PhD position in "Data Sharing and Modeling for Improved Innovation Policy and Decisions" - MSCA Cofund SEED programme

2 Feb 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

IMT Atlantique

Department

Doctoral division

Research Field

All

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

France

Application Deadline

14 Feb 2024 - 12:00 (Europe/Paris)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Full-time

Hours Per Week

37

Offer Starting Date

1 Sep 2024

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

HE / MSCA COFUND

Marie Curie Grant Agreement Number

101126644

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description
The PhD position is offered under academic cosupervision/ cotutelle track (2 years at IMT Atlantique + 1 year at University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia + short industrial visits)
1.1. Domain and scientific/technical context

Innovation Districts, Precincts or Hubs (hereafter just referred to as Innovation Districts) have proliferated around the world (Jiménez & Zheng 2021). A key concern of governments who support and fund these initiatives is how to gain the most benefit from them and increase socioeconomic and environmental returns.

A key aspect of this problem is the nature of information and data sharing in complex and heterogenous environments (Semeraro et al. 2020; Sassanelli et al. 2021). The work of innovation is best supported by open relationships, knowledge sharing and exchange of ideas. However, Innovation Districts are populated by a mix of private, public and intermediary agents or actors who have different levels of access to data, produce different forms of data and have different expectations on openness of data with respect to private/public interests. The research objective is to provide a collaborative data model to resolve data sharing conflicts in mixed interest environments.

1.2. Scientific/technical challenges

In the context of a world that is increasingly producing more data that has potential to drive better and more evidence-based decision making, the motivations and incentives to acquire, share, structure, and model data are inconsistent. The consequence of which is that alignment around goals is difficult and the coordination of actors to increase the benefits of governmental investment is inherently problematic.

Better understanding of the interest of each stakeholder to switch to an open data organisation, as the best socio- technical systems for open collaboration, remains to be understood.

We expect the need to be able to describe (model), among other dimensions, the level of data openness, anonymity, decision-makers' awareness of the existence of data, information flows, and also the means of inciting stakeholders.

This multidisciplinary research aims to address these challenges within the limited scope of innovation policy.

1.3. Considered methods, targeted results and impacts

The scenario described will be examined through exploratory methods that include: analysis of the open-data policies at national and local levels and implementation by the local actors in targeted districts in Europe and Australia; interviews with stakeholders in the districts to understand the valuation of data supposed to be exchanged; the cost in producing data and willingness to share data with other actors.

The conceptual models of open government data platform ecosystems (Bonita and Eaton, 2020), and value creation and value capture in open innovation (Chesbrough et al, 2018), will help structure the analysis around the relationships, powers, and incentives of the different stakeholders.

While Innovation Districts provide unique sites, the nature of the problem can be found in many contexts (e.g. industry development, value chain coordination, tourism) where multiple actors produce data that would be valuable to many stakeholders but are not open, equally valued and/or shared.

1.4. Environment (partners, places, specific tools and hardware)

We will partner with local innovative districts in the region of our universities’ implementation (South Australia, Brittany), and we may expand our investigations to Scotland. The partners are active participants in multi- disciplinary labs and industry focused research centres. Professors Beugnard and Jullien are members of the Lab- STICC (UMR 6285) that stretches across 5 locations in France and covers 7 disciplines. Our Australian partner specialises in entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems (environment described below) and has strong relationships with both Government and Innovation District actors to assist in data access for this study and has related studies already in place or in the pipeline.

We intend to use the Openflexo framework, a state-of-the art open-source model federation tool, which is developed in the P4S Lab-STICC team. Openflexo allows building models from models of heterogeneous sources and viewpoints.

2. Partners and study periods
2.1. Supervisors and study periods

• IMT Atlantique: Prof. Antoine Beugnard  and Prof. Nicolas Jullien , IMT Atlantique, Brest, France

  The PhD student will stay 2 years at Prof. Beugnard's lab.

• International partner: Prof. Allan O'Connor , University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

  The PhD student will stay 1 years at Prof. O'Connors' lab.

• Industrial partner(s): The PhD includes short visits to industrial partners and/or local innovative district authorities in Brittany and South Australia

2.2. Hosting organizations
2.2.1. IMT Atlantique

IMT Atlantique , internationally recognized for the quality of its research, is a leading French technological university under the supervision of the Ministry of Industry and Digital Technology. IMT Atlantique maintains privileged relationships with major national and international industrial partners, as well as with a dense network of SMEs, start-ups, and innovation networks. With 290 permanent staff, 2,200 students, including 300 doctoral students, IMT Atlantique produces 1,000 publications each year and raises 18€ million in research funds.

2.2.2. University of South Australia

The University of South Australia , located in Adelaide, is South Australia’s largest university and a leading provider of education internationally. It is ranked amongst the best young universities in the world and are recognised for our overall excellence, approach to teaching, research, international outlook, facilities, innovation, and more. UniSA's research environment is supported by strong connections to industry, government and communities.

Requirements

Research Field

Engineering

Education Level

Master Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

The research is at the intersection of different fields: innovation and entrepreneurship, and how to support them; open data/open innovation incentives and governance; data management and process modelling. The research will be conducted and concluded using integrative techniques to draw upon the strengths of each disciplinary viewpoint to propose resolutions to the research problem.

Languages

ENGLISH

Level

Excellent

Additional Information
Benefits
A PhD programme of high quality training : 4 reasons to apply

• SEED is a programme of excellence that is aware of its responsibilities: to provide a programme of high quality training to develop conscientious researchers, including training in responsible research and ethics. 
• SEED’s unique approach of providing interdisciplinary, international and cross-sector experience is tailored to work in a career-focused manner to enhance employability and market integration.
• SEED offers a competitive funding scheme, aiming for an average monthly salary of EUR 2,000 net per ESR, topped by additional mobility allowances as well as optional family allowances.
• SEED is a forward-looking programme that actively engages with current issues and challenges, providing research opportunities addressing industrial and academic relevant themes.

Eligibility criteria

Eligibility criteria. In accordance with MSCA rules, SEED will open to applicants without any conditions of nationality nor age criteria. SEED applies the MSCA mobility standards and necessary background. Eligible candidates must fulfil the following criteria

• Mobility rule: Candidates must show transnational mobility by having not resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in France for more than 12 months in the three years immediately before the deadline of the co-funded program's call (Jan 31, 2024 for Call#1). Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account.
• Early-stage researchers (ESR): Candidates must have a master’s degree or an equivalent diploma at the time of their enrolment and must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research career. Moreover, they must not have been awarded a doctoral degree.
  Extensions may be granted (under certain conditions) for maternity leave, paternity leave, as well as long-term illness or national service.

Selection process

The selection process is described on the guide for applicants available here: https://www.imt-atlantique.fr/en/research-innovation/phd/seed/documents

Additional comments

Applications can only be provided through the application system available under the SEED website: https://www.imt-atlantique.fr/seed

Website for additional job details

https://www.imt-atlantique.fr/en/research-innovation/phd/seed

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

IMT Atlantique

Country

France

City

Brest

Street

Campus de Brest Technopôle Brest-Iroise

Geofield

Where to apply

Website

https://www.imt-atlantique.fr/en/research-innovation/phd/seed

Contact

City

Brest

Website

https://www.imt-atlantique.fr/en/research-innovation/phd/seed

Street

Campus de Brest Technopôle Brest-Iroise

E-Mail

[email protected]

STATUS: EXPIRED