The Management Department of Tilburg University calls for excellent candidates to apply for the PhD position on digitalization, more specifically related to technological innovation implementation, digital twins, and standardization. The PhD candidate will work with large Dutch organizations for the collaboration. The position is for four years and hosted at the Management Department of the Tilburg School of Economics and Management (TiSEM).

Tilburg University, TiSEM and the Management Department
Tilburg University is a public research university, specializing in economics, business sciences, law, social and behavioral sciences, theology, and humanities. It has been consistently ranked as the best Dutch general university (#1) in the National Student Survey over the past years. Tilburg School of Economics and Management (TiSEM, founded in 1927) is the oldest and largest school of the university. It is one of Europe’s leading schools in the fields of management and economics, ranking regularly among Europe’s top three by research productivity (e.g., #54 worldwide in UT Dallas Ranking 2016-2021). With respect to specific disciplines, it is ranked #17 worldwide in Business Administration (Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2021), #37 worldwide in Business and Economics (Times Higher Education Ranking 2021), and #63 worldwide in the area of Business & Management (QS World University subject rankings 2021). 

The Management Department hosts a diverse and collegial group of research-oriented colleagues, including a terrific group of junior and recently hired scholars. Department members come from leading universities in North America, Asia, and Europe. The Department has a very strong research orientation with a focus on high-quality publications. Faculty members publish widely in UT Dallas journals such as MISQ, ISR, JOC, MgtSci, and JOOM, among others. Faculty members have also successfully acquired project grants at the organizational, institutional, country, and European levels. The Department houses two excellent tracks of the Ph.D. program, which prepare PhD students for productive academic careers with excellent international placements. The working language of the Department and the School is English. 

Project descriptions
This PhD position deals with digitalization and focuses on technological innovation implementation, digital twins, and standardization. Much research has been conducted about the technical sides of digitalization. However, in the practice, even the technical solutions are ready and mature, these pilot projects are still yet to receive a large-scale implementation due to legal and organizational considerations. Also, the interoperability of various systems remains a key challenge. This project is to identify the bottlenecks and solutions, and in sequence collaborate with the corresponding stakeholders to jointly establish a technical and governance framework for the selected use cases.   

To become an eligible PhD candidate at TiSEM CentER Graduate School, please find an overview of the formal PHD-business requirements HERE. 

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.

The training and supervision plan will be made based on the expectation from the PhD project, as well as the mutual agreement with the supervisors and the graduate school. During the first year, the PhD candidate will already start work on the PhD project. At the same time, the candidate will receive the training in theory and methods by taking several PhD-level courses. For the remaining three years, 70% of the position’s time will be dedicated to the completion of your PhD education and research, and 30% to the acquisition of academic skills through teaching courses and supervising master/bachelor theses within the department. To be trained as an independent scholar, the selected candidate is also expected to participate in grant writing and contribute to the research group accordingly. There is also a good travel budget for attending summer schools, working visits and conferences.

The appointed PhD candidate will be an employee of Tilburg University.  The starting gross salary is € 2,770 per month (for a full-time appointment) in the first year, up to € 3,539 in the final year.  There is a holiday allowance (8% in May), and end-of-year bonus (8.3% 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 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

If you have any further questions regarding this vacancy, please do not hesitate to contact prof.dr. Carol Ou, Head of Department/Projectmanager: carol.ou@tilburguniversity.edu.