We are looking for a PhD candidate with a passion for sustainability and social entrepreneurship, who will form part of the team responsible for research and teaching in the area of sustainable entrepreneurship in a circular economy. To this end, regional collaboration is high on the agenda. Together with your team and colleagues, you will carry out various duties with passion, including:

- PhD research about social entrepreneurship,
- supporting teaching in various course units for the master’s degree programme in Sustainable Entrepreneurship
- supervising student projects
- initiating and maintaining innovative and intensive partnerships with regional partners.

Together with your supervisors Prof. Gjalt de Jong and Dr. Emma Folmer, you will study causes and consequences of social entrepreneurship. An increasing number of entrepreneurs in the region are focusing on social contributions to society and use this in their business models. This brings many interesting challenges including the role of leadership, partnerships, networks and government policy. The research activities can therefore include (but are not limited to) questions around place-based impact of social enterprises, public-private partnerships between government and social enterprises as well as collaboration in networks of social enterprises more generally. Your project will benefit from the ongoing sustainability/social enterprise research within the existing chair group including research based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data.

The PhD position falls under the Sustainable Entrepreneurship in a Circular Economy chair group. At the moment, five Assistant Professors and eight PhD students are taking care of the Faculty’s teaching and research. The team is actively engaged in applying our insights regionally. They are very committed, sustainable and entrepreneurial lecturers and researchers, each with their own profile (for example, in social entrepreneurship or sustainable business models). With an enthusiastic approach they deliver high-quality teaching and research on meaningful topics. Together, we are the socially conscious and committed builders of the new chair group, of Campus Fryslân, and of a better world.

You should have the following qualifications:

- highly motivated to work on social entrepreneurship
- a completed or almost completed (research) master’s degree in Business/Economics/Sociology/Psychology or a related degree programme
- a strong affinity with sustainability/social engagement/corporate social responsibility (CSR)
- a strong affinity with interdisciplinary research
- relational skills for making connections between the Faculty and the professional field of Friesland/the Northern Netherlands and the willingness to build intensive regional collaborations
- very good knowledge of written and spoken English
- enthusiasm in contributing to innovations in the chair group/Faculty
- conceptual ability
- presenting skills
- planning and organizational skills.

Are you a natural fit for developing the profile of circular entrepreneurship, for example by expanding the reasons why or why not social entrepreneurship can be successful? If so, we look forward to receiving your application.

Fixed-term contract: 48 months.

We offer a salary of € 2,325 gross per month in the first year to a maximum of € 2,972 gross per month in the final year (salary scale Dutch Universities), based on a full-time position (1.0 FTE) excluding a 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end of the year bonus.

The position is offered for four years. A successful candidate will first be offered a temporary position of one year with the option of renewal for another three years. Prolongation of the contract is contingent on sufficient progress in the first year to indicate that a successful completion of the PhD thesis within the contract period is to be expected.

A PhD training programme is part of the agreement and the successful candidate will be enrolled in the Graduate School of the Faculty. As part of the programme, the PhD student will take part in the Career Perspectives Series, which provides a thorough preparation on the career after the PhD, inside or outside academia. During the course of the doctorate, the student will develop research and teaching competencies as well as leadership skills. For this, the PhD students will receive a tailor-made programme from the GSCF.
 
Application
You may apply for this opportunity until 11 April 11.59pm / before 12 April 2019 Dutch local time (CET) by using the application form.

Please submit your application in English, including:

- a recent curriculum vitae
- a motivational letter of a maximum of two A4 pages
- a copy of your diplomas with a list of course grades
- reference letters from two academic referees
- a research proposal of up to 2000 words, covering state of the art, main research question, key objectives, and relevance, the proposed (methodological) approach, a brief description of the relevant literature, and a provisional timetable and a writing sample of no more than 5000 words, e.g. an essay or part of a master’s thesis.

Please submit your documents in PDF format.

Interviews with the selection committee will take place in April/May 2019 and will be held in English. The application procedure may include giving a presentation.

The intended starting date is 1 September 2019. An earlier start is possible by mutual consent.

For general information about PhD positions at Campus Fryslân, please contact Dr. Joop Houtman j.houtman@rug.nl, Coordinator of the Graduate School of Campus Fryslân.

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Campus Fryslan

Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has enjoyed an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative university of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Balanced study and career paths in a wide variety of disciplines encourage the 31,000 students and researchers to develop their own individual talents. Belonging to the best research universities in Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is an international place of knowledge.

Campus Fryslân is the ambitious eleventh and newest faculty of the University of Groningen, located in Leeuwarden. Campus Fryslân is an interdisciplinary faculty that works closely together with regional, national and international partners on worldwide (sustainability) problems and local solutions. The sustainable development goals of the United Nations thus serve as an important guideline.

We offer challenging bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degree programmes. The research institute covers four research domains: Governance, Sustainable Economy, Culture, Language & Technology and Health & Food. In the summer of 2019, we will move to the new faculty building De Beurs: the first all-electric, monumental educational building in the Netherlands.