LUT Business School is looking for two junior researchers (doctoral students) in sustainable business with a focus on philosophy and politics to strengthen its sustainable business team. We are looking for curious minds who are interested in studying companies either as (A) ecological phenomena or (B) political actors. You can apply either to one of the positions or to both of them; however, please indicate your initial topic of interest in the motivation letter.
You must have a university master’s degree (M.Sc. or equivalent) in a relevant field (e.g., business studies, sustainability, social sciences, or humanities) and the ability and motivation to complete the doctoral studies within their normative duration (i.e., four years). Written and spoken proficiency in English is required.
You should
be interested in writing a dissertation on research areas such as:
companies as ecological phenomena (topic A): how business processes situate, relate, interact, and mutate with a multitude of more-than-human ecologies from a phenomenological point of view
companies as political actors (topic B): companies’ political role in sustainability challenges, companies’ participation in societal debate, political corporate social responsibility, corporate activism or corporate advocacy
have basic knowledge of theories of sustainable business, corporate social and environmental responsibility, and qualitative and/or quantitative research methods
Job description
Completion of the doctoral degree within four years
Participation in research projects
Assisting in teaching
What we offer
An opportunity to launch a successful academic career and to become an expert in sustainable business
A four-year (1+3 years) employment contract for completing the doctoral degree
An employment contract can be concluded only if the candidate obtains the right to pursue postgraduate studies at LUT University
The contract will be made initially for one year and can be extended by three years provided that the studies and research have progressed successfully
Encouraging and supportive supervision by and research collaboration with Professor Pasi Heikkurinen (topic A) and/or Associate Professor Laura Olkkonen (topic B)
The work will start in spring 2024 (negotiable) with a six-month trial period. The job is based in Lappeenranta, Finland. The typical gross annual starting salary for a junior researcher is approximately 31 900 euros (plus a holiday bonus in accordance with the collective agreement).
How to apply
Please submit all the application materials in English:
Your curriculum vitae
A copy of your degree certificate; if the original documents are not in English, Finnish or Swedish, each document must be accompanied by an official certified translation into English or Finnish
A motivation letter: an account of your merits and activities of significance to the vacancy (max. 2 pages)
A research plan (3–5 pages) outlining your dissertation research in the subject area and reviewing relevant literature and possible research methods and data; consider also demonstrating your proposal’s connection to the research conducted in the sustainable business team
The deadline for applications is 15 January 2024, at midnight Finnish local time (UTC +2h). Please submit your application together with the required attachments through the university’s online application system.
LUT University | Clean energy, water and air are life-giving resources for which we at LUT University seek new solutions with our expertise in technology, business and social sciences. We help society and businesses in their sustainable renewal. Our international community consists of nearly 8,000 members. Our campuses are in Lappeenranta and Lahti, Finland. We’re one of the best universities in the world for climate action. lut.fi/en
The LUT School of Engineering Sciences is looking for a junior researcher (doctoral student) in magnetization dynamics modelling and experimental studies related to magnon spintronics. The position is located at the Department of Physics.
We are looking for a curious mind who is aiming for an academic career and is passionate about studying spin-wave information transport and magnon-based data processing. The job will focus on studying GHz dynamics in magnetic micro- and nanostructures for magnon-based logic devices, data processing elements operating with analogous and digital information, and other functional magnonic devices based on magnon subsystem and phase change materials. This will involve numerical modelling, the fabrication of magnonic devices, and microwave measurements of the fabricated structures. The junior researcher will contribute to independent and original research within the Department of Physics, submit publications to refereed journals, and take part in collaboration with other international groups. Previous experience in and knowledge of the physics of spin-wave dynamics – in particular, experience in the use of magnetic insulators such as yttrium iron garnet (Y3Fe5O12, YIG) – are to the applicant’s advantage.
You must have a master’s degree (M.Sc. or equivalent) in a relevant field (physics) and the ability and motivation to complete the doctoral studies within their normative duration (i.e., four years). You must be fluent in English (both written and spoken).
