastricht.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website: http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > Support > UM employees.

Maastricht University

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 18,000 students and 4,400 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.
For more information, see https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/research/maastricht-sustainability-institute-msi; http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/