THE EDIM PROGRAM

The EDIM-program will enroll 9 top-class international PhD-candidates who will work with coordinated set of research issues at the three partner universities. A significant feature of the program is the combination of international structure and international focus, together with its explicit approach on non-technical managerial issues, deeply embedded in the context of technology, engineering, and industry. type

The raison d´être for the program

The EDIM program is underpinned by the challenges that industries, academia as well as policy face as a consequence of globalization. It is based on the need to adopt a systematic research on the nature, conditions and logics shaping the new global industrial landscape from a managerial point of view.

In contrast to the prevailing conceptual view – which is more than 100 years old- the EDIM program recognizes that industrial activities come in many forms and shapes. For instance, the telecom manufacturer Ericsson operates telecom networks and TV-stations; the automobile company Volvo is a coordinator of a gigantic system of suppliers, consultants, designers, financers, and service providers, where its own share of the physical manufacturing process is scant; the fast food chain McDonalds is world leading when it comes to classical manufacturing management techniques of time and motion studies; IKEA, H&M, Zara and Benetton are world leaders when it comes to traditional industrial disciplines of supply chain management and logistics.

Top-level international group of PhD candidates

The EDIM-program will enroll an international group of PhD-candidates working with a coordinated set of research issues at the three partner universities simultaneously. A common EDIM curriculum, joint supervision, quarterly EDIM workshops, planned candidate mobility, a double doctoral degree, and a joint scientific committee of professors from the partners will hold the program together. Significant features are the combination of international structure and international focus, together with its explicit focus on non-technical managerial issues, deeply embedded in the context of technology, engineering, and industry.

The doctoral candidates will be required to conduct research that involves several sectors of the European economy, creating a comprehensive understanding of the management, coordination, and initiation of development processes.

Supervision

Since the candidates shall earn double doctoral degrees, each candidate will be enrolled at two of the partner universities (the home and the host). The enrolment schemes should therefore have to fulfill all the requirements and meet the quality standards of both universities. This means that the EDIM-candidates have to do the same basic course work, participate in the same seminars, do similar amount of empirical work, and produce a doctoral thesis of - at least - the same quality standard as other, ordinary PhD-students of each university. Most importantly, the EDIM-candidates have to satisfy the national requirements of examination and thesis defense at both universities.

The program will practice co-tutelle, whereupon each candidate will be provided with a supervision team that provides guidance. Each candidate will have two academic supervisors, one at each host university. The supervisory committee will be jointly responsible to monitor the progress of the candidate, while each one of them simultaneously guarantees that the candidate produces in line with the academic standards of his/her university. The supervisors will be full or associate professors (or equivalent) with full authority to graduate PhDs. In addition, the candidate is given the opportunity to have one junior scholar (assistant professor or equivalent), who can act as a hands-on tutor and function as a role model and colleague in the practical academic, everyday work. The two academic supervisors and the tutor constitute a tailored, inter¬national supervisory committee for the candidate, which meets at the quarterly EDIM workshops.

Monitoring

During the process, the supervisors and the tutors will provide guidance. However, self-management is an important part of the doctoral training, meaning that it is always the candidate's responsibility to be in charge of, and perform within, his/her research project with the final objective of being able:

• To analyze theories and empirical issues relevant to the research project.
• To formulate research question(s) relevant for the outcome of the project.
• To use appropriate scientific methods in order to collect empirical data.
• To present and discuss/defend research results at workshops, seminars, and scientific conferences.
• To publish in scientific journals
• To identify the needs for new production of knowledge.
• To independently initiate and conduct research.

Each candidate will have a yearly study plan - a formalized quality assurance document- in which the candidate, the supervisors and the EDIM scientific committee agree on what is to be done during the coming 12 months. These study plans provide the baselines for individual monitoring and should be updated every six month. On a more specific level, the study plan will contain the following elements:

• A project time schedule in which check points, courses, and empirical work are stipulated.
• Information about members of the supervisory committee, the frequency of the supervision meeting, etc.
• A detailed description of what the PhD student has accomplished and what the candidate is expected to achieve the next academic year.

The study plan will be signed by the PhD candidate and the supervisors and will function as a contract between them.

Structure

EDIM will have an international group of PhD-candidates working with a coordinated set of research issues at the three partner universities simultaneously. A common EDIM curriculum, joint supervision, quarterly EDIM workshops, planned candidate mobility, a double doctoral degree, an international advisory board, and a joint scientific committee from the partners will hold the program together.

The program will admit nine candidates annually, who will be equally distributed among the three partners. Each candidate will be based primarily at one "home" university, but work at least 12 month of the program at a "host" university. In addition, there will be extensive time spent on empirical fieldwork.

For the 2014 candidate intake, the research themes are:

1. Industrial Dynamics Theme

Sub-research areas within Industrial Dynamics

1a. Industrial Change Processes 1b: Systems of Innovations 1c. Technological Change and Development 1d. Industrial and Science Policy 1f. Globalisation and its impact

2. Management theme

Sub-research areas within Management

2b. Energy Strategy and Management 2c. Corporate Finance 2d. Project Management 2e. Industrial Marketing 2f. Business Development and Entrepreneurship 2g. Human Resource Management and Leadership 2h. Innovation Management

3. Operations and supply change management theme

Sub-research areas within Operations and supply change management

3a. Operations Strategy and Management 3b. Production and Service Systems Design 3c. Risk Management 3d.Service Operations Management 3e. Supply Chain Management and Logistics 3f. Ergonomics, System Safety Engineering and Human Factors

Eligibility

EDIM only admits candidates with a M.Sc. in engineering or technology.

Duration

4 years

Degree

The EDIM candidates will graduate with a double doctoral degree. Consequently each candidate will be enrolled at two of the partner universities ("home" and "host") and will have to fulfil all the requirements and meet the quality standards of both universities.