PhD Research Fellow in Digital Entrepreneurship

About the position

We invite applications for position as PhD Research Fellow in Digital Entrepreneurship available at the Department of Informatics.

The fellowship period is three (3) years. Starting date no later than January 5, 2027.

Depending on the candidate and the teaching needs of the department, the fellowship period can be extended with a fourth year for compulsory work consisting of e.g., teaching and supervision duties and research assistance.

No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.

Place of work is the Department of Informatics at Ole-Johan Dahls hus, Oslo.

Job description

Entrepreneurial culture celebrates failure as a teacher: founders share their fiascos on stage, post-mortems circulate as cautionary tales, and "fail fast" has become a mantra. Research, too, increasingly samples failed ventures to extract lessons for founders, investors, and policymakers. Yet a foundational assumption underlying all of this remains largely unexamined: that failures carry rich, transferable lessons, knowledge useful to others beyond those who failed.

This PhD project investigates failure in digital ventures: how and why digital startups stagnate and shut down, what their founders learn from the experience, how they narrate it, and more fundamentally what kind of knowledge venture failures can offer anyone beyond those who experience them directly.

The project combines conceptual work on the informational value of failure cases with qualitative empirical studies. A well-defined empirical setting is already identified: the candidate will recruit and study ventures founded by alumni of the Department's MSc programme in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management who have received STUD-ENT funding over the past decade.

The candidate will have genuine influence on the design of the individual studies. Possible research questions include how founders narrate and attribute their ventures' outcomes; whether they treat what they learned as specific to their case, or as broadly applicable lessons, ones they carry into future ventures or that others could learn from; and how discontinued ventures compare with closely matched surviving ones.

The position is affiliated with the Entrepreneurship (ENT) group, and the candidate will be actively involved in the group's daily research, teaching, and social activities. The dissertation will be article-based, with supervision by faculty in the ENT group (main supervisor: Associate Professor Daniel Leunbach) and a co-supervisor from the Digital Innovation (DIN) group. The position also offers opportunities for co-authorship with other faculty at the Department and access to the Department's broader research environment on information systems, entrepreneurship, strategy, and digital transformation.

What skills are important in this role?

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition to be among Europe’s leading communities for research, education and innovation. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.

Required qualifications:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in entrepreneurship, innovation, management, information systems, informatics, psychology, or another field relevant to the project
• Foreign completed degree (M.Sc.-level) corresponding to a minimum of four years in the Norwegian educational system
• A strong interest in, and preferably documented experience with, qualitative research methods (e.g., interviewing, narrative analysis, comparative case studies)
• Demonstrated ability to engage with abstract, conceptual, or theoretical work
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English.

Candidates without a master’s degree have until 15 December 2026 to complete the final exam.

Desired qualifications:

• Personal experience from entrepreneurship or the startup ecosystem, including ventures that did not succeed; we regard such experience as a strength
• Familiarity with the Norwegian or Nordic entrepreneurship and innovation eco-system
• Proficiency in a Scandinavian language is an advantage for fieldwork, but is not a requirement

Language requirement:

• Good oral and written communication skills in English
• English requirements for applicants from outside of EU/ EEA countries and exemptions from the requirements:
  https://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/regulations/regulations.html#toc8

Grade requirements:
The norm is as follows:

• The average grade point for courses included in the Bachelor’s degree must be C or better in the Norwegian educational system
• The average grade point for courses included in the Master’s degree must be B or better in the Norwegian educational system
• The Master’s thesis must have the grade B or better in the Norwegian educational system

The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree. For more information see:
http://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/

UiO is subject to the Security Act, which governs the organisation's protection of security-sensitive objects and knowledge, in addition to other relevant legislation concerning access to and handling of sensitive information. Based on this, it is a requirement that successful applicants are security-eligible. We may use background checks as part of our recruitment process.

What are we looking for in you?

Personal skills:

• Strong analytical ability and rigorous, independent reasoning
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team
• Reliability, thoroughness, and the ability to work independently over the course of a multi-year research project
• Good communication and collaboration skills
• Positive attitude and the ability to handle hectic periods
• The ability to approach research participants who have experienced venture failure with professionalism, curiosity, and care

Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal qualifications.

We can offer you

• A pleasant and stimulating work environment
• Good welfare schemes
• Opportunity of up to 1.5 hours a week of exercise during working hours
• A workplace with good development and career opportunities
• Career development programmes
• Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes
• Oslo’s family-friendly surroundings with their rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities
• Salary in position as PhD Research Fellow, position code 1017 in salary range NOK from 550 800 - 595 000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund

We need different perspectives in our work

UiO is an open and internationally oriented comprehensive university that strives to be an inclusive and diverse workplace and academic environment. You can read more about UiO’s work on equality, inclusion, and diversity at uio.no.

We fulfill our mission most effectively when we draw upon our variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. We are looking for great colleagues, could you be the next one?

We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Relevant adjustments may include modifications to working hours, task adaptations, digital, technical, or physical adjustments, or other practical measures.

If you have an immigrant background, a disability, or CV gaps (Norwegian), we encourage you to indicate this in the job application portal. We always invite at least one qualified candidate from each group for an interview. In this context, disability is defined as an applicant who identifies as having a disability that requires workplace or employment-related accommodations. For more details about the requirements, please refer to the Employer portal (Norwegian).

The selections made in the job application portal are used for anonymized statistics that all state employers include in their annual reports. More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here.

We hope you will apply for the position with us.

How to apply

The application must include:

• Cover letter (maximum two pages) describing your motivation, relevant background, and initial reflections on the project theme
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work - scientific publications)
• Transcripts of records, copies of the original Bachelor’s and Master’s degree diploma (see below)
• Documentation of English proficiency, if applicable
• List of publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee (e.g., a copy of the Master’s thesis or a draft, if not yet completed)
• Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)

Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for this job". Foreign applicants should attach an official explanation of their University's grading system.

When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

General information

The best qualified candidates will invited for interviews.

Applicant lists can be published in accordance with Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we can't, you will hear from us.

Please refer to Regulations for the Act on universities and colleges chapter 3 (Norwegian), Guidelines concerning appointment to post doctoral and research posts at UiO (Norwegian) and Regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at the University of Oslo.

The University of Oslo has a transfer agreement with all employees that is intended to secure the rights to all research results etc.