2 PhD Positions: Business-to-Government Data Sharing for Societal Challenges

Utrecht University is offering two fully funded, four-year PhD-positions on the value of data for addressing societal challenges, with a specific focus on business-to-government (B2G) data sharing.

Your job
Vacancy 1. The PhD-candidate will map and compare approaches of local governments in large European cities towards accessing business data. The candidate will investigate the tensions, strategies, and outcomes of B2G data sharing and how the shared business data is used by governments to address which societal challenges. The research will involve the use of survey research methods, as well as interviews and case studies.

Vacancy 2. The PhD candidate will investigate the value of private sector data for the production of official statistics. The candidate will compare the approaches to access private sector data of national government statistics offices throughout the European Union and investigate the challenges and trace the outcomes. The research will involve the use of interviews and case study research methods.

Your PhD-project is part of a wider NWO-funded Vidi-project called DATA ALLY which investigates regulatory and non-regulatory approaches of governments across the EU to institutionalize access to private sector data when public interest is at stake. DATA ALLY is an interdisciplinary project connecting scholarship in public administration, information systems, and innovation studies. As a PhD student, you will be part of a four-person team with access to a network of collaborators in other Dutch universities and abroad. The PhD candidates filling in the two vacancies will closely collaborate with each other and with the team of supervisors.

The PhD candidate will be part of the Innovation Studies group of the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University, and supervised by Dr Iryna Susha and Prof. Koen Frenken.

Vacancy 1. We seek highly motivated candidates who:

• have an interest in digital innovation, data-driven policy, big data in government or the like;
• have a background in public administration, political science, digital government, information systems, organization studies, innovation studies and/or a related discipline;
• are willing to learn about institutional theory and related theories;
• have experience with qualitative (case studies) and/or quantitative (survey) research methods;
• have an interest (or prior experience) in collaborating with city governments (municipalities);
• are proficient in English (proficiency in Dutch or another European language is an advantage but not a requirement);
• have an interest (or prior experience) of working in an international/EU context, as well as good (stakeholder) communication and project management skills;
• have solid scientific writing skills.

Vacancy 2. We seek highly motivated candidates who:

• have an interest in digital innovation, data-driven policy, big data in government or the like;
• have a background in public administration, political science, organization studies, innovation studies, information systems, and/or a related discipline;
• have an interest (or prior experience) in collaborating with national statistics offices;
• are willing to learn about institutional theory and related theories;
• have experience with qualitative (case studies) research methods;
• are proficient in English (proficiency in Dutch or another European language is an advantage but not a requirement);
• have an interest (or prior experience) of working in an international/EU context, as well as good (stakeholder) communication and project management skills;
• have solid scientific writing skills.

The project can start between 1 June 2024 and 1 September 2024.

We offer:

• a position (0.8-1.0 FTE) for 4 years;
• a full-time gross salary between €2,770 in the first year and €3,539 in the fourth year of employment in scale P of the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities;
• 8% holiday bonus and 8.3% end-of-year bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave, and flexible employment conditions based on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities.

In addition to the employment conditions from the CAO for Dutch Universities, Utrecht University has a number of its own arrangements. These include agreements on professional development, leave arrangements, sports and cultural schemes and you get discounts on software and other IT products. We also give you the opportunity to expand your terms of employment through the Employment Conditions Selection Model. This is how we encourage you to grow. For more information, please visit working at Utrecht University.

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