项目介绍

2026年9月11日

The position is supported by the Chair of Marketing for Social Impact and the interdisciplinary project “Advancing social sensing to trigger the large-scale diffusion of environmental action”, recently approved by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The candidates will complete their doctoral studies at the Graduate School of Business (GSB: http://www.gsb.uzh.ch).

How can we diagnose and overcome resistance to change across individuals, organizations, and societies? How do the effects of social impact programs spread through social systems, and under what conditions do they achieve large-scale, lasting impact? How can behavioral and complexity science be integrated to design pro-grams that are both effective and socially accepted?

These are some of the questions motivating our research. The PhD project will develop quantitative empirical studies to understand how social influence processes affect behavioral change at the individual and population level. Ultimately, the research aspires to inform how organizations aiming to achieve positive social impact – whether companies, NGOs, or public institutions – design and implement their actions.
Zurich provides a unique ecosystem combining world-class academia with strong industry connections, allowing you to work on impactful research embedded in real-world contexts.

Your responsibilities

As a PhD student, you will develop and implement research ideas related to the topics outlined above, leading to a doctoral thesis to be submitted to the Graduate School of Business within four years. You will contribute to publi-cations in leading scientific journals, participate in international conferences and summer schools, and assist in teaching as well as the supervision of Bachelor’s and Master’s theses.

Your profile

You bring with you

• An interest in interdisciplinary research.
• Strong motivation to work on societally relevant problems.
• A passion for sharing knowledge and teaching.
• Methodological expertise in at least two of the following three skill areas:

1. Econometrics and/or machine learning
2. Randomized experiments (lab and/or field)
3. Agent based modeling and network analysis.

• Excellent written and spoken English

Information on your application

Applications must be sent by e-mail to: market-research@business.uzh.ch (Email subject: “Application PhD posi-tion”). The application should be addressed to Prof. Dr. René Algesheimer and Dr. Radu Tanase and enclose the following documents in one single PDF file: (1) Motivation letter. (2) Current CV (Name and contact details of one referee, but no reference letters). (3) University diploma and grade transcripts. (4) Statement of research interest, related to the research conducted at the Chair of Marketing for Social Impact (max. 1 page). The employment starts by agreement. Evaluations will continue until the position is filled.