Topic: Inequality of vulnerability among elderly people, analyzed with SHARE

Applications are invited for a PhD scholarship at the Faculty of Business and Social Science, to be filled by September 1, 2022.

The PhD candidate will be part of The Department of Economics. More information on the departments can be found on the faculty’s home page, see here.

Job description

The PhD position is funded by Helsefonden and the Faculty of Business and Social Science branch of the interdisciplinary Center on Population Dynamics (CPOP-SAM). The working title for the project is “Inequality of vulnerability among elderly people, analyzed with SHARE”, and it is aimed at analyses of consequences of ageing for the elderly elder.

European populations are aging. While in 2010 there were 2 employed per retired, there will in 2060 only be 1 employed per retired. We live longer, we have more healthy living years, and we are expected to stay longer at the labor market. However, there are substantial and increasing inequalities in these patterns: Not everybody lives longer, and the socioeconomic inequality in life expectancy is rising. Likewise, there is a substantial and rising inequality in number of good living years, as function loss (dementia etc) hits earlier for vulnerable elderly people without education and a lack of family and social network. Finally, the inequality in the ability to stay at the labor market will increase with increased retirement age, as those with low education are worn out and lack behind in qualifications earlier than those with high education.

The purpose of the PhD project is to explore social inequalities in vulnerability and risk among the elderly elder using (but not restricted to) Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, see here). The studies involved can be longitudinal across the up to 10 waves as well as cross sectional across the up to 28 countries spanned by SHARE, and should be structured within the triangular frame set by three legs; 1) public health aspects of social inequality among elder, 2) economic aspects in terms of socioeconomic inequality and welfare loss , and 3) social and public policy considerations. The weight put on each leg can naturally vary according to the nature of the project suggested as well as the educational degree of the applicant. Topics to be taken up could be (but need not be restricted to) dementia; labor market exit; loneliness and lack of networks; and intergenerational transfers, equity, social relations and social capital. However, given that Helsefonden contributed with a grant to the project, topics related to dementia and vulnerable elder should be touched upon.

The successful applicant must be able to demonstrate

• Excellent grades at the bachelor and master’s levels in economics, political science, public health or related social scientific disciplines;
• Profound knowledge of statistical methods;
• Good knowledge of Stata, R or similar statistical programs;
• Excellent communication skills in English (enclosing results of TOEFL and GRE tests is encouraged but not mandatory).

For further information, please contact Prof. Jørgen T. Lauridsen ([email protected]).

Application, salary, requirements, etc.

As part of the PhD programme, an individual education programme within the scientific field must be completed. You will be expected to complete a six-month stay at a research institution abroad and, over the period of the programme to acquire experience of teaching or dissemination activities. You are also expected to participate in the various activities at the department and - apart from your stay abroad - to be regularly present at the department.

The scholarships are available to students who wish to enter the PhD programme in Economics, in the framework of either the 5+3 programme or the 4+4 programme. A 5+3 PhD scholarship is granted to applicants who have completed an MSc. The scholarship runs for three years. A scholarship in the 4+4 programme is given to applicants who have passed the fourth year of their Master's programme or the equivalent. The scholarship runs for a period of four years. For the first two years you will be enrolled in the PhD programme and the Master's programme parallel to each other. During that period your pay will consist of a combination of SU student grants and salary for job assignments. After obtaining the master’s degree, you will enter into a salaried PhD scholarship. Pay and conditions of employment will be in accordance with the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and AC (the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations).

Your employment as a Salaried PhD Research Fellow is governed by the agreement of 10 November 2015 on Graduate Employees in government appendix 5 – protocol on PhD Research Fellows.

An application must include:

• Detailed CV;
• A certified copy of your degree certificates including all examination results;
• Application form (please see below);
• A motivational letter describing why the applicant is a good match for analyzing the topic and how the applicant’s skills provide a solid foundation to do so (max. 5 pages incl. reference list).
• A project description (max 5 pages of 2400 characters each, including spaces, notes, appendices, bibliography etc.)
• An abstract for the above project description of no more than 250 words

When applying for a PhD scholarship, please fill in the application form available here.
On the webpage of the PhD-school, you can find the guidelines for preparing your project proposal within the PhD programme in Economics, see link.

All non-Danish documents must be translated into English.

Applications will be assessed by a committee. When the evaluation committee has submitted its report, the applicant will receive the part of the evaluation that concerns him/her.

Applications that are incomplete with regard to the above requirements will not be assessed by the committee. Shortlisting and tests may be used in the assessment process.

The University wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

As part of the overall assessment of the applicant’s qualifications, an interview may be applied.

Applications must be submitted electronically using the link "Apply online" no later than April 30, 2022.

Uploaded files must be in Adobe PDF (unlocked) or Word format.

Read the guideline for applicants: http://www.sdu.dk/en/service/ledige_stillinger/soegjob

Each field can only contain a single file of max. 10 Mb.