PhD Candidate in Project management for sustainable health care environments
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) creates knowledge for a better world and solutions that can change everyday life. NTNU is a broad-based university with a technical-scientific profile and a focus in professional education. The university is located in three cities with headquarters in Trondheim. At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.
You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.
About the job
We are looking for a PhD candidate with a passion for sustainability and eagerness to develop deeper understanding of how practice can continue to implement sustainability in complex building construction projects. Our focus is on how hospitals in Norway can move in a more sustainable direction when financial resources are restricted and implement changes that ensure that built health care environments contribute to a sustainable, circular and regenerative world. Relevant themes for this PhD candidate include decision-making, users’ needs, innovation, organisational learning and the like.
The candidate will have the opportunity to continue developing a framework for sustainability knowledge to ensure it fits organizations who wants to develop and implement common understanding and actions within the built environment. The research shall have particular focus on health care facilities, such as hospitals. The focus for this PhD candidate is not directly related to the facilities and how to construct them. The focus is on understanding the perspectives of different roles and actors that links to this issue at hand. Based on this understanding it is expected that the PhD candidate develops frameworks and knowledge that others (later research projects and practitioners) can use to improve their strategies and processes and as such advance their journey towards a sustainable, circular and regenerative built environment.
Researchers and construction industry actors have desire to create sustainable business models and value chains. Many innovative solutions and state-of-art ideas exist that tend to be expensive. The high cost makes the funding organizations reject such ideas and solutions, thereby hampering the transformation into a sustainable future. So, what can we do? What projects and actions are possible to implement? In this PhD project, we aim to develop deeper understanding for the possibilities enabling project owners to contribute to a sustainable built hospital environment when they are constrained by limited funding.
The Norwegian health care sector’s core business, facility management and construction program are currently developing strategies to battle climate change, looking for sustainability improvement areas. In this PhD project, the aim is to:
- Extend the framework for sustainability knowledge to provide guidance to practice
- Conduct literature reviews that focus on organizations room for maneuver
- Identify relevant roles to interview
- Developing a system sketch, an overview, of the different role’s focus and needs
For a position as a PhD Candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree. Currently, we have a vacancy for a PhD candidate at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in the Project and Quality Management Research Group (PKL). The person hired for this PhD position is expected to be an active and integrated part of the academic environment at the institute, in our research group and to participate in cooperation with industry in the private and public sectors. The research groups collaborate closely with the centre Project Norway (https://prosjektnorge.no/) – the world’s biggest research network in project management. In addition, this PhD candidate will be linked to NTNU’s Centre for Green Shift in the built environment (GREEN2050, https://www.ntnu.edu/green2050).
Your immediate leader and main supervisor is associate professor Nora Johanne Klungseth.
Duties of the position
- execute a PhD project within 3 years
- take part in and complete the mandatory PhD research education programme
- prepare scientific journal articles and conference papers under supervision and developing minimum three research publications of high quality
- present results from the research at international scientific conferences and in dissertation.
Required selection criteria
- you must have a professionally relevant background in project management, real estate / facilities / service or construction management, business or health care administration management, information and communication technology
- your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at master’s level
- you must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master’s degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU’s grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education.
- you must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty’s doctoral program
- good knowledge of engineering, health care and/or innovation field
- good sustainability knowledge
- good written and oral English
The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, Phd candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosodophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research national guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant
Preferred selection criteria
- work experience from project-oriented business
- good knowledge of the Norwegian AEC/FM industry and Norwegian health care industry
- good understanding of the connection between technology, process and human interaction
- fluent in a Scandinavian language.
Personal characteristics
- analytical, respectful and excellent at thinking «out-of-the-box»
- motivated, ambitious and eager to «walk new paths»
- collaborative, positive, open-minded and able to take initiatives, open to feedback and input from others as well as able to respect and negotiate with others
- able to work independently and in team, with high degree of personal responsibility
- excellent communication skills, both written and orally
- eager to disseminate knowledge, both nationally and internationally
Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.
We offer
- exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
- an open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
- favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
- employee benefits
Salary and conditions
As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 532 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.
The period of employment is 3 years.
Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme in Engineering within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.
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After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.
It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution daily.
About the application
The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English.
Publications and other scientific work must be attached to the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above.
The application must include:
- CV and certificates
- transcripts and diplomas for bachelor’s and master’s degrees. If you have not completed the master’s degree, you must submit a confirmation that the master’s thesis has been submitted.
- a copy of the master’s thesis. If you recently have submitted your master’s thesis, you can attach a draft of the thesis. Documentation of a completed master’s degree must be presented before taking up the position.
- a motivational letter describing what makes you interested in this position
- a brief project proposal (2-5 pages) outlining the research topic and research methods; showing your ability to structure a 3-years research study with clear motivation, objectives, research questions, methodologies, expected results and dissemination plan incl. the mandatory education for PhD candidates
- name and contact information of three referees
- if you have publications or other relevant research work
If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor’s and master’s education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, please attach this as well.
We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.
In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates.
NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment – DORA.
While developing your research proposal you may find the following resources useful:
- Information about hospitals in Norway, https://www.regjeringen.no/en/topics/health-and-care/hospitals/id10935/
- Ademi, B., Sætre, A.S. and Klungseth, N.J. (2024) Advancing the understanding of sustainable business models through organizational learning, Business Strategy and the Environment, 1-21, https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3746
- Beste, T. and Klakegg, O.J. (2022) Strategic change towards cost-efficient public construction projects. International Journal of Project Management. Volume 40, Issue 4, May 2022, Pages 372-384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2022.04.006
- Martinsuo, M., Klakegg, O.J. and van Marrewijk, A. (2019) Special Issue: Delivering Value in Projects and Project-Based Business. Editorial. International Journal of Project Management. Volume 37, Issue 5, Pages 631-635 (July 2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2019.01.011
- The Norwegian’s Minister of Health and Care Services’ assignment for hospitals in 2023, https://www.regjeringen.no/en/aktuelt/the-minister-of-health-and-care-services-assignment-for-hospitals-in-2023/id2959577/
