TalTech's BEG PHD programme is offering to 2 PhD positions in the broad research area of Business, Economics and Governance.

TalTech’s School of Business and Governance offers ambitious individuals the opportunity to join its PhD programme BEG, which stands for the three specializations Business, Economics and Governance (BEG) as a doctoral student. The prospective PhD students are requested to propose their own specific research projects that will also support the development of the prioritized research fields of the School of Business and Governance. The PhD project should focus on scholarly research that contributes to the School’s position as a leading Business School in the region and beyond.

Description of focus areas of the three BEG fields:

• In the Business specialization, topics of strategic relevance are linked with the development and maintenance of sustainably and responsibly operating organizations. Aspects of interest in this regard are: Investigation of entrepreneurial firms and their approaches to coping with present and upcoming business and societal opportunities and challenges; investigation of how organizations transform their knowledge and access to new digital solutions into innovative outputs to achieve and maintain sustainable business development.           
• The key focus of the field of Governance in the BEG programme is Public Policy and Innovation. Potential topics of strategic importance include: how public policy and innovation can contribute to sustainable transition; what forms of governance can best contribute to agile policy-making and resilience in face of various crises; how governance can best support digital transformation.
• In the specialization of economics and finance wide variety of empirical questions could be explored. For example the thesis topic could cover labour markets, macroeconomic and monetary policy, behavioral finance or financial markets including explorations of new forms of financing. Contemporary applied economics and finance research uses advance quantitative research methods and relay more and more on natural experiments data or registry data to answer policy relevant questions.

The prospective PhD students are encouraged to design and execute original scholarly research projects that covers one or several of the above-mentioned areas as well as indicate preferred main and co-supervisor from the School of Business and Governance.

Responsibilities and tasks:

During the PhD research, the students should develop and implement their own research plan that results in at least three peer-reviewed and internationally published articles. The research plan should also be in-line and contribute to the strategic research directions of the BEG specializations. As part of the PhD studies, the students will also get the opportunity to gain teaching, supervision and research management skills and competencies. 

Qualifications:

A successful PhD candidate should preferably have:

• a master’s degree in social sciences (preferably in one of the BEG specializations) or in other areas with additional proof of social science research skills;
• a clear interest and own vision for independent research in the topic of the position;
• excellent command of English;
• strong and demonstrable writing and analytical skills;
• capacity to work both as an independent person and as part of an international team;
• capacity and willingness to provide assistance in organizational tasks relevant to the School of Business and Governance.

We offer:

• 4-year funded PhD position in the largest, most internationalized and leading Business School in Estonia with a large portfolio of ongoing pan-European and national research projects;
• Active involvement in research projects of the assigned research group;   
• The chance to do high-impact research in one of the most dynamic digital settings globally;
• Opportunities for conference visits, research stays and networking with globally leading universities and research centers in the BEG fields;
• All PhD positions are guaranteed a gross income of at least 1548 EUR  and Estonian national health insurance.

Additional information

For further information, please contact:

• Business. Programme director Mari-Klara Stein, mari-klara.stein@taltech.ee 
• Economics and Finance. Programme director Karin Jõeveer, karin.joeveer@taltech.ee
• Public Policy and Innovation. Programme director Ringa Raudla, ringa.raudla@taltech.ee
• Student Counsellor at Dean´s Office: Maria Edur, maria.edur@taltech.ee

Please also visit https://taltech.ee/en/sbg; https://taltech.ee/en/department-business-administration/doctoral-studies; https://taltech.ee/en/department-economics-and-finance/doctoral-studies and https://taltech.ee/en/nurkse/phd-studies