Applications are invited for a PhD scholarship at the Department of Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense. The starting date is flexible, but we hope to welcome our new colleague on 1 August 2023.

The PhD position is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation. The duration of the PhD position is three years, including a research stay abroad (the typical duration of the research stay abroad is 6 months).

Job description

The Department of Economics is an international department with a strong tradition for excellence in research and teaching within the various areas of economics. The research, teaching, and dissemination activities at the department are organized within four groups: Econometrics and Data Science; Economic History; Macroeconomics; and Microeconomics. A more elaborated description of the department and the groups can be found on the department website: https://www.sdu.dk/en/om_sdu/institutter_centre/oekonomiskinstitut

The Historical Economics and Development Group

The PhD student will be affiliated to the Historical Economics and Development Group. The Historical Economics and Development Group (HEDG, https://www.sdu.dk/en/hedg) focuses on research in Economic History with a strong quantitative focus. HEDG is internationally acknowledged as a leading research group and attracts substantial grants and media coverage, as well as publishing books and articles with top outlets.

Research project on social mobility and human capital in the Nordic countries

The candidate joins an international team of researchers and will be involved in a prestigious research project on social mobility and human capital in the Nordic countries funded by the Danish National Research Foundation (for more information see link, https://dg.dk/en/centers/dnrf-chair-professor-gregory-clark/), headed by Professor Gregory Clark, a world-renowned researcher in Economic History. The successful candidate is expected to contribute to high-quality research on social mobility and human capital and to undertake teaching and supervision within economics at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Data curation using machine learning will be an integrated part of the project hence knowledge and interest in working with deep learning and natural language processing will be an advantage. 

PhD scholarship at the Department of Economics

The scholarship is available to students who wish to enter the PhD programme in Economics. A 5+3 PhD scholarship is granted to applicants who have completed a MSc in Economics, Mathematics and Economics, Business Administration or similar. The scholarship runs for three years. The PhD will be supervised by Professor Gregory Clark and co-supervised by Professor Paul Sharp.

The thesis involves the digitization of large scale microlevel information on graduates over several centuries, and the estimation of social mobility until today, using modern administrative data. It is also expected that the student conducts independent, single-authored work.

Information about the PhD programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences and at the Department of Economics, University of Southern Denmark, is available here (http://www.sdu.dk/sam/phduk) and here (https://www.sdu.dk/en/om_sdu/institutter_centre/oekonomiskinstitut/research/phd) respectively. Further information can be obtained from PhD coordinator and Professor Giovanni Mellace, e-mail: giome[at]sam.sdu.dk.

Application, salary, etc.

Your employment as a Salaried PhD Research Fellow is governed by the agreement of 10 November 2015 on Graduate Employees in government appendix 5 – protocol on PhD Research Fellows. The scholarship runs for three years.

An application must include:

Detailed CV
A certified copy of your degree certificates including all examination results
Application form (please see below)
A motivational letter describing why the applicant is a good match for analysing the topic and how the applicant’s skills provide a solid foundation to do so (max. 5 pages incl. reference list).
A project description (max 5 pages of 2400 characters each, including spaces, notes, appendices, bibliography etc.)
An abstract for the above project description of no more than 250 words
When applying for a PhD scholarship, please fill in the application form available on our web page (https://misc.sam.sdu.dk/files/PogOE/application-form-for-PhD-ny.docx). On the webpage of the PhD-school, you can find the guidelines for preparing your project proposal within the PhD programme in Economics: https://www.sdu.dk/en/forskning/phd/phd_skoler/phduddannelsen_under_samfundsvidenskab/saadan+soeger+du+om+indskrivning

All non-Danish documents must be translated into English.

Applications will be assessed by a committee. When the evaluation committee has submitted its report, the applicant will receive the part of the evaluation that concerns him/her.

Applications that are incomplete regarding the above requirements will not be assessed by the committee.

Shortlisting and tests may be used in the assessment process.

The University wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

As part of the overall assessment of the applicant’s qualifications, an interview may be applied.

Deadline 26 March 2023
You can apply for the job at Faculty of Business and Social Sciences by completing the application form
https://ssl1.peoplexs.com/Peoplexs22/CandidatesPortalNoLogin/ApplicationForm.cfm?PortalID=3795&VacatureID=1205938