PhD position: Supporting learning and collaboration in learning communities to accelerate the circularity and energy transitions

The Faculty of Behavioural, Management, and Social Sciences at the University of Twente is currently seeking a PhD-student committed to investigating, understanding, and supporting the collaborative learning and innovation practices of interorganizational learning communities on the circularity and energy transitions. In this NWO-funded project, you will contribute to a deeper understanding of how teams collaboratively make sense of these transitions, create shared objectives for joint experimentation, and how individual participants engage in transformative learning activities to shape their new work practices. This interdisciplinary PhD project revolves around close collaboration with practitioners and other researchers. The ideal candidate shares our passion for combining scientific rigor with societal relevance and has a drive to co-create tools and methods with our stakeholders to support the learning communities in their ambitions.

Research and industry have advocated for setting up learning communities as a new form of organizing and creative space in which professionals from various organizations and with different backgrounds and perspectives can work, collaborate, and innovate together. However, learning and innovating across organizational and professional boundaries in such learning communities is challenging: How do these teams develop and then enact shared goals? And how can individual participants translate findings back to their own work and update or change practices or the activities of their parent organization?

In this NWO-funded project, we study 18 learning communities (of different sizes, maturities, focus points, etc.) in which professionals experiment and collaborate to push forward matters related to the circularity and energy transitions. The PhD-project focuses on the team and individual level to study and support meaning-making, collaboration, and transformative learning in learning communities. In addition, this project includes the possibility to directly contribute to pressing questions on how to transform work practices, organize work in the future, and tackle some of today’s biggest societal challenges.

The PhD position is part of the NWO-funded project Power up! Empowering Learning Communities for Interorganizational Learning and Innovation to Accelerate the Energy and Circularity Transitions . In this project, several other partners are also involved, including VU (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Universities of applied sciences Saxion and Rotterdam, , and 18 existing learning communities. You will closely collaborate with a post-doc (VU) and another PhD-student (Saxion).

Go to www.utwente.nl/vacatures/en (click twice to find the vacancy) to start with the application. You can upload your files here. Since only three documents can be uploaded per application, please combine documents if needed.

Your application should include the following documents:

• a cover letter (in English or Dutch) which explains your interest in the position and your qualifications for it;
• a curriculum vitae;
• a copy of your Master’s thesis or, if it is not yet available, an outline and summary of your thesis.

Please apply before the application deadline of May 5th. The first round of interviews will be held mid-May. The second round also takes place in May. The starting date for the position is ideally June 2024, but some flexibility is possible.

For additional information about this position or to receive the full text of the research proposal funded by NWO, you can contact dr. Ellen Nathues ([email protected]) or prof.dr. Maaike Endedijk ([email protected])

Working at the Professional Learning & Technology department at the UT

Researchers in our department study formal and informal learning of (future) employees, including the use of technology to measure and support professional learning. More broadly, we also study professional learning in relation to the collaboration and innovation processes of professionals, particularly so in multidisciplinary settings and new forms of organizing (such as learning communities or living labs). Our studies often take place in the high-tech, health, and educational sectors with the intention to understand, evaluate, and optimize (inter)professional and (inter)organizational learning, collaboration, and innovation in these various contexts. Increasingly, the settings we study revolve around grand challenges and wicked problems, such as the transitions to green energy and circularity or matters of digital transformation. To contribute to these challenges, we also design and evaluate (technology-based) interventions to optimize professional learning, innovation, and collaboration. In our research group, we combine expertise from a range of disciplines (e.g., educational sciences, psychology, business administration, organization studies, communication science).

More information about the departments of Professional Learning & Technology can be found on the following website .

For more information about the BMS-faculty .

The Faculty of Behavioral, Management and Social sciences (BMS) aims to play a key role in understanding, jointly developing and evaluating innovations in society. Technological developments are the engine of innovation. As a technical university that puts people first, we tailor them to human needs and behavior and use social engineering to integrate them into society. We also ensure adequate governance at public and private level, and robust, inclusive and fair organizational structures. We do this by developing, sharing and applying high-quality knowledge in Psychology, Business Administration, Public Administration, Communication Sciences, Philosophy, Educational Sciences and Health Sciences. Our research and education in these disciplines revolves around tackling and solving societal challenges. The research programs of BMS are closely linked to the research of the UT institutes Mesa+ Institute for Nanotechnology, TechMed Center and Digital Society Institute.

As an employer, the Faculty of BMS offers work that matters. We equip you to create new possibilities for yourself and for our society. With us, you will become part of a leading technical university with increasing, positive social impact. We offer an open, inclusive and entrepreneurial atmosphere, in which we encourage you to make healthy choices, for example through our flexible, adaptable benefits.