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 p