Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network

BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo, Norway is inviting applications for a four-year PhD scholarship in outsider innovation, regulatory foresight, and transformative technologies. The project is part of REGULAIRE (Regulatory Learning for the Governance of Transformative Technologies), a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe.

The doctoral project, Outside-In Signals: Outsider Innovation as Foresight Infrastructure, examines how open-source communities, civic technologists, SMEs, and marginalised user groups detect risks and opportunities before regulators do, and how their signals can inform regulatory decision-making. Research methods may include case studies, interviews, document analysis, and network analysis. The project aims to produce a typology of outsider signals, a curated dataset and codebook, and tested procedures for translating signals into regulatory review.

You will be based in BI’s Department of Communication and Culture and affiliated with the Department of Law and Governance, while also joining the Nordic Centre for Internet and Society (NCIS). Supervision is led by Professor Christian Fieseler, with Professor Sebastian Schwemer as co-supervisor and Sandra Cortesi as international academic co-supervisor at the Technical University of Munich. The wider network includes 15 doctoral candidates across ten European universities, with training at summer schools and a planned three-month intersectoral secondment.

Funding includes a full-time doctoral appointment, an annual salary of NOK 623,200 gross, 36 funded research months, and MSCA mobility support and possible family allowances. The position is full-time for 48 months, with 25% of working time allocated to teaching or other career-promoting duties.

Applicants should hold, or be close to completing, a relevant two-year master’s degree with thesis work and a GPA of B or higher. Relevant backgrounds include communication and media studies, innovation studies, science and technology studies, information systems, sociology, political science, law, public administration, and related interdisciplinary fields. Strong analytical and academic writing skills, independence, and excellent English are required. MSCA eligibility rules also apply: applicants must not already hold a doctorate and must not have spent more than 12 months in Norway during the previous 36 months.

The application deadline is 15 November 2026 at 23:59 CET. Apply via BI’s electronic recruitment system and upload a cover letter, CV, five-page project proposal, transcripts and certificates, recommendation letters, verification document, and English-language documentation or waiver request if applicable.