Utrecht University in the Netherlands is currently inviting applications for several fully funded PhD positions across various departments. Below is a comprehensive list of the available PhD programs. Eligible candidates are encouraged to apply promptly.
1) PhD Position on the Future of Work and Organisational Creativity
Creative tasks—those involving the generation of new ideas and products traditionally relying heavily on individual and group competencies—are widespread in many jobs. For these tasks, the adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) may be considered both a blessing and a curse. The project focuses on GAI to contribute to the debate on how the human capacity for creation/creativity is affected by technological paradigm shifts.
Over four years, you will conduct doctoral research on this topic. The focus of your research will be to explore how the future of creative work is evolving in light of technological disruptions. There is room for shaping the research objectives within the PhD trajectory.
Deadline: 14 September 2024
2) PhD in Urban Geography and Platform Real Estate
Participation in urban life is increasingly reliant on the use of digital platforms like Uber, Airbnb, and Funda. These platforms territorialize urban processes, including housing, promising to connect different stakeholders flexibly and transparently, but they also dictate the terms of connectivity. Platforms limit interactions between selected stakeholders and participants, creating patterns of inclusion, exclusion, and inequalities where the most vulnerable people lose out.
Platform real estate suggests increased transparency in the real estate market between buyers and sellers to address unethical bidding practices and favoritism. However, platforms create new intermediary gatekeeping dynamics through opaque algorithms and technologies, through which unequal housing markets must be negotiated. This project will focus on the intersection of urban housing and platformization, particularly in Amsterdam. By focusing on lived experiences, the candidate will use qualitative methods to explore how different social groups and stakeholders negotiate online housing platforms.
Deadline: 15 July 2024
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3) PhD Position: Accelerating the Transition to a Circular Textile Economy
The extensive use of land, water, energy, and chemicals makes the textile industry one of the most polluting sectors worldwide. Both the Dutch government and the European Commission aim to improve the circularity of the textile sector to ensure a sustainable future. The Dutch Circular Economy programme highlights the necessity of behavior change and the adoption of circular principles, such as the use of second-hand platforms and the dissuasion of fast-fashion consumption. Central to the programme is the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which is intended to encourage producers and retailers in the Dutch textile industry to change their business models and enhance textile collection efforts.
This PhD project aims to accelerate the transition to a circular textile economy by leveraging the Mission-specific Innovation Systems (MIS) framework. This framework provides a systems perspective to study the dynamics of diffusion and implementation of innovation. It maps the actors, networks, and institutions involved, assesses system performance, and identifies barriers to achieving societal missions through innovation. While the MIS has mainly focused on technological innovation, this project will also emphasize the social innovations needed to accelerate the transition towards circular textiles. The research will integrate both technological and social innovations, focusing on strategies that involve behavioral change and new business models. The project will map the mental models of various stakeholders within the MIS, assess the viability of circular business models, and provide intervention options for stakeholders to supplement the shortcomings of existing mechanisms, such as some aspects of EPR.
Deadline: 15 September 2024
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4) PhD / Postdoc on Infrastructural Imperialism
This project seeks one PhD candidate and three postdoctoral researchers with the necessary research experience and language skills to conduct one of the subprojects in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, or Turkey. Positions for a subproject on the Sandžak region of Montenegro and Serbia have already been filled. Throughout this project, you will be well guided and supported by your supervisor. As a PhD candidate, you will also become part of an active group of PhD researchers who organize regular feedback sessions and a number of social events within the department of Cultural Anthropology’s Sovereignty and Social Contestation (SoSCo) research programme.
Deadline: 23 August 2024
5) PhD Position in Marine Palynology
We are looking for a candidate committed to overcoming the challenges faced when working with complicated materials from regions close to Antarctica. This project seeks a problem-solver who is not easily discouraged by setbacks. The ideal candidate will demonstrate the capability to contribute to the planning and organization of their work, with a keen interest in taking initiatives to guide the direction in which the project develops.
Deadline: 31 July 2024
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6) PhD Position in Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cell Technology
This position involves investigating and characterizing the pore network of thin, porous electrode layers using advanced imaging techniques such as Micro Computational Tomography (µCT) and Focused Ion Beam-Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM). Analyzing the pore network will yield crucial insights into parameters like porosity, pore size distribution, and connectivity, which will guide electrode development. Degraded electrodes will also be characterized to aid in devising strategies to mitigate degradation. Additionally, the candidate will simulate two-phase flow at the pore scale to determine permeability and assess fluid transport quality, upscaling microscale parameters for macro-scale simulations to define Darcy-scale physical properties and facilitate cell-level performance analysis.
Deadline: 30 July 2024
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7) PhD Position in Mathematics of Spatial Networks
In recent years, there has been a significant surge of interest in networks, which now play a fundamental role in modern science and society. Network-like structures are widely discussed, from cosmology and communication to economics and ecology. Even at the nanoscale, in materials science, they may offer potential theoretical explanations for material properties. Despite their popularity, the mathematical foundations underlying networks remain incompletely understood. Spatial networks are especially challenging as they derive their graph-theoretical properties from local constraints imposed by the embedding metric space.
The aim of this fully funded PhD position is to develop the mathematical theory of spatial networks and explain why these networks exhibit specific emergent properties on a macro scale. Unlike conventional graphs, spatial networks exist within an embedding space, allowing for well-defined scaling limits and the ability to “zoom out,” viewing them as continua. Leveraging the expertise of the network group at Utrecht, you will establish a framework for these limits and apply them to partial differential equations that arise. You will attempt to bridge the local topological constraints of networks with their global behavior.
Deadline: 8 July 2024
8) PhD Position in Developmental Biology
This project, funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (EU programme for doctoral education), uses the nematode C. elegans as a model system. Within this animal model, the polarization of cells can be followed with single-cell resolution, and polarity regulators can be studied using advanced genetic tools, including CRISPR/Cas9 genome engineering to generate mutants and inducible degradation variants. This enables the inactivation of candidates in specific cells and at specific times in development.
Deadline: 16 July 2024
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9) PhD in Cancelling as a Postcolonial Strategy for Repairing Cultural Heritage
This project delves into the meaning and applications of canceling practices within antiracist and decolonial movements. The specific focus is on canceling as a reparative strategy aimed at addressing the enduring impact of historical injustices in the present. Termed ‘reparative canceling,’ these practices seek to rectify symbols, art, knowledge, cultural heritage, and ingrained cultural norms deemed harmful and unjust, thus perpetuating the legacy of colonial history.
Deadline: 15 August 2024
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Explore these fully funded PhD opportunities at Utrecht University and take the next step in your academic career. Apply soon to secure your place.
