PhD scholarship within the fields of Digital Transformation of Organizations

Copenhagen Business School invites applications for a vacant PhD scholarship within the field of Digital Transformation of Organizations: Human-AI collaboration.

The Department of Digitalization (DIGI) focuses on how digital technologies are changing business and society. This is reflected in our teaching and research activities, as well as our externally funded research projects and ongoing engagement with external partners. Teaching responsibilities of the Department comprise mainly of undergraduate and graduate teaching in the IT cluster at CBS.

We are looking for a PhD student that will be part of a project on Human-AI collaboration focusing on engaging and controlling swarms of robots and drones. The project is funded by the DIREC. This is an interdisciplinary project initiated by researchers from Aarhus University, Aalborg University, Alexandra Institute, Copenhagen Business School, and Technical University of Denmark, as well as industrial partners from both private and public sectors.

The project focus is on the challenges in multi-robot collaboration, to design and evaluate technological solutions that enable end-users to engage and control autonomous multi-robot systems. The project builds on use cases in agriculture and search and rescue supported by the industrial partners’ domain knowledge and robotic hardware. The project involves the design and evaluation of digital prototypes in order to explore different interaction techniques to support end-users in controlling, navigating, and communicating with multi-drone or multi-robot systems. The research will contribute by bridging academic research with companies currently developing solutions using drone or robot swarms. 

The CBS research team will contribute in requirements gathering from end-users and other stakeholders, user studies that involve techniques such as analysis of performance data, interviews and/or observations. The main focus of the CBS team is on identifying the business and organisational adaptation and innovation for swarm robotics technology to be successfully adopted in the public and private organizations.

Examples of research areas that a scholarship might cover: 

• Autonomous multi-robot technology and its impact on adopting organizations
• Autonomous multi-robot technology digital representation and organizational sensemaking
• AI and digital transformation of organizational processes

The three-year PhD programme at CBS gives you the opportunity to conduct research under the supervision of CBS’s associate professors and professors, supported by research related PhD courses. The programme is highly international, and you are expected to participate in international research conferences and to spend time at another research institution as a visiting PhD student. See the CBS homepage for more information about the PhD programme: https://www.cbs.dk/en/research/phd-programme .

CBS PhD graduates are held in high esteem not only in academia and research institutions but also in government and business where their research qualifications are in high demand.

CBS is committed to ensuring excellence, transformative and relevant teaching and research. Candidates who wish to join us must be interested in working in an organisation of this type and it is expected that the applicant shows an interest in joining the department's research environment. You can read more about the department's research here:www.cbs.dk/en .

Application and admission requirements

The department will give priority to applicants with high grades from their universities.

To be considered the applicant must

• have a basic education at master's level (corresponding to the 3 + 2 Bologna process)
• have received the grade of 10 (or equivalent) for the master's thesis according to the Danish 7-point grading scale https://ufm.dk/en/education/the-danish-education-system/grading-system
• have a weighted grade point average of at least 8.2 on the Danish 7-point grading scale for the bachelor's and master's degree combined or alternatively a weighted grade point average must be at least 9.5 for the master's degree alone.
• have an educational background in the social sciences 
• have completed the master's programme before starting the PhD programme at CBS
• master academic English at a high level in writing and speaking

The application (see link below) must include a five-page project description. The project description must include:

• a presentation of an original research question
• a description of the initial theoretical framework and method
• a presentation of the proposed empirical material
• a work plan for the three years

More information can be found here: https://www.cbs.dk/en/research/phd-programmes/admission .

In addition to the project description, copies of the following must be included:

• diploma for bachelor's and master's degree or other certificates at an equivalent level as well as the grade transcripts
• a concise curriculum vitae (CV)
• a list of articles and publications (if applicable)
• one example of a selected written work (e.g. master's thesis)

The PhD student is enrolled in the CBS PhD School. Further information about PhD scholarships and the PhD programme can be found at https://www.cbs.dk/en/research/phd-programme .

For further information please contact Ioanna Constantiou, [email protected] . Information about the department can be found at www.cbs.dk/en .

Employment and salary

A PhD scholarship runs for a period of three years, and includes teaching obligations equivalent to six months’ work (840 work hours). The scholarships are fully salaried positions, according to the national Danish collective agreement. The monthly salary is currently approximately DKK 27,871 op til DKK 33,659 depending on seniority and a pension contribution totalling 17.1%. The scholarship includes tuition fees, office space, course and travel costs (according to the current CBS agreement).

Salary level and employment take place in accordance with the Ministry of Finance's agreement with the Academics' Central Organization.

Recruitment procedure

The Recruitment Committee shortlists at least two-five applicants to be assessed by the Assessment Committee. Applicants are informed whether their application has proceeded for assessment.

Applicants selected for assessment will be notified about the composition of the Assessment Committee and will receive their personal assessment later. Selected applicants will be invited for an interview. Please note that a positive assessment does not automatically result in an interview.

Once the recruitment process is completed each applicant will be notified of the outcome of their application.

The application must be sent via the online link below.

Copenhagen Business School must receive all application material, including all appendices (see above), by the application deadline.

Details about Copenhagen Business School are available at www.cbs.dk/en .

Closing date: 31 December 2021.

Apply online

With some 20.422 full and part-time students, 644 full-time faculty members, 192 PhD and 724 administrative staff CBS is a unique business-oriented university with a full portfolio of Bachelor, Masters, MBA/EMBA, PhD and Executive programmes delivered in English and Danish. Our academic staff includes internationally-recognised experts in classical business disciplines as well as in philosophy, history, psychology, sociology, law, political science, information systems and culture.

The University welcomes applications from suitably qualified candidates regardless of age, gender, race, religion or ethnic background.