Research and industry have advocated for setting up Learning Communities as a new form of organizing and a creative space in which professionals from various organizations and with different backgrounds can work, collaborate, and innovate together. However, insights into how learning communities function and contribute to accelerated innovation remain lacking. In this NWO-funded project, we study 13 learning communities (of different sizes, maturities, focus points, etc.) in which professionals experiment and collaborate to push forward matters related to the digital transformation. The Post-doc project uses a boundary work perspective to better comprehend how members of learning communities organize their joint work, coordinate and communicate across organizational and disciplinary differences, make sense of often broad and vague questions around digital transformation, and so forth. The project constitutes an excellent opportunity to conduct (independent) scientific research on novel forms of organizing and interorganizational collaboration, with numerous committed fieldwork sites to tap into. In addition, this project includes the possibility to directly contribute to pressing questions on how to transform work practices and organize work in the future.

As a Post-doc researcher* (or junior researcher) in this project, your job is to

• Design and conduct longitudinal qualitative case studies (ideally of ethnographic nature) to better understand how organization, collaboration, and innovation processes unfold and can be best facilitated in spaces where professionals from various backgrounds and organizations come together.
• Work independently on your own research while remaining in close relation with other researchers in the project team as well as with stakeholders and professionals of the involved learning communities.
• Report and present your findings for both scientific and non-scientific audiences (e.g., at scientific conferences, in journal publications, or during workshops with practitioners).

The Post-doc position is funded by NWO and is part of the project CLIC-IT: Communities of Learning and Innovation in ICT to accelerate digital transformation. Besides the Post-doc (or junior researcher), a PhD-student and multiple other (junior and senior) researchers are working on this project. Several partners collaborate in the project, including Saxion Hogeschool, Hanzehogeschool Groningen, Fontys Hogeschool and Hogeschool Windesheim. The 13 involved learning communities are located across the Netherlands and represent in total more than 500 firms, stakeholders, and educational institutions (including the Dutch AI coalition and the Centre for Safety and Digitalization). The large consortium of learning communities is committed to the research project and provides excellent sites for data collection and/or more impact-directed research approaches. More information can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clic-it-learning-communities/