Job description

• Ghent University (Belgium) is hiring one PhD student in the domain of Business informatics and its link to work and organizational psychology
  Start date: October 1, 2023 (or later)
  
  A 4-year project grant is obtained to examine the adoption of service robots and the impact on employee performance. We first offer a 1-year contract, after which an extension of 3 years can follow after a positive evaluation.
  
  ABOUT GHENT UNIVERSITY
  
  Ghent University is a world of its own. Employing more than 8,000 people, it is actively involved in education and research, management and administration, and technical and social services on a daily basis. It is one of the largest, most exciting employers in the area and offers great career opportunities. With each of its 11 faculties and more than 100 departments offering state-of-the-art study programs that are grounded in research in a wide range of academic fields, Ghent University is a logical choice for its employees as well as its students.
  
  ABOUT THE MAIN SUPERVISOR’S RESEARCH GROUP
  
  Prof. dr. Amy Van Looy coordinates a research cluster related to process orientation for managing, optimizing and transforming an organization’s way of working. Within this cluster, different themes have been identified on which future research may particularly focus, such as the service sector, digital transformation, and disruptive technologies.
  
  https://www.ugent.be/eb/beleidsinformatica/en
  https://ugent-businessinformatics.github.io/
  
  Since the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration serves as the main faculty, you will need to adhere to its doctoral regulations, including a doctoral training program.
  
  https://www.ugent.be/eb/en/research/doctoral-regulations-faculty.pdf
  
  ABOUT THE CO-SUPERVISOR’S RESEARCH GROUP
  
  Prof. dr. Peter Vlerick’s research group aims to contribute to improving (1) the quality of contemporary work life, (2) the protection and promotion of the safety, health and well-being of workers, and (3) organizational performance. The research group draws upon, integrates and applies scientific knowledge, mainly derived from work and organizational psychology, health psychology, social psychology and ergonomics, with a clear focus on workers and their work setting.
  
  https://www.ugent.be/pp/pao/en/research/occupational-health-psychology
  
  ABOUT THE PROJECT
  
  As a scholarship student, you will participate in the UGent research project called “Service robots and the effects on employee performance”. This is a doctoral project funded by the Special Research Fund. Within this project, you will apply different psychological theories to the adoption of service robots, both at the employee and organizational level, in order to create a service robot-friendly work climate.
  
  YOUR TASKS
  
  
• Being a project-based PhD, most of your assignment will be spent on academic research in preparation of a doctoral dissertation.
• To a minor extent, you will assist in teaching activities (e.g., assisting in project-relevant master dissertations).

Job profile

WHAT DIPLOMA, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

• You hold a degree of Master in Business Engineering (Nederlands: Handelsingenieur), Business Economics (Nederlands: Toegepaste Economische Wetenschappen), Business Administration (Nederlands: Handelswetenschappen) or Psychology (Nederlands: Psychologie minor in industrial psychology and/or experimental psychology). Other academic Master degrees are admissible; in that case additional studies at Master’s level in Management, Business, IT and/or Psychology are recommended.
• Current Master students in their last year can also apply.
• You are interested in scientific research in preparation of a doctoral dissertation and doctoral training.
• Be passionate about research in the adoption and acceptance of new IT and the effects on organizations and end users, and be motivated to provide an original scientific contribution to this domain via doctoral research.
• Any teaching experience or participation in extra training, conferences, etc. is recommended.
• You have excellent communication skills.
• You have a very good understanding of English, both written and oral language
• Work experience in service robots or psychology is a plus, but no requirement
  
  

WHAT SKILLS AND ATTITUDES ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

• You work independently within a team
• You have a hands-on mentality
• You take responsibility for the progress of the project in a structured and methodologically sound manner
• You can solve problems independently
• You dare to show creativity when solving problems, generating ideas or finding new ways of working, taking into account the project description
• You can reason in a multidisciplinary manner
• You commit yourself to focus on a long-term project progress
  
  

WHAT CAN WE OFFER YOU?

• You will be part of an interdisciplinary team that strives for open communication and transparency.
• Content-wise, through this multidisciplinary project, you get the opportunity to have both industrial and scientific impact.
• We highly value your personal development and offer opportunities to attend subject-related courses and international conferences
• We offer you a 1-year appointment, which may be renewed for three years, on condition that the previous term was given a positive evaluation.
• Your appointment will start on October 1, 2023 (or later).
• Your remuneration will be determined according to the AAP3 salary scales

How to apply

INTERESTED?

Please send us the following documents by mail (Amy.VanLooy@UGent.be):

- 1/ ‘Cv’: your cv and an overview of your study results (merged into one pdf file)
- 2/ ‘Cover letter’: your application letter in pdf format
- 3/ ‘Certificate of equivalence’: only for diplomas awarded outside the European Union a certificate of equivalence (NARIC) must be submitted. (This can be requested via www.naricvlaanderen.be/en)
- 4/ ‘Other documents’: a 2-page document in pdf format, in which you discuss two papers linked to the supervisors (namely one paper authored by Prof. dr. Amy Van Looy (https://biblio.ugent.be/person/802000711469) and one paper authored by Prof. dr. Peter Vlerick (https://biblio.ugent.be/person/801000738974) : explain how the papers are linked to the adoption of new emerging technologies and the effect on organizations and end users, and what you specifically like about both papers.

After the registration deadline has passed, we will review all candidates and provide you with feedback by email. If the result is positive, you will be invited for an interview with the selection committee on August 9-10, 2023.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about this vacancy, please contact the main supervisor Prof. Amy Van Looy (Amy.VanLooy@UGent.be) or the co-promotor Prof. Peter Vlerick (Peter.Vlerick@UGent.be )

Please also consult a dedicated Ghent University webpage for incoming Phd students:
https://www.ugent.be/phd/en