项目介绍

2026年1月27日

Copenhagen Business School invites applications for a vacant PhD scholarship in Business and the Global South at the Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC). The expected start date is 1 September 2026. 

MSC carries out multidisciplinary research on the relationship between business and society. Its faculty explore the conditions and practices of responsible management, organisation and governance in a globalising world, sharing a particular concern with culture, communication and context as lenses to understand the interaction and interdependencies of business and society. MSC’s contribution to the study of responsible business and governance is organised around various research environments.

Further information is available here: https://www.cbs.dk/research/department-management-society-and-communication.

This PhD in Business and the Global South investigates how businesses shape economic, political, and social transformation across the Global South within an evolving geopolitical landscape. Research may address themes such as:

• Multinational corporations, global value chains, and their roles in development
• Late industrialization, industrial policy, and state–business relations
• Human rights, labor relations, labor regimes, and the role of local communities
• Entrepreneurship, innovation, and private-sector development
• Business engagement in aid and humanitarian interventions
• Digitalization and its effects on work, livelihoods, and labor markets
• Business sustainability, green transitions, and climate resilient development
• Decolonizing Development: Business, Geopolitics, and Knowledge from the South

Across these themes, candidates are encouraged to consider the broader geopolitical forces that shape business and development in the Global South, such as global trade relations, resource politics, foreign investment, climate governance, shifting North–South relations, and the growing influence of emerging economies.  

Applicants are required to develop a theoretically grounded research proposal with a clear empirical focus. We welcome applicants from across the social sciences and humanities, including but not limited business studies, development studies, geography, communication studies, cultural studies, anthropology, sociology and political science.

The successful PhD applicant will be a member of the Centre for Business and Development Studies (CBDS). Please see: https://www.cbs.dk/en/research/department-management-society-and-communication/centre-business-and-development-studies. Applicants are required to indicate how their planned PhD research can contribute to this research environment.

About the PhD programme

The three-year PhD programme at CBS gives you the opportunity to conduct research under the supervision of CBS’s associate professors and professors, supported by research related PhD courses. The programme is highly international, and you are expected to participate in international research conferences and to spend time at another research institution as a visiting PhD student. See the CBS homepage for more information about the PhD programme, https://www.cbs.dk/en/research/phd-programme.  

CBS PhD graduates are held in high esteem not only in academia and research institutions but also in government and business where their research qualifications are in high demand.

CBS is committed to ensuring excellence, transformative and relevant teaching and research. Candidates who wish to join us must be interested in working in an organisation of this type and it is expected that the applicant shows an interest in joining the department’s research environments. You can read more about the department’s research here: https://www.cbs.dk/en/research/department-management-society-and-communication.

Application and admission requirements

The department will give priority to applicants with high grades from their universities.

To be considered the applicant must:

• have a basic education at master’s level (corresponding to the 3 + 2 Bologna process)

• have received the grade of 10 (or equivalent) for the master’s thesis according to the Danish 7-point grading scale (https://ufsn.dk/english/education/recognition-and-transparency/)

• have a weighted grade point average of at least 8.2 on the Danish 7-point grading scale for the bachelor’s and master’s degree combined or alternatively a weighted grade point average must be at least 9.5 for the master’s degree alone. If the grade point average is not met, documentation for being in the top 40% of the class is also accepted. In rare cases, the grade requirement can be waived.

• have a relevant educational background in the social sciences

• have completed the master’s programmebefore the application deadline

• be in command of master academic English at a high level in writing and speaking

 It is not possible to get CBS’s assessment of whether individual candidates are eligible to apply before submission.

Each applicant may only submit one application for this PhD scholarship.

The application must include a five-page PhD project description. The project description must include:

• a presentation of an original research question
• a description of the initial theoretical framework and method
• a presentation of the proposed empirical material
• a work plan for the three years

More information can be found here: https://www.cbs.dk/en/research/phd-programmes/admission