If you are motivated to shape how engineers learn to innovate and want to develop a strong research profile at the intersection of design, engineering, and entrepreneurship, this PhD position offers an opportunity to work in a highly applied and collaborative environment at DTU Entrepreneurship. You will engage with real-world educational settings and contribute to advancing how innovation capabilities are developed in engineering education.
The PhD project will investigate how innovation capabilities are developed in engineering education, with a particular focus on how students learn to create value through design, collaboration, and entrepreneurial practice. The project is situated within DTU Entrepreneurship and engages with the broader DTU innovation ecosystem, including courses, project-based learning environments, and extracurricular activities.
Innovation in Engineering will serve as a primary empirical setting and experimental platform. As a large-scale, multidisciplinary course, it provides a strong foundation for studying how students engage with open-ended problems, apply design processes, and develop early-stage solutions in real-world contexts. The project may also examine how such capabilities transfer across contexts, including thesis work, startup activities, and collaboration with external partners.
The position is anchored in research on innovation in engineering, and the successful candidate will define and pursue a focused research project within this area. Relevant perspectives include design and design science, engineering education, and entrepreneurial processes in early-stage technology development. The project is expected to combine rigorous empirical research with the development and evaluation of new approaches, contributing both to academic knowledge and to the advancement of educational practices at DTU.
Examples of research themes include:
- How design processes support problem framing, iteration, and solution development in engineering
- How students develop innovation capabilities through project-based and experiential learning
- How interdisciplinary teamwork and stakeholder engagement influence innovation outcomes
- How entrepreneurial thinking emerges in early-stage engineering projects
- How learning and capabilities transfer from courses to thesis work, startups, or industry collaboration
Responsibilities and qualifications
Your overall focus will be to develop and conduct research on how innovation capabilities are practiced and learned in engineering contexts, using Innovation in Engineering and related activities as key empirical settings. You will contribute to both research and teaching activities within DTU Entrepreneurship.
Your primary tasks will be to:
- Develop and execute an independent PhD research project within innovation in engineering
- Use Innovation in Engineering and related activities as empirical settings for research and experimentation
- Design and evaluate interventions related to design methods, learning formats, or entrepreneurial tools
- Collect and analyse empirical data using qualitative and/or quantitative methods
- Publish research findings in high-quality academic journals and conferences
- Contribute to teaching, supervision, and development of courses and learning activities
- Collaborate with colleagues and partners across DTU Entrepreneurship and DTU Skylab
You must have a two-year master's degree (120 ECTS points) or a similar degree with an academic level equivalent to a two-year master's degree.
The ideal candidate has an educational background relevant to innovation practice, technology development or entrepreneurship. Applicants must be fluent in English.
Approval and Enrolment
The scholarship for the PhD degree is subject to academic approval, and the candidate will be enrolled in one of the general degree programmes at DTU. For information about our enrolment requirements and the general planning of the PhD study programme, please see DTU's rules for the PhD education.
We offer
DTU is a leading technical university globally recognized for the excellence of its research, education, innovation and scientific advice. We offer a rewarding and challenging job in an international environment. We strive for academic excellence in an environment characterized by collegial respect and academic freedom tempered by responsibility.
Salary and appointment terms
The appointment will be based on the collective agreement with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. The allowance will be agreed upon with the relevant union.
The period of employment is 3 years. The starting date is 1 September 2026 (or according to mutual agreement). The position is a full-time position.
You can read more about career paths at DTU here.
Further information
Further information may be obtained from Associate Professor Lars Alkærsig (lalk@dtu.dk).
You can read more about DTU Entrepreneurship at www.entrepreneurship.dtu.dk.
If you are applying from abroad, you may find useful information on working in Denmark and at DTU at DTU – Moving to Denmark. Furthermore, you have the option of joining our monthly free seminar “PhD relocation to Denmark and startup “Zoom” seminar” for all questions regarding the practical matters of moving to Denmark and working as a PhD at DTU.
Application procedure
Your complete online application must be submitted no later than 1 July 2026 (23:59 Danish time). Applications must be submitted as one PDF file containing all materials to be given consideration. To apply, please open the link "Apply now", fill out the online application form, and attach all your materials in English in one PDF file. The file must include:
- A letter motivating the application (cover letter)
- Curriculum vitae
- Grade transcripts and BSc/MSc diploma (in English) including official description of grading scale
- Research proposal of no more than 3 pages on your
- Sample of written work by the candidate (for instance a Master’s thesis)
- A short research proposal (no more than 3 pages) presenting the applicant's suggestions for 1-2 research questions within the scope of the project, as well as initial reflections on relevant theoretical frameworks and methods with which to pursue the proposed questions.
You may apply prior to obtaining your master's degree but cannot begin before having received it.
Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.
All interested candidates irrespective of age, gender, disability, race, religion or ethnic background are encouraged to apply. As DTU works with research in critical technology, which is subject to special rules for security and export control, open-source background checks may be conducted on qualified candidates for the position.
DTU Entrepreneurship is amongst the international leading entities in technology entrepreneurship and helps develop an entrepreneurial culture across DTU. As part of a dynamic and evolving ecosystem, we combine practice-oriented education and research in entrepreneurship with real start-up opportunities from all DTU departments. With rigorous research at its core, the Centre builds the entrepreneurial capabilities of students, industry leaders, academics and policymakers to address unsolved problems, and together create new knowledge, methodologies and initiatives. We enable ethically minded entrepreneurs to build solutions that benefit people, society and the world. The Centre experiments with new entrepreneurial methodologies and activities to push boundaries within research and education.
DTU – For the benefit of society since 1829
DTU is one of Europe's leading elite technical universities. Through research and education at an international top level, we create solutions to the major societal challenges of our time and help secure Europe's global leadership in sustainable technological development. Since Hans Christian Ørsted founded DTU almost 200 years ago, our mission has remained the same: We develop and create value through the natural and technical sciences for the benefit of society. DTU has 13,800 students, 1,600 PhD students, and 6,500 employees. We work in an international environment and have an inclusive, stimulating, and informal work culture. DTU has campuses in all parts of Denmark and in Greenland and collaborates with the best universities around the world.
INFORMATIONER OM STILLINGEN:
- Arbejdspladsen ligger i:
Lyngby-Taarbæk Kommune
-Virksomheden tilbyder:
-Arbejdsgiver:
DTU Entrepreneurship, B371, rum 218, Centrifugevej byg, 2800 Kongens Lyngby
-Ansøgning:
Ansøgningsfrist: 01-07-2026;
Se mere her: https://job.jobnet.dk/find-job/9b0f5f53-e94b-45f8-9ca0-20377df453ee
