Please find enclosed information about an EPSRC PhD opportunity at UCL (see below and file in attachment for further information)
Deadline: 9th July at midnight
Research project: Unpacking the dynamics of innovation towards resilient societies
The project intends to unpack different aspects of innovation in a non-exhaustive way. These can be encompassed in four main themes:
1) Proxies for innovation. Analyse which urban indicators can serve as proxies for innovation, how they relate to performance indicators of cities, and whether their dynamics can be extracted.
2) The role of space and precursors. Are there particular spatial patterns where innovations take place? Do firms tend to co-locate according to their specialisation? Do they benefit from a diverse environment, or do they prefer similarities?
3) Quantification of: concentration of knowledge and spillovers.
4) Successful innovations and resilience. Can we identify innovations that have a lasting impact on society, versus innovations that diffuse rapidly? Do the former give rise to more resilient solutions?
In order to study these four themes, we will look at longitudinal datasets, such as the Business Structure Database, 1997-2016; the patents database (over 10 years); and specialised consumer datasets belonging to the CDRC project.
The methodology employed will be within the framework of complexity science. We will look at each of these themes within different scales and hierarchies of the geographical space. We will construct the networks of interactions between the different firms, the individuals within these, and the products being the outcomes of the innovation. This will give rise to a multilayer network, where different dynamical processes take place at each of the layers that also interact. The aim is to understand the dynamics and constraints that give rise to innovations that have a lasting impact on society. Can we distinguish between innovations that are the outcome of long processes at different levels of the system vs innovations that go “viral” and permeate the large scale? In this sense, we will explore whether the former give rise to more resilient and lasting frameworks than the latter, or vice versa.
The project will be developed in informal collaboration with Prof Vito Latora of Queen Mary University of London.
How to Apply
To be considered for this studentship, please send a CV, letter of application and if possible a project outline to Alasdair Tatam (a.tatam@ucl.ac.uk) and Dr Elsa Arcaute (e.arcaute@ucl.ac.uk). Informal enquires should be directed to Dr Elsa Arcaute.
Your letter of application should explain your background, motivations for applying and suitability to the project. The project outline should be no more than 1,000 words, and be prepared to bring it to the interview if you did not submit it with your application. This should sketch out some preliminary ideas in relation to how you might approach the analysis. For example, you should highlight potential methodologies as well as some substantive aims and objectives that you wish to tackle in relation to the outline described above.
This studentship is open to UK and EU applicants only who meet the EPSRC's eligibility requirements. http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/skills/students/help/Pages/eligibility.aspx
Contact name Alasdair Tatam
Contact details a.tatam@ucl.ac.uk
UCL Taking Action for Equality
Closing Date 9th July 2017 at midnight
Interview date 19-21 of July 2017 (if not available during these days please indicate so in your application to arrange a different day)
Studentship Start Date 25 September 2017
