1 PhD Research position on "The Up-scaling of Car Sharing in The Netherlands" financed under NWO Sustainable Business Models program in Netherlands | Utrecht University

The project aims to investigate the conditions for innovation in and up-scaling of car sharing in The Netherlands, combining supply-side, demand-side and institutional analyses.

Car sharing is a growing phenomenon disrupting the existing car and car rental industries, while at the same time benefiting the environment and freeing public space in cities. While car sharing is a proven business model for certain types of car users, little is known about the conditions for up-scaling car sharing in the future. The prospects of car sharing will depend on further innovating the current business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer business models, changing users practices, as well as changing policies, regulations and fiscal regimes. By combining qualitative and quantitative research on current car sharing developments in The Netherlands, and by comparing car sharing adoption patterns across Europe, this project aims to understand the critical factors that condition the future success of car sharing. The wider aim is to contribute to the emerging topic of the sharing economy in the fields of science, management and policy making.

In the project, we will collaborate with Rathenau Institute, Dialogic and Stichting Natuur & Milieu, as well as with the University of Amsterdam and UR Wageningen. The candidate will become a member of the Innovation Studies group at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University, under the supervision of prof. dr. Koen Frenken.

Requirements

• MSc degree in innovation sciences, science & technology studies or management science, or in a related social science discipline (e.g., evolutionary economics, human geography);
• interest in the current debates on the sharing economy;
• interest in combining PhD research with stakeholder interaction and engaging in the wider policy context;
• preferably knowledge of both qualitative and quantitative research methods is preferred; good writing skills.

Conditions of employment

You will be offered a full-time PhD position, initially for one year. Upon good performance, the contract will be extended for three more years. Employment conditions are based on the Collective Labour Agreement of the Dutch Universities.

The gross monthly salary starts at € 2.125,- in the first year and ends at € 2.717,- in the fourth year of the employment (PhD salary scale) on a fulltime basis. The salary is supplemented by a holiday allowance of 8% per year and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%. Furthermore we offer a pension scheme, collective insurance schemes and flexible employment conditions (multiple choice model). Facilities for sports and child care are available on our campus, which is only 15 minutes away from the historical city center of Utrecht.

Organisation

Utrecht University has great ambitions for its teaching quality and study success rates. This also applies to its clear research profiles which are centered around four themes: Sustainability, Life Sciences, Dynamics of Yout, and Institutions. Utrecht University plays a prominent role in our society and contributes to finding the answers to topical and future societal issues.

Faculty of Geosciences offers education and research concerning the geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and anthroposphere. With a population of 2,600 students (BSc and MSc) and 600 staff, the Faculty is a strong and dynamic organisation. The Faculty embodies four departments: Innovation, Environmental and Energy Sciences, Earth Sciences, Physical Geography, and Human Geography and Urban and Regional Planning

The Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development is responsible for the education of approximately 1000 students enrolled in the department’s three bachelor programs and five master programs. The research component of the department is organized within four main themes: energy & resources, environmental science, environmental governance and innovation studies. It is the ambition of the institute to make a difference – in science and education, and in society at large – in the exploration of a sustainable world.