PhD in Supply Chain Management, focus Service Supply Chains and Innovation

Are you passionate about creating novel solutions and service supply chains that help organisations to meet societal and industrial challenges such as sustainable development, circularity, digitalization, and customer-driven service innovations? At the Division of Service Management & Logistics at Chalmers we are seeking a PhD candidate to join our team and pursue a strong and internationally leading research.

Information about the division and the research
The Division of Service Management & Logistics is one of six divisions at the Department of Technology Management and Economics, which in research and teaching focuses on the interaction between technology development, industrial systems, society, people, and the environment. We offer you the chance to join a well-established research environment with a strong and appealing teaching portfolio. Our research focuses on the management, design, delivery, and improvement of processes and services from the perspective of the individual organization as well as the wider supply chain. We conduct problem-oriented, empirical, and inter-disciplinary research, with strong emphasis on industry and societal relevance, and attach value to high visibility in leading academic journals. The division has a particular research focus on organizations within sectors such as transportation, construction, healthcare, and manufacturing.

As PhD student you will take part in research at the division, building upon the academic disciplines of supply chain management, service management and operations management. The exact focus of the work will be decided in interaction with the main supervisor, but this current PhD position concerns research within the scope of the service supply chain with particular focus is services and service innovation at firm level as well as in the wider context of the service supply chain of companies in both manufacturing and in more service-based sectors such as energy, construction, and logistics. Supply chains give us a structure of various actors such suppliers, providers, customers and end-users. Management of inter-organisational relationships gives us the means to act in this structure to work with resource utilization, improvement and development of processes as well as inter-organizational relationships. We work with the supplier as well as the customer and user-end of the supply chain on for example new ways of creating customer-driven solutions, or solutions such as “energy as a service” and “circularity as a service”.

At large, PhD studies include several doctoral courses, reviewing literature, conducting research studies, and interacting with industrial companies. As a PhD student you take an active role in the research project in preparing for and collecting empirical data, conducting analysis, and presenting results. During the project, results will continuously be presented at seminars and on international conferences. Both research and teaching are typically collaborative efforts, but it is also important that you are able to manage your own working situation and work independently.

Major responsibilities
You will be expected to:
- Carry out research activities in the project, including writing publications and theses
- Be an active and contributing member of the research group
- Attend division and project meetings and conferences
- Take PhD courses as part of the Doctoral Programme

Your main responsibility as a PhD student is to pursue your own doctoral studies. To do this, you need to be highly motivated, be able to work independently, and be capable of engaging in collaborations involving different types of stakeholders from academia, industry, and society. You are expected to develop your own scientific concepts and communicate fluently the results of the research verbally and in writing in English and preferable Swedish as well.

You will spend approximately 80% of the time on research. As a PhD student you will also, to a maximum of 20%, be involved in teaching bachelor and master courses and/or perform other departmental tasks. You will be enrolled into the postgraduate programme at the research school Technology Management and Economics.

Qualifications
Master's degree in e.g. industrial engineering and management, business administration or equivalent with strong background in supply chain- and service management, operations management and innovation studies and genuine interest in industrial challenges such as circular economy, sustainable development, digitalization, servitization. You must have obtained a master's degree (or equivalent) in the relevant field or expect to complete such degree by the time the employment starts.

You are expected to conduct empirical research as primary activity, foremost applying a qualitative research approach, but open towards learning about and use mixed-methods approaches. The research project focus mainly on empirical case-based research in close interaction with industry. Results of research are expected to be disseminated through interactions with professionals as well as publications in highly ranked journals within the subject area require good writing and communication skills. Other meritorious skills and experience include working experience from industry, collaboration, and management of relationships with stakeholders and project management.

Contract terms
The position is a full-time temporary employment, limited to five years.

Application procedure
The application should be marked with Ref 20220056 and written in English.

CV: (Please name the document: CV, Family name, Ref. number)
• CV
• Other, for example previous employments or leadership qualifications and positions of trust.
• Two references that we can contact.

Personal letter: (Please name the document as: Personal letter, Family name, Ref. number)
1-3 pages where you:
• Introduce yourself
• Describe your previous experience of relevance for the position (e.g. education, thesis work and, if applicable, any other research activities)
• Describe your future goals and future research focus

Other documents:
• Copies of bachelor and/or master’s thesis.
• Attested copies and transcripts of completed education, grades and other certificates, e.g. TOEFL test results.

Please use the button at the foot of the page to reach the application form. The files may be compressed (zipped).

Application deadline: 14 March, 2022