Marie Curie Doctoral Research Fellow​

About the role

EPHEMERAL aims to train a new generation of researchers to advance rural development theory and practice through entrepreneurship. The network includes five European universities and several non-academic partners, offering interdisciplinary supervision and training with a focus on rural entrepreneurship and development. Applicants for this position must NOT have lived or studied for more than 1 of the past 3 years in the UK prior to making an application.  

The project will be expected to generate insights into how place attachment, identity, and community ties influence women’s businesses – and, in turn, how these businesses shape rural communities. The researcher will be expected to carry out independent research with women running different types of rural businesses in rural areas but the precise methods, sampling and analysis approaches are flexible.

The findings should illustrate strategies that women use to engage in different networks and develop different identities for their businesses in different rural contexts. In particular, the study should focus on women at different stages of the life course working in more or less well-established businesses. Results will categorise different values derived from being more or less embedded in rural entrepreneurial ecosystems as well as challenges or limitations that might arise, with a particular focus on women entrepreneurs. The study is expected to inform local economic development policy, business support services, and place-branding activities, providing practical recommendations to create more inclusive and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Being part of the EPHEMERAL network, the doctorate will include funded secondments in University of Groningen (Netherlands) and University of Aveiro (Portugal) as well as an expectation to participate in seven network training weeks that will take place in each of our partner universities over the duration of the project. Full details of the EPHEMERAL programme can be viewed here: www.sdu.dk/clf/EPHEMERAL

Further information is available in the role description.

The successful candidate will receive a salary in accordance with the Marie Skłodowska Curie regulations. The exact salary will be confirmed upon offer and will be based on a living allowance of €5,682 per month and a mobility allowance of €710 per month. Additionally, you may also qualify for a family allowance of €660 per month depending on personal circumstances. The final salary will be confirmed upon offer and will be subject to tax and employer’s and employee’s National Insurance deductions and will be paid in UK Sterling (£) using an appropriate conversion rate. Should you choose to enrol in the pension scheme, contributions from both the employer and employee will be deducted from the total monthly Living and Mobility Allowance allocated for the fellowship.

About you 

Applicants should hold a master's degree in a relevant discipline such as entrepreneurship, sociology, gender studies in those subjects with significant experience, and have demonstrable specialist expert knowledge in intersectionality and women entrepreneurship.

Further information about the requirements of the role is available in the person specification.

If you would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact Dr Grace Gao at g.gao@northumbria.ac.uk or Professor Gary Bosworth at gary.bosworth@northumbria.ac.uk

Advert information