In both research and industry, there is a growing push to establish interorganizational learning communities as hubs where professionals from diverse backgrounds can collaborate, learn, and innovate collectively. Although we have seen a significant rise of these interorganizational learning communities (LCs), as they hold a promise to contribute to offering solutions for current societal issues, most of these communities often do not result in the required innovations. While the participants often posses expert knowledge on the topic, they often get “stuck” in merely exchanging knowledge. Currently, we lack insights into how to support these LCs with actionable knowledge, tools, and guidance in adopting and implementing socio-technical innovations.

The focus of the PhD project is twofold. First, you will investigate the dynamics of effective innovation practices in teams and their keydrivers. Specific methods (combinations of video-observation, physiological measures and experience sampling) will be employed to studying, at a micro-level, the innovation processes and critical moments in those processes. Second, you will develop and evaluate the effects of training and other forms of support to accelerate the innovation practices.

The resulting insights will also be used to offer formative and summative feedback to the communities themselves, empowering them to reflect on and enhance their innovation and learning practices.

The PhD position is part of the NWO-funded project LIAT; Learning and Innovating Ahead of the Threat. In this project, several other partners are also involved including Saxion Hogeschool, the Haagse Security Delta (HSD), and the Centre and the Centre for Safety an Digitalization. Within this context, several learning communities are participating in the project.

As a PhD-student in this project, you will work on the intersection of science and practice. You will contribute to the understanding of how interorganizational learning communities can collaborate and learn together to come up with the required innovations in the field of safety (i.e., digital and physical safety) and how you support a context for continuous learning and innovation. You will design a training to prepare participants and foster the complex skills required for developing innovative solutions together with others. In doing so, you can build upon earlier trainings which are designed for these purposes. Furthermore, you will map collaborative learning and innovation processes and how these emerge over time (e.g., different phases and transitions to the next phase). We use a novel, multi-modal approach to get a more holistic understanding of these processes and to also identify “critical moments” by using a combination of video observation and physiological measures.

A great opportunity of this project is that you are not only working with academics, but also maintain close relationships with stakeholders and practitioners that are affiliated in this project.

You will be expected to report and present your findings for both scientific and non-scientific audiences, such as at scientific conferences, in journal publications, and during project meetings with partners.

To be considered for this position, you should:

• have a MSc degree in Educational Science, Business Administration, Psychology, Human Resource Management, Organization Studies, Communication Science, or a related field;
• have expertise or demonstrable interest in the process of continuous learning and innovation practises in a team context;
• have strong, demonstrable methodological knowledge and skills (qualitative and quantitative);
• have an interest in the design of trainings or interventions;
• have experience or an interest in field research, specifically in study designs where multiple methods are combined (observation and physiological measures);
• have good social and communication skills in academic as well as non-academic contexts;
• are fluent in English and able to understand and communicate in Dutch (hard requirement);
• have excellent writing and organization skills;
• have proven ability to work independently, but also to collaborate within a team and with relevant stakeholders (both within and outside academia).

A 4-year PhD-position (1.0fte), starting in June 2024. The gross salary is in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU) € 2.770,- to € 3539,- per month for a fulltime position, depending on experience. On top of this, you receive a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus.

We offer excellent auxiliary terms of employment, such as

• professional and personal development programs;
• a secondary remuneration package;
• a dynamic environment with enthusiastic colleagues;
• an organization focusing on internationalization;
• a high degree of responsibility and independence.

Working at the Professional Learning & Technology department at the UT

Researchers in our department study formal and informal learning of (future) employees, including the use of technology to measure and support professional learning. More broadly, we also study professional learning in relation to the collaboration and innovation processes of professionals, particularly so in multidisciplinary settings and new forms of organizing (such as learning communities or living labs). Our studies often take place in the high-tech, health, and educational sectors with the intention to understand, evaluate, and optimize (inter)professional and (inter)organizational learning, collaboration, and innovation in these various contexts. Increasingly, the settings we study revolve around grand challenges and wicked problems, such as the transitions to green energy and circularity or matters of digital transformation. To contribute to these challenges, we also design and evaluate (technology-based) interventions to optimize professional learning, innovation, and collaboration. In our research group, we combine expertise from a range of disciplines (e.g., educational sciences, psychology, business administration, organization studies, communication science).

More information about the departments of Professional Learning & Technology can be found on the following website