About the project

There are interdependencies between the United Nations’ sustainability goals (SDGs) which in itself is an argument for interdisciplinary collaboration, at some level. Hence, we need knowledge from different disciplines to work towards synergies and reduce negative effects between SDGs. This can happen from gathering different disciplines in common projects. Results from interdisciplinary collaboration are anticipated to be better when specific competences are present or developed within the team. Competences are an interplay between components such as knowledge, skills, and motives. There are identified a number of competences for sustainability. This project will primarily look into the competence of working interdisciplinary, systems thinking competence, and normative competence.

The overall research question of this project is if and how interdisciplinary cooperation has a positive effect on sustainability. This can be investigated through one or several of the identified competences for sustainability. Possible approaches are to analyze if, or to what degree, specific competences are present or played out in interdisciplinary projects, are they developed throughout the project period, which or what type of factors affect how they come into use?

Or does the contribution to sustainability depend on factors and mechanisms outside the realm of the very project and its team?

The theoretical entry point and methodology will depend on the profile of the PhD candidate. Our aim is to develop new knowledge on interdisciplinary collaboration in projects for sustainability. There are two data sources at NTNU available for this analysis. The first is linked to the 9 new interdisciplinary research projects at NTNU starting in 2022. The other data source is the compulsory course at master level Experts in teams. A survey is conducted every year among all the 3,000 students and 600 student teams that can be used as an instrument in research, including data from previous years.

  PhD Position in:

Interdisciplinary cooperation for Sustainability

Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management – section Experts in teamwork

The purpose of this position is to develop new knowledge about the role and impact of interdisciplinary cooperation in projects for sustainability. The candidate is to investigate if and how interdisciplinarity in projects leads to increased sustainability.

Application deadline has expired.