Research Fellowship Opportunity

Are you 5-10 years into your academic career (i.e., post PhD completion)?   

Do you have a strong research track record – but feel you could achieve much more if you could concentrate more on research?    

Does a 3-year, full time research position in a strong research environment in a wonderfully liveable part of the world sound like a good idea to you?

Then maybe you should read on!

The Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellowship Scheme at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia, is offering 10 positions of this kind. The scheme is open to Australian and International applicants not currently employed by QUT. One of the eligible topic areas is Management, so if your entrepreneurship research and interests fall within that broad area and you fulfil the general eligibility criteria, you are eligible! If so, The Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research (ACE) encourages you to pursue it. However, we should make clear that ACE does not “own” these positions; that they are highly competitive across disciplines, and that no recruitment in entrepreneurship or even in management is guaranteed.

ACE is rapidly making progress towards reaching its ambitious goal of establishing itself in the international elite in entrepreneurship research. For example, we have had very good presence at/in leading conferences and journals in recent years. The highly developmental, annual ACERE conference is organised by ACE. We have an increasing number of research students and we frequently host international top entrepreneurship scholars as visiting academics. ACE’s Director Professor Per Davidsson recently completed his five year term as an elected officer of the Entrepreneurship Division of AoM and two ACE researchers, Judy Matthews and Roxanne Zolin currently serve as Representatives-at-Large. Professor Davidsson is also a field editor for the Journal of Business Venturing. Two other staff, Deputy Director Paul Steffens and Dr Henri Burgers are on the board of reviewers, and the editor-in-chief of JBV, Professor Dean Shepherd, is an adjunct with the centre. The Centre hosts several important projects including the Australian team of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and is currently into the fifth year of data collection for the CAUSEE project; a PSED-type study which is the largest study of business start-up processes ever undertaken in Australia. ACE benefits from QUT’s excellent library resources, which give electronic access to a very large number of journals. Further information on the Faculty’s research programs can be found at http://www.bus.qut.edu.au/research/about/. Further, the QUT Business School was the first in Australia to achieve “Triple Crown Accreditation” (AACSB; AMBA; EQUIS). When QUTs MBA program made the Financial Times top 100 list in 2004, it was the first in Queensland to ever do so, and only the third in Australia.

It is in this vibrant environment that successful applicants would spend their 3-year research fellowships. Such a position would give the right candidate an excellent opportunity to further develop their research portfolio and position themselves for recruitment into attractive, professorial Chair positions anywhere in the world. Depending on country of origin, some potential applicants may not find the standard salary (appr. $100,000/year) for these positions attractive or competitive. However, a) this is a short term problem considering the long term career boost significant time to concentrate on research can give; b) apart from salary, there are significant superannuation (retirement) benefits as well as money for research outlays and international travel as well as opportunities for extra income via teaching, and c) the salary is negotiable – the stronger your track record, the more negotiable it is.

ACE is located at QUT’s Gardens Point campus in the central parts of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Brisbane is a growing city of 1.5 million with unbeatable climate and easy access to the beaches at Gold and Sunshine Coasts as well as the rainforest parks in the hinterland. For further information about Brisbane, use this link: www.ourbrisbane.com.

Fellowship candidates must:

• have been awarded a PhD
• be an established researcher within 5 to 10 years since the award of their PhD or equivalent research doctorate at the time of the closing date for applications
• have an excellent research track record, with a proven capacity for research leadership; and
• be based at QUT for the full duration of the fellowship (not prior to it)
• propose and undertake a research project that is aligned with an identified area of strength
• demonstrate their proposed project falls within one of identified target areas (probably Management in your case; other possibilities including Commercial and property law; Digital media; Information systems; Robotics and artificial intelligence; Applied mathematics and statistics)
• seek, during the period of the fellowship, additional funding through external granting schemes for projects/fellowships hosted by QUT
• make a full-time commitment to the fellowship

To put forward your expression of interest please first email both Professor Per Davidsson (per.davidsson@qut.edu.au) and Associate Professor Paul Steffens (p.steffens@qut.edu.au). If you are a serious applicant and plan to the Academy of Management conference in Orlando you are welcome to include in such an email a request for informal meeting there to discuss the opportunity further. If you contact us by email, make sure you include the following information: a) time and place where your PhD was/is being earned, b) publications and conference presentations so far, c) evidence of research leadership; d) intended use of Fellowship time, e) specific reason for wanting to spend a Fellowship at QUT/ACE.