We are offering a PhD position on the project which focuses on the role of technical universities, TU/e in particular, as change agents for sustainability transitions. A successful applicant will perform this action research project in line with the activities of the university sustainability ambassador, Dr Anna Wieczorek. The specific tasks of the PhD candidate include: i) research into specific roles technical universities can assume in sustainability transition; ii) support to the development of participatory sustainability assessment of the ongoing TU/e research, education, operations and/or governance; and iii) research into how universities can mobilize their staff and student community around sustainability transitions.

The candidate will report the research findings at international conferences and in scientific journals. Given the very practical dimension of this project, the research findings will be applied in practical environment of the TU/e and disseminated via non-academic channels. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to profit from what such an environment has to offer. The PhD candidate will fully participate in relevant project activities and support the ambassador in the management tasks. A small teaching load is part of the job description.

Institutional Setting

The PhD position is embedded in the Technology, Innovation & Society (TIS) group. The TIS group is part of the School of Innovation Sciences, one of the two schools of the Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences (IE&IS). Research at TIS concerns how humans and societies bring about technological change, and how technological innovations change society. Researchers in the TIS group study these processes in a systemic, transdisciplinary, and transnational perspective. The research focus of TIS covers both short-term processes (innovations) and long-term, fundamental processes (transitions), and addresses multiple aspects of the innovation journey - invention, innovation, diffusion, appropriation, governance, policy intervention along with local and global impacts on society. Many of the TIS research projects are strongly embedded in practical environments and involve co-creation and an action research approach.