Job Description: The primary objective of this PhD project is the development of new approaches to understanding societal responses to emerging technologies. The case researched will be nanotechnology, which is rapidly becoming a topic of intense societal debate. As has been the case with other technologies, such as genetic modification, public attitudes may influence the success or otherwise of different applications of nanotechnology. We are looking for an PhD who is interested in developing new approaches to understanding how peoples attitudes towards emerging technologies develop.
The project is a 4 year, Dutch government financed PhD position. You will be working with the Marketing and Consumer Behaviour Group (MCB) of the Social Sciences Department of Wageningen University. MCB has a strong reputation in methodologically underpinned research focused on society and technology, and the supervisors have experience with developing and applying experimental approaches to understanding citizen and consumer responses to technology.
It is our aim to become a key player in the investigation of public perception of nanotechnology and to develop cutting edge knowledge regarding prediction of societal responses to new technologies. It is expected this research will deliver several high quality papers in scientific journals.
Requirements: The candidate will have completed a M.Sc. in one of the social sciences with a specialisation in qualitative and quantitative methodology. The candidate will be motivated to apply and expand existing knowledge on societal responses to emerging technologies to investigate societally relevant issues in relation to emerging technologies. The successful candidate will be enthusiastic about working in a multidisciplinary environment . The working language of the project will be in English.
We Offer: A PhD position for a period of 18 months, extended with another 30 months upon favourable evaluation. Gross salary will increase from € 2042 in the first year up to € 2612 in the last year based on a full-time appointment (38 hours per week). The supervision of this project will be managed by Prof Dr Lynn Frewer and Heleen van Dijk.
- For more information about the post, please contact Lynn Frewer (lynn.Frewer@wur.nl) or Heleen van Dijk.
- For further information about working at Wageningen UR, take a look at www.jobsat.wur.nl.