The ideal candidate for the position
is interested in writing a dissertation on the following areas of research:
condensed matter physics
magnon spintronics
spin-wave dynamics
phase change phenomena in solids and thin films
has at least basic knowledge of
magnetism
microwave measurements, antenna design and fabrication
how to write clearly and succinctly for publication
computer skills, including word processing, spreadsheets, MATLAB programming and/or familiarity with object-orientated programming
how to conduct a detailed review of recent literature
Job description
completion of the doctoral degree within four years
participation in research projects
assisting in teaching
What we offer
An opportunity to launch a successful academic career and to become an expert in the field of the dissertation
A four-year (1+3 years) contract for completing the doctoral degree
an employment contract can be concluded only if the candidate obtains the right to pursue postgraduate studies at LUT University
the contract will be made initially for one year and can be extended by three years provided that the studies and research have progressed successfully
Encouraging and supportive supervision by and research collaboration with Professor Erkki Lähderanta
Employment relationship and pay
The job is based in Lappeenranta, Finland, but part of the work can be conducted remotely. The work starts with a six-month trial period, and the start date is negotiable.
The salary is based on the current collective agreement for Finnish universities. The typical gross starting salary for a junior researcher is approximately 31 900 euros a year (plus a holiday bonus) in accordance with the collective agreement.
How to apply
Please submit all the application materials in English:
Your curriculum vitae
A copy of your degree certificate; if the original documents are not in English, Finnish or Swedish, each document must be accompanied by an official certified translation into English or Finnish
A motivation letter: an account of your merits and activities of significance to the vacancy (max. 2 pages)
A tentative dissertation research plan (2–5 pages) related to one of the research areas above
The deadline for application is 11 December 2023 at midnight, Finnish local time (UTC +2 h). Please submit your application together with the required attachments through the university’s online application system.
For more information, please contact Professor Erkki Lähderanta, Erkki.Lahderanta@lut.fi, +358 40 554 5227 or Post-doctoral Researcher Aleksei Nikitin, Aleksei.Nikitin@lut.fi, +358 50 572 1322.
Suitable candidates are contacted as position becomes available.
LUT University | Clean energy, water and air are life-giving resources for which we at LUT University seek new solutions with our expertise in technology, business and social sciences. We help society and businesses in their sustainable renewal. Our international community consists of nearly 8,000 members. Our campuses are in Lappeenranta and Lahti, Finland. We’re one of the best universities in the world for climate action. lut.fi/en
This position comes with the possibility of continuing as a post-doctoral researcher for another term and as an associate professor (permanently) after post-doctoral terms if the candidate successfully passes all the assessments and external reviews.
The Department of Social Sciences at the LUT School of Engineering Sciences is looking for a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Computational Social Science or Data Social Scienceto strengthen and work on its global communications, soft power, strategic narratives and propaganda research area and projects.
The ideal candidate will have a track record of internationally excellent publications or a trajectory for achieving this. Specifically, we are looking for a curious mind who is interested in a longer-term academic career and is passionate about constant learning and making the world a better place to live through science.
The newly appointed post-doctoral researcher will have the opportunity to be part of the creation of a new faculty, thereby strengthening LUT University’s research in the social and communication sciences. With a significant public donation, LUT is building a school of social sciences to house 1,000 students and 100 researchers by the 2030s. Its research in the social and communication sciences is based on understanding society and human activities in relation to global sustainability problems. We believe that by engaging individuals and communities at the start of problem-solving, we can bring about changes more quickly.
Candidate requirements (mandatory)
You must have a PhD degree in a relevant field (e.g., computational social science, computational communication studies, data science, computer science and media and communications/journalism studies).
Alternatively, you may hold a degree in another social science field, such as sociology, political science, social psychology or international relations, and have significant academic knowledge in computer science, and want to use that knowledge to contribute to communication sciences, particularly to the study of soft power, disinformation, propaganda and strategic narratives research. You might also hold multiple degrees, with one in computer or data science.
You must be fluent in English (both written and spoken). Knowledge of other languages is seen as a plus.
You must have experience working with computational text analytics or image analysis/computer vision using either R or Python. We expect you to be very familiar with word embedding methods, topic modelling, network analysis and large language models, such as BERT, and have experience in PyTorch/Keras/TensorFlow.
You should have previous experience in analysing news, social media or other media data, and preferably publications (published or in process) drawing on these analyses.
You want to write journal articles (in English) and publish in international top-tier academic journals in the field of media and communication studies while drawing on computational methods/computer science (such as Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Communication Methods and Measures, Digital Journalism, International Journal of Press/Politics, Political Communication, Big Data & Society).
You are committed to a high standard of research ethics, as defined by LUT, national Finnish guidelines and EU directives.
You must have the ability to cooperate in teams and groups because you will work as a member of a research group.
You should have the ability and motivation to complete articles and projects on time; thus, time management skills are appreciated.
