PhD Scholarship in Behavioral Economics and Biosustainability at Technical University of Denmark

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Biosustainability (DTU Biosustain) along with the Department of Technology, Management and Economics (DTU Management) at the Technical University of Denmark are opening a new and exciting Ph.D. position. 

If your expertise lies within behavioral and experimental economics and you want to make a real-world sustainability impact, this is the chance to contribute. Your efforts will play a vital role in bringing sustainable bio-based food products to life, by applying and developing smart behavioral economics tools in the context of microbial foods of the future, e.g., fermented, upcycled, etc. 

Our goal is to educate the next generation of bilingual scientists who can apply their expertise within behavioral and experimental economics to the development of bio-based solutions. Developing and applying bio-sustainable landmarks has the potential to have a positive impact for the environment, but this can only be unleashed if people decide to engage with new solutions. We aim to advance the understanding of behavioral barriers and drivers of engagement and then develop behavioral tools that can overcome these barriers and increase engagement. 

We seek talented students who find it natural to approach sustainability challenges from a behavioral economics point of view — a skill set in high demand in industry and academia. To bridge this gap, we offer a biosustainability-focused Ph.D. project in behavioral economics supervised by Toke Reinholt Fosgaard (DTU Management) with co-supervision from Sumesh Sukumara (DTU Biosustain) and Catharina Wolff von Bülow (DTU Biosustain). We will assist candidates in tailoring their course curricula to become bilingual in the project’s covered domains. 

We are actively looking for motivated Ph.D. candidates with behavioral and experimental economics skills. The candidate will delve into and apply behavioral economics concepts and experimental methods of the highest international standard. If you have a strong interest in behavioral economics, food, sustainability and/or biotechnology, and you are eager to apply these skills to tackle challenges, this is your opportunity. 

Responsibilities and qualifications

As part of the selection process, you will collaborate with your supervisors to identify the most relevant courses for the project. These courses, totaling 30 ECTS points as required in Danish Ph.D. programs, will shape you into a bilingual scientist with profound knowledge in behavioral economic theory and experiment design, social life cycle assessment, food preference, fermentation, and more. Working with us is expected to enhance your skills with the following responsibilities: 

• Conducting systematic review of relevant behavioral economics literature in relation to, i.e., food preference and sustainability.
• Identifying potential behavioral barriers to sustainable microbial food choices.
• Develop behavioral experiments to test sustainable food choices in various contexts using state-of-the-art methods, i.e., on-line and lab, customer-panel surveys, and psychometric scales.  
• Exploring and utilizing different data sources to achieve a comprehensive understanding of human decision-making.
• Conduct behavioral experiments in control settings and more realistic field settings.
• Handle large datasets and carry out precise and thoughtful analysis of measured behavior.
• Integrate the outcomes with other economic, environmental, and societal indicators.
• Actively disseminate insights through the production of academic papers and engagement with relevant researchers and stakeholders. 

Application procedure