PhD Position Designing and Managing Digital Inclusion

Psychological sciences » Behavioural sciences

Sociology » Social shaping of technology

Sociology » Sociology of labour

Organisation/Company University of Twente (UT) Research Field Psychological sciences » Behavioural sciences Sociology » Social shaping of technology Sociology » Sociology of labour Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Final date to receive applications 31 Mar 2026 - 21:59 (UTC) Country Netherlands Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Not Applicable Hours Per Week 40.0 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

This fully-funded, 4-year PhD research position is part of the project "Don't Forget the Forgotten! Towards a Platform-Based Approach for Sustainable Employment of Workers with a Disability". This project, funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), addresses the challenge of limited sustainable employment opportunities for workers with disabilities by studying and co-designing socio-technological innovations.

The PhD project that we are currently hiring for, builds on the notion that novel forms of digital work (such as data annotation, online content creation, or software testing) provide chances for social enterprises – i.e. mission-driven business that prioritize societal impact above maximizing profit, such as sheltered workplaces (in Dutch: sociaal ontwikkelbedrijven) and work integration enterprises – to include marginalized groups of workers into the labor market.

These organizations however need to overcome various challenges to realize these opportunities: they need to convince clients to outsource digital work to them (rather than to low-wage countries), they are dependent on other stakeholders (e.g. software developers, domain experts) that they haven’t worked with before, or need to overcome prejudices that their work forces are not capable of performing digital work.

Accordingly, this PhD project aims to develop (i) new theoretical insights on sheltered digital work as a ‘nascent occupation’ as well as (ii) actionable knowledge that supports social enterprises to organize and manage novel forms of sheltered digital work as a driver the inclusion of individuals that are estranged from the labor market.

As a prospective candidate, you are expected to:

• Perform and publish high quality and internationally visible research;
• Study the opportunities and challenges associated with developing novel forms of digital work for inclusion by sheltered workplaces and other social/work integration enterprises;
• Collaborate with societal partners to institutionalize digital work as a source of labor market inclusion;
• Work in a team with two other PhD researchers from the engineering and social sciences;

You will receive mentorship by an experienced, international team of senior scholars with expertise in digital work, online platforms, labor markets, and AI systems at work.

You hold or will soon hold a Master's degree (or equivalent) in management, organization studies, human resource management, business administration, work and organizational psychology, communication science, sociology (of work), disability studies, or a related field. You have excellent proficiency in speaking and writing in both Dutch and English (C1; above IELTS 7 or equivalent) or are able to develop towards this level of proficiency within 6 – 9 months.

Dutch proficiency is necessary/required to ensure effective collaboration with the social partners that are part of the project.

You have an interest and some experience in one or more of the following topics: work and technology, nascent occupations, work design, human resource management, institutional change, labor market inclusion, disabilities at work, organizations and organizing, inter-organizational or
-professional collaboration, responsible management, business modelling, or value propositions.

You have experience in or the interest to develop skills in qualitative empirical research (with vulnerable and marginalized groups of workers).

You have good communication skills, excellent conceptual and analytical skills, and…