You have already published in good or preferably top journals and conferences in the field of media and communications and/or conferences focusing on natural language processing and other forums on computational methods, such as ACL and related conference publications (e.g., NAACL, EACL, EMNLP or COLING). You wish to publish more in top-tier journals and work internationally.
You must have extensive knowledge of quantitative research methods.
You may have (not obligatory) also some teaching experience using computational social science methods (such as machine learning, natural language processing) to study global media and communications, particularly disinformation, propaganda or strategic narrative-related issues. The post-doc is responsible for teaching a course/s related to these themes. Previous teaching experience, pedagogic training and BSc and MSC supervision are a plus, albeit the position is research-focused.
The ideal candidate has excellent knowledge of scientific writing, computational research methods and analysis and strong research ethics. Previous scientific publications in the field are a strong plus. Global perspective and experience are strong merits, and applicants with international academic experience are especially encouraged to apply.
Research areas of interest
LUT Communication Sciences takes a global, interdisciplinary social science approach to the study of communication and media; therefore, we are looking for a candidate with an interest in global communication approaches to soft power, strategic narratives, propaganda and AI, democracy, news, technological platforms and social media.
The post-doctoral research will be closely linked to research projects on propaganda and news. The candidate should be interested in conducting research and writing top-tier journal articles on propaganda in the context of news and the changing landscape of AI. The position draws upon the field of computational social sciences and data social science, specializing in e.g., textual data analysis (text mining), with a focus on machine learning-based methods for analysing large media datasets, such as news or social media data. You have experience working with computational text analytics or image analysis/computer vision using either R or Python. These methods will enable, for example, the analysis of climate change-related information and disinformation in various media.
According to LUT university guidelines, a post-doctoral researcher is required to have a doctoral degree, the ability for independent scientific work, and teaching skills needed in the performance of the duties. The new faculty member will be expected to provide intellectual contributions within the university in their areas of expertise. The aimed employment start date is as soon as possible but is negotiable, so please state the preferred starting date in your application.
Employment relationship and pay
The position includes a six-month trial period. The employment relationship will start with a one-year term, which can be extended by three years if the researcher performs their work successfully. The annual salary range of post-doctoral researchers is approximately 48,384–56,424 euros, 4,032–4,702 EUR/month, depending on the qualifications and experience of the candidate. In addition to a competitive salary, the wide range of benefits that come with this job include a holiday pay, a generous holiday entitlement, an incentive scheme for publication in high-quality journals, flexible working hours, occupational health care, a collegial faculty environment and continued commitment for your support, learning, training and development.
The position comes with the possibility of continuing as a post-doctoral researcher for another term and as an associate professor (non-tenure track) after post-doctoral terms should the candidate successfully pass all the assessments and reviews. Furthermore, the Associate Professor (non-tenure track) position can be made permanent if the external reviews are successfully passed. Please read more about the LUT University’s non-tenure track system.
Applications
The deadline for applications is January 7, 2024, Sunday, at midnight, Finnish local time (UTC +2h).
Please submit all the application documents in English. Please submit your application, together with the following required attachments, through the university’s online application system. Please submit your application by filling out the online form and attaching the following:
A cover letter (max. 2 pages)
A curriculum vitae (max. 5 pages)
A research proposal, including a publication plan (max. 3 pages). As post-doctoral work is conducted in a research group and projects around disinformation,propaganda and news in the context of AI, therefore, you only need to submit an approximately 3–5 page tentative research plan around this topic, and it can, if you wish, include some initial ideas for articles. The methods part of the plan is the most important.
A copy of your doctoral degree certificate; if the original documents are not in English, each document must be accompanied by an official certified translation into English.
A complete list of publications
Up to five most important publications as attachments
A brief teaching statement (max. 3 pages) outlining the courses you have taught and feedback, pedagogic training, teaching philosophy and a list of courses that you could and would like to teach, albeit the position is research focused.
Full contact information of three persons who can provide references.
The work will start as soon as possible. Please also note that using conversational AI systems in writing the application, or any part of it, is forbidden and will result in rejection of the application.
LUT University reserves the right for justified reasons to consider candidates who have not submitted applications during the application period, to leave the position open or to extend the application period.
LUT University | Clean energy, water and air are life-giving resources for which we at LUT University seek new solutions with our expertise in technology, business and social sciences. We help society and businesses in their sustainable renewal. Our international community consists of nearly 8,000 members. Our campuses are in Lappeenranta and Lahti, Finland. We’re one of the best universities in the world for climate action. lut.fi/en
You must be logged in to post a comment.