3 PhD positions on Business Science for Sustainability

The Section Business Science of the Social Sciences Group (SSG) is making a joint effort by combining 5 PhD positions around the theme 'Business Science for Sustainability'. Looking from different perspectives leverages the scope of your research. All PhDs will be based in a different group of the Business Science section: Business Economics, Business Management & Organisation, Information Technology, Marketing and Consumer Behaviour or Operations Research & Logistics. 2 PhD positions have been filled already. We are still looking for good candidates for the following 3 positions:
1. PhD 'Ownership structure, supplier relations and sustainability in food chains'
The transition towards a more sustainable society requires different coordination mechanisms, different contracting arrangements and different financial mechanisms. The PhD project will critically asses current ownership structures and current supplier-buyer relationships in their ability to support the sustainability transition.
2. PhD 'Understanding and quantifying complementarity and substitution in food consumption baskets with respect to sustainability and healthiness'
To stay relevant within current reality of studying health and sustainable choice behaviour, the field needs to move from consumer choice behaviour at the individual-product level as the focal criterion to the level of product portfolios, or shopping baskets. Within such portfolios it is important to understand how different consumer segments make decisions based on substitutability and complementarity between products and options within product categories, also in the long run. Therefore the aim of this project is to develop a set of sophisticated research tools and methodologies to advance the understanding of product portfolios/shopping baskets in terms of (a) how they are best quantified, (b) what determines their composition, (c) how they can be affected, and (d) implications for marketing/logistics.
3. PhD 'Designing sustainable agricultural systems using agent-based optimization models'
Farmers face increasing pressure from society to adopt alternative agricultural systems that promote sustainability and resilience. Regional optimization models help determine the optimal resource exchanges between farms and enable assessing alternative landscape configurations and farm structural changes that promote e.g. biodiversity. Before evaluating various interventions, such as a policy change, these optimization models will be made "agent-based", which entails enriching the individual decision-making process and context, e.g. by modelling behavioural heterogeneity and social interactions.