To prospective doctoral students

Thanks for your kind interest in our research group. Please read the following information before sending an email regarding supervision of your dissertation:

(1) We currently only accept proposals for one (or several) of the following (broad) areas of research:

• Managerial issues in the context of smart products / services
• Managerial issues in the context of AI and innovation management
• Management issues in the context of sustainability and innovation management
• Adoption and market diffusion of innovations.

If you do not have a promising topic in mind yet, keep on reading recent literature until you've identified a research question you would like to dedicate your dissertation project to. In other words, please, save your time (and mine) and do not send an "I am ready to do whatever topic is of interest for you"-type of request. Also, you need to be somewhat more concrete regarding your project than "I like to do study management issues in the context of smart products".

(2) We seek doctoral students who have substantial interest (and gained at least some expertise) in one of the following methodological approaches:

• Mathematical modeling
• Simulation (in particular, agent-based modeling and simulation and/or social simulation)
• Programming skills are highly welcomed.

We are aware that most work in the above fields is empirical. While we are not are looking for PhD projects with such an methodological focus at the moment, we might be open to at least discuss such cases if the underlying research proposal is exceptionally strong.

(3) We expect our doctoral students to work on a cumulative dissertation, that is, their thesis consists of a collection of -- typically three or four -- research articles (accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journal) plus some synopsis and positioning of one's work in the larger field. Those articles can be -- and typically are -- co-authored with colleagues from the group. In other words, you don't have to do that all alone but you are supported and, thus, learn about publishing in the course of the dissertation project. Still, it helps to have already made some publication experiences (but that's not mandatory). Very good command of English is a necessity though.

For examples of the achievements of previous doctoral students, see publications by Michelle Haurand, Lars Lüpke or Maria Kaldewei.

(4) Dissertation projects typically last three to four years, but may take longer for part-time doctoral students.

(5) Participation in the Bielefeld Graduate School of Economics and Management (BiGSEM) is expected. BiGSEM membership is free (i.e., there is no tuition fee) and the extra effort is relatively low as it basically comprises (i) participation in the research seminar (three times each semester), (ii) participation in the colloquium (three times each semester), and (iii) a number of so-called electives, which can be achieved in the form of conference participation and presenting one's own research, publishing research papers, attending suitable courses, etc.

(6) It should be noted that BiGSEM doctoral students are typically not paid by the university and, thus, prospective doctoral students need to secure some form of financing to pay for their living -- unless they are hired as a research associate ("Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter"), but such positions are rare.

(7) If still interested, please send a research proposal to christian.stummer@uni-bielefeld.de in which you elaborate on possible research topics (falling in the scope of the research areas outlined in (1)) as well as a suitable research methodology to be applied (including preferably one of the approaches listed in (2)). Please do also explicitly state the possible research contribution of your intended work (e.g., "The research contribution of my work could be threefold: Firstly, ... Secondly, ... Thirdly, ..."). Further (and as a matter of course), please attach a CV and an overview of previous academic achievements including publication experiences (if so). Finally, it is always a good idea to add a few lines on your motivation for pursuing a doctoral project in general and on doing so at Bielefeld University and our research group in particular.

Note that we are very picky in choosing new doctoral students (i.e., on average there is one new doctoral students per year). However, once accepted you would win a proactive and highly supportive supervisor.