Marie Curie PhD scholarship in Left-behind places and entrepreneurial mobilization at Department of Business and Sustainability

The Department of Business and Sustainability at the University of Southern Denmark in Kolding invites applications for a PhD scholarship as of April 1st 2026, or as agreed. For more information about the department, please visit the website.

Be part of a large-scale international project 

We are looking for a talented and motivated PhD student for the EPHEMERAL research project. EPHEMERAL – Entrepreneurship and Place: How Entrepreneurs Manage Evolving Relationships Across the Life-cycle is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network (MSCA-DN) funded under Horizon Europe. The project aims to train a new generation of researchers to advance rural development theory and practice through entrepreneurship.

EPHEMERAL explores how entrepreneurs shape rural places over time, considering life-cycle dynamics, evolving local contexts, and structural societal changes. The network includes five European universities and several non-academic partners, offering interdisciplinary supervision and training with a focus on rural entrepreneurship and development.

The PhD position will focus on the topic of "Left-behind places and entrepreneurial mobilization". The objective of the PhD project is to contribute to the question of how structural changes at the societal level change the emergence of opportunities and resources in rural places through the specific empirical phenomenon of left behind places as a new political narrative and category. The project thus seeks to identify new forms of entrepreneurial agency leveraging local and extra-local resources around notions of left behindness, geographical discontent and spatial justice. 

Your contribution to the project  

This position offers a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of entrepreneurship, sociology, and rural development in an international and interdisciplinary research project. As our new PhD student, you will play a central role in: 

• Collecting qualitative data from new and emergent political movements in rural areas.
• Analyzing the data and developing excellent and impactful research published in leading international journals.  
• Preparing comprehensive analysis reports and contributing to high-impact research publications. 
• Participating in dissemination activities to share findings with academic, industry, and public audiences. 

Who are we looking for

We are looking for applicants possessing personal qualities such as curiosity and a strong desire to understand and solve societal challenges. You should be able to work independently and, in consultation with your PhD supervisor, prioritize the different aspects of your work. Finally, you are expected to have good interpersonal skills, be interested in engaging with the national and international research community (your supervisor and the department will support you in this), be present and take part in the daily academic and social environments in Kolding.

Applications are invited from applicants with a relevant master's degree within social sciences (e.g. business, political science, sociology or related disciplines). Moreover, we expect applicants to: 

• Have good English skills, both in speaking and writing. 
• Have good communication skills. 
• Have enthusiasm and talent for academic work.  
• Have interest in interdisciplinary and stakeholder-engaged research. 
• Have experiences with collecting and analysing qualitative data.
• Be engaged, proactive, cooperative, be able to work independently, show awareness and confidence in own skills and capabilities.

The department wishes our staff to reflect on the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

For a more detailed description of the qualification criteria, please consult the department's Scholarly Qualification Guidelines

The position is part of the EPHEMERAL MSCA-DN and follows the MSCA mobility and eligibility rules. This means that you must not have resided or carried out main activity in Denmark for more than 12 months in the last 36 months (MSCA mobility rule) immediately before the recruitment date.

The research Environment

As a PhD Student, you will be embedded in a strong research community that is internationally recognized for excellence in research and a strong commitment to interdisciplinary methods and approaches within the social sciences and beyond. Within the Department of Business and Sustainability, your closest colleagues are those in the Entrepreneurship research group. 

The department believes in fostering a stimulating and inspiring environment for both faculty members and students. The department's ambition is therefore to recruit, develop, and retain talented scholars committed to both academic excellence and departmental development.

The department in general offers a dynamic and entrepreneurial work environment in which collaboration, societal engagement, and team spirit are fundamental parts of the culture. Our department has activities in Kolding, Esbjerg and Sønderborg with approx. 60 employees engaged in research and teaching in the fields of resource and environmental economics, entrepreneurship, marketing, and organizational studies. 

As part of the project, you also participate in the research project, working with other PhD candidates and senior scholars across Europe.

This includes participation in six international training weeks, and international secondments with academic and non-academic partners.

Requirements and programme structure  

As a PhD Student you will follow an individual PhD plan including course work, conference participation, and knowledge dissemination and/or teaching. PhD Students typically spend three-six months in another research institution abroad and for you this will be fulfilled through the secondment activities. The scholarship carries a monthly salary including pension plus office facilities and financial support for conference travels and research visits abroad. Conditions of employment will be in accordance with the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and AC (the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations). 

If selected for the position you will be enrolled in the PhD programme at the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences in Economics. Your employment as a Salaried PhD Student is governed by the agreement of November 10, 2015, on Graduate Employees in government appendix 5 – protocol on PhD Research Fellows. The scholarship runs for three years.

When preparing your project proposal, you are strongly advised to consult the general guidelines for preparing a project proposal at the PhD School's webpage.  

Contact information 

Further information about this position and its academic expectations is available from Professor Steffen Korsgaard, email

For further information about the PhD school, please contact the PhD School Secretariat through e-mail:   

Please be aware that you must apply online through the SDU online recruitment system. If you experience technical problems, please contact hcm-  

Application and assessment process 

The application deadline is January 6, 2026, at 11.59 PM / CET/CEST) after which the link will no longer be active

An application must include: 

• Application form can be downloaded at this LINK. 
• A project proposal, max 5 pages of 2400 characters each, including spaces, notes, appendices, bibliography etc. The total length in characters including spaces of the project description must be stated on the first page of the project description 
• An abstract for the above project description of no more than 250 words 
• Detailed CV 
• A summary of your master thesis including information on the research question, motivation, employed research method, and key findings (max 1 page of 2,400 characters each, including spaces, notes, appendices, bibliography etc.) 
• A certified copy of your master's degree certificate including all examination results. 
• Information on experience with teaching, dissemination, or scientific publication, if applicable 

All documents in other languages than Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, English, or German must be translated into English. The project proposal, project abstract, and CV must be written in English. Use of large language models or related AI tools in any capacity must be disclosed in accordance with best academic practices. 

Documents should not contain a CPR number (civil registration number) – in this case, the CPR number must be crossed out.

If you do not adhere to the above-mentioned specifications your application can be rejected without further assessment. The department reserves the right to arrive at a decision solely based on the material submitted.

Shortlisting may be used in the assessment process. 

Applications will be assessed by a committee. When the assessment committee has submitted its report, you will be emailed the part of the evaluation that concerns yourself, and you will know if you are deemed qualified for the position or not. The assessment report is subsequently forwarded to the Head of Department who assembles an appointment committee and determines if one or more of the qualified applicants should be invited to a job interview. The appointment committee will manage and complete job interviews and advise the Head of Department on which candidate should be offered appointment.

About SDU and Kolding  

International applicants will be offered Danish language training as part of the employment. The International Staff Office (ISO) at SDU provides a variety of services for new employees, guests and people who consider applying for a job at the University of Southern Denmark. Among other things, the staff answers questions concerning salary, taxation and housing. Additional information about working in Denmark can be found at Work in Denmark. 

Read more on: SDU's employment website.

The University of Southern Denmark wishes to reflect the surrounding community and therefore encourages everyone, regardless of personal background, to apply for the position.

About SDU

The University of Southern Denmark was established to create value for and with society. Whether our contributions come in the form of excellent research, innovative solutions, education or learning, we must make a positive difference to society and contribute to a sustainable future. We do this by cultivating talents and creating the best environments for research and learning. It is therefore crucial that SDU retains, develops and recruits talent. At the same time, we need to ensure consistently high quality in all our activities – and we can only do that with the right people. The University's researchers, lecturers, students, managers and technical/administrative staff are the foundation of our success.