PhD scholarships UCD Innovation Research Unit

4 PhD studentships (Innovation Research)
University College Dublin

PhD scholarship, starting 01/04/2009 or later, for 3 years (1800 EUR per month)
Main areas:
a) Self-defined PhD project in Innovation Research
b) Help with Establishing UCD´s Innovation Research Unit

Job description

Area (a)

The advertised positions will offer the opportunity to follow a self-defined PhD
project in the general research orientation at IRU. Innovation, the creation of new, technologically feasible, commercially realisable products and processes, is permanently emerging from an ongoing interaction process of innovative organisations such as universities, research institutes, firms, government agencies, venture capitalists and others. These actors generate and exchange knowledge, financial capital, and other resources in networks of relationships which are embedded in institutional frameworks on the local, regional, national and international level. While the contexts of innovation performance provide turbulent environments with high uncertainty and ambiguity, innovation networks in complex social systems typically show characteristics such as multi-scale interactions with high contingency and nonlinearity, emergent behaviour, pattern formation, and self-organisation. IRU's research deals with governance issues of innovation networks in complex social systems. Most projects combine a conceptual framework of complexity science and social systems theory with computational methods such as network
analysis, agent-based modelling and social simulation. Successful candidates need
to apply with a project idea fitting this framework.

Area (b)
The advertised positions at IRU (UCD Innovation Research Unit,
http://casl. ucd.ie/iru) are funded by UCD´s Vice-President for Research. IRU works in an environment that will commission independent, multidisciplinary research focused on the broad role, drivers and impacts of innovation.

It will advance knowledge of a broad definition of innovation through high-quality,
independent research which is fully engaged with policy and practitioner communities. It will ensure the maximum impact of new knowledge on policy and
practice and develop capacity, in terms of people, data and methods, for future
research and knowledge exchange. Successful candidates need to engage fully
with the mission of IRU and assist in establishing the unit.

The Positions

Since IRU is an interdisciplinary research environment, any disciplinary background of the PhD candidates are welcome. We are looking for excellent candidates from the natural and social sciences with an interest in combining empirical research and modelling activities for complex systems, in our case innovation systems. A sound background in research methods using both, quantitative (prominently social network analysis and agent-based simulation) and qualitative methods is mandatory though UCD offers the possibility for starting PhDs with a bachelor degree.

Organisational skills, love for detail, and social competence would be desirable;
very good written and oral English, and permanent residence in Dublin/Ireland is
mandatory. In addition to the superior payment, this positions provide the
opportunity to work in an international research team doing cutting-edge innovation
research.

The successful candidates will enrol in the new PhD Programme "Complex Systems and Computational Social Science" at UCD and will receive a PhD degree adapted to the disciplinary area of their main supervisors which can be from the natural or from the social sciences.

Application

Applications should include an up-to-date CV and a cover letter and can be sent
by email (pdf or doc files). Further requests for information before submitting a
formal application are welcome.

Please send your application via email until 15/03/2009 to: petra.ahrweiler@ ucd.ie. We are looking forward to your submission.

Prof. Dr. Petra Ahrweiler
Professor of Technology and Innovation Management UCD Innovation
Research Unit (IRU) Complex Adaptive Systems Laboratory CASL University
College Dublin
8 Belfield Office Park
Beaver Row
Clonskeagh
Dublin 4
Ireland

Phone: +353 1 716 5367
Fax: +353 1 716 5396
http://casl.ucd.ie/iru/

petra.ahrweiler@ ucd.ie