Estonia: Two PhD positions, MARKETS: Mapping Uncertainties, Challenges and Future Opportunities of Emerging Markets

[administrator]

EU funded European Training Network – (MSCA-ETN-2020 GA no: 861034)

Two Early Stage Researcher positions (with enrollment into a PhD programme) to start in January 2021

deadline 20 November 2020

MARKETS: Mapping Uncertainties, Challenges and Future Opportunities of Emerging Markets: Informal Barriers, Business Environments and Future Trends in Eastern Europe, The Caucasus and Central Asia

Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) is part of a consortium that was awarded a €3.9m grant from the European Union to fund a European Training Network entitled MARKETS - a world-leading politics, business and policy oriented Early Career Training programme which will equip 15 fellows, across a range of 9 international partners (University of Bremen, University of Helsinki, Catholic University Leuven, University College London, Maastricht University, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Tallinn University of Technology and the Center for Social Sciences in Tbilisi). with theoretical knowledge, analytical skills and complementary training to understand and deal with emerging markets in the Eastern Europe, The Caucasus and Central Asia regions.

Two positions will be based in Tallinn, Estonia, at the Faculty of Business and Economics of Tallinn University of Technology. Successful fellows will receive a salary for three years, at the EU early Stage Researcher rate, including social benefits (pension scheme, medical insurance). The fellow will be expected to enroll also into a PhD programme in the School of Business and Governance at TalTech. Subject to satisfactory progress a national level scholarship may be available in year 4. Fellows will also benefit from international summer schools, international mentors in universities and non-university partners and funding for tuition fees, field research, conference travel, language classes. The 15 Fellows and the supervisors meet up for joint workshops approximately every six months – ensuring that fellows graduate not only with a PhD but with a well established international network.

Fellows will conduct their research on one of the topics listed below.

The overall goal of the project is to compare countries that had fully opened to foreign investors by the early 2000s – Estonia, Latvia (now EU members), Georgia (considered by many as an example of best practice in reforms), and Kyrgyzstan (where markets are stable but no major economic leap is expected in the next immediate future) – with what have been identified as significant prospective post-USSR markets for the next ten years - Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (all of which have shown a more concrete desire for economic dialogue in the past three years), Russia (its eastern region and, in particular, Siberia, which has remained largely unexplored by EU companies), and Azerbaijan, a country that has finally started interacting in more concrete terms with the EU.

Project topic

Project focus

Entrepreneurial behaviour, informality and the construction of social norms: a cross-regional perspective

Use behavioural game theory to explore the interplay between social norms and informal economies; provide a model of why actors engage with informality beyond simple financial motives, contribute to policy debates

Ethics, principles, state vs. individual morality, and the construction of new or diverging moralities in EU eastern neighbours

Identify the role of national and international external actors in shaping the notion of state morality; inquire into the nature of gaps between official (state) morality and accepted moral values or ‘the norm’ among citizens

Practical details

Financial conditions (including salary levels) and background documents are available at https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/msca-itn-2020 NB: select guide for applicants. The financial conditions in the call will the one that apply to you.

Your salary will be calculated according to MSCA rules and your personal + family situation. More information can be found at the financial section of the MSCA ITN guide for applicants that you can find in section 5 (Financial Aspects) of the document. These are worth checking before you decide to apply since, if selected, you will be expected to familiarise yourself with these rules also to be aware of your formal rights and obligations towards the donor.

Eligibility: applicants must hold a degree enabling them to enroll into doctoral studies by December 2020 (usually a MA or MSc). They cannot have more than 4 years full time research experience (or hold a doctorate already, even if they worked less than 4 years to complete it) at the time of recruitment.

Mobility requirement: applicants can be of any nationality but cannot have been resident (or have had their main activity i.e. work or study) in the Republic of Estonia for more than 12 of the 36 months prior to recruitment. This means that if you spent less than 12 months in Estonia (including if you have never been there) you are eligible.

NB: this is a very intensive programme. Each selected candidate will be enrolled into a PhD programme, and will be seconded to the target region for data collection and will subsequently be seconded to a non-academic partner to gain a hands-on work experience on how research skills can be used beyond academia for the benefit of the governmental, private or international development sector. There will also be workshops of 4 to 5 days duration approximately every 6 months at which attendance is essential. Therefore a willingness and ability to undertake these international mobilities is a core requirement.

Any informal enquiries about research topics or the process (if you have questions about issues that are not already addressed in this call or in the guide for applicants) should be addressed to Lawschooleu@gmail.com

Applications should be sent to Lawschooleu@gmail.com (cc shugyla.kilybayeva@gmail.com) and must include:

1) a curriculum vitae (including explicit details of country / countries of residence for the past 3 years, this is needed for eligibility purposes);

2) an application letter no longer than 500 words;

3) a short (500-1000 words) summary of your doctoral project.

4) The grades achieved in your Masters degree (certificates will be requested if you are shortlisted)

Please send all the documents together in one PDF file named after your name and surname and use, as subject of your message, “MARKETS-ETN-2020 Application”. Failure to do this might result in your application ending up in the wrong folder and, in a worst case scenario, ignored.

Deadline 20 November 2020, 23.59h (Estonian time)