Tilburg University CentER Graduate School of Business is now open to receive applications for enrollment in September 2023 (Latest by 1 September 2024), including 1 fully funded doctoral student position in the Information and Supply Chain Management Track for a student that is interested in working with and in the areas of interest of Professor Jan Fransoo. 

The Information and Supply Chain Management Research Group is a growing high-quality high-impact research group in Tilburg University’s School of Economics and Management. Faculty span a wide range of research topics and methods (https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/about/schools/economics-and-management/organization/departments/management/staff). Recently, we have grown substantially in size and in research output, with in particular an outstanding group of junior and mid-career faculty. Our leading faculty publish in premier outlets such as those in the FT50 journal list. In addition, a subset of our PhD projects are sponsored by industry and science council funding, and address directly impactful societal challenges. We have close collaboration with a number of research centers at our University, including the Zero Hunger Lab and the Tranzo Healthcare Research Lab.

For this position, you are fully in the driver’s seat, and expected to develop a research proposal, aligned with the research interests of Professor Fransoo. In particular, we are seeking projects in areas such as the human role in supply chain planning, omnichannel retail, food security, and emerging markets research in general. The position is funded by the CentER Graduate School of Business.

Embedding
The PhD candidate will be embedded in the productive, collegial, and engaged Information and Supply Chain Management (ISCM) Research Group at Tilburg University. The group consists of faculty, lecturers, postdoctoral fellows, and PhD candidates. The PhD candidate is also enrolled in the world-class CentER PhD Program, where they will take about 40 European credits of courses as part of working towards the PhD degree. For the candidate, a second advisor will be added to the research team. The second advisor will be selected jointly by the PhD candidate and Professor Fransoo within six months after start of enrollment.

The ISCM Group is part of the Department of Management in the Tilburg School of Economics and Management (TiSEM). TISEM is the largest school of Tilburg University. It benefits from a strong research reputation, for instance exemplified by the recent top-10 ranking in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (“Shanghai Ranking”) for the field of business administration.

Task description
Most PhD dissertations at CentER require the design and execution of 3 studies, and reporting on those projects in academic publications. The execution of the research work itself typically involves the conceptualization of the research questions and ideas, data collection, qualitative and/or quantitative analysis of the data, and writing of the academic papers. In addition, experiments may be conducted in our excellent behavioral laboratory at Tilburg University. Since in many projects we interact with companies for getting access to data, stakeholder management may be an important part of your tasks.

In addition to conducting research, you will take courses at CentER, and you will spend at most 20% of your time teaching and/or assisting with teaching in our Master and Bachelor programs.

Upon successful completion of your courses and your research work, as demonstrated by a submitted and approved PhD dissertation and the subsequent defense, you will be awarded a doctoral degree by Tilburg University.

1. An academic Master’s or MPhil/Research Master’s degree in econometrics or business (in the latter case with a sizeable share of quantitative courses). The degree should demonstrate an excellent background in analytical skills. For research in Information Management, in some cases also a degree in Computer Science or similar may be appropriate, while for research in Supply Chain Management and Operations Management, degrees in Industrial Engineering or Operations Research may be appropriate.
2. Completed the previous degree with an excellent GPA (top 10% of class)
3. Proficiency in English to be proven by means of an IELTS score of at least 7.0, with no sub scores below 6.5, a TOEFL score of at least 100 (internet based) or 600 (paper based), a Cambridge CAE (at least B) or a Cambridge CPE. Exemptions can be provided upon request to native English speakers or to candidates who have obtained their bachelor’s and master’s degree in English in Europe, the UK, Canada, USA, Australia, or New Zealand.
4. For candidates with a Master degree from a university outside Europe: a recent GRE or GMAT test score of at most two years old. A GRE or GMAT is also strongly recommended for candidates that have completed a Master’s degree in Europe that is not research oriented, as this will strengthen a candidate’s credibility.
   
   If you have any of the following additional skills or evidence of skills, please include them specifically in your application, as they can be of value in the selection process:
    
5. Knowledge of Python / R programming and/or other evidence of data science skills (including certificates obtained through online education)
6. Evidence of econometric and/or data science work conducted with empirical data.
7. Evidence of prior research work, exemplified by a master’s thesis, or academic papers.
8. Excellent academic writing skills (a writing sample of a thesis or paper can serve as evidence)

Fixed-term contract: 4 years.

Tilburg University is rated among the top Dutch employers and has excellent terms of employment. The appointment will be for the total of 48 months. The selected candidates will initially be appointed for 16 months, with an extension for the following 32 months based on a positive evaluation. The evaluation will take place after about 12 months.

During the first year, you will receive extensive training in theory and methods by taking several PhD-level courses. There is also a travel budget for attending summer schools, working visits and conferences. The training can be adapted to the previous educational achievements of the PhD candidate by mutual agreement with the supervisors. For the remaining three years, 80% of the position’s time will be dedicated to the completion of your PhD research, and 20% to the acquisition of academic skills through teaching courses and supervising master/bachelor theses within the department.

The appointed PhD candidate will be an employee of Tilburg University.  The starting gross salary is 
€ 2,541 per month (for a full-time appointment) in the first year, up to € 3,247 in the final year. In addition, there is a holiday allowance (8% of the annual salary, in May), and end-of-year bonus (8.3% of the annual salary, in December). 

All university employees are covered by the so-called civil servants pension fund (ABP). Researchers from outside the Netherlands may qualify for a tax-free allowance equal to 30% of their taxable salary. The university will apply for such an allowance on their behalf. The university offers very good fringe benefits (it is one of the best non-profit employers in the Netherlands), such as an options model for terms and conditions of employment and excellent reimbursement of moving expenses.

Tilburg University

Tilburg University is one of Europe’s leading universities in the fields of business and economics, ranking #5 in Europe in the field of Business Research (UT Dallas World Ranking) and #20 in Economics & Business Worldwide (US News Ranking 2021). The School of Economics and Management has 7,000 students (26% international) and 400 academic staff (50% international).  The campus provides a green, academically centered environment with modern facilities and convenient local transportation.  Tilburg’s central position in the Benelux offers excellent regional and international access.  Major airports nearby include Amsterdam (Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium) and Düsseldorf (Germany).  English is the working language of the university.

Tilburg School of Economics and Management
Tilburg School of Economics and Management (TiSEM) is the university largest faculty.  TiSEM offers well reputed academic research and education. Its research belongs to the European top. The education programs, of which the majority are offered completely in English, are on the international map with the AACSB accreditation awarded in 2002. Employees and students form an ambitious international community.
Tilburg School of Economics and Management