PhD Sparking Innovation through Creative Competencies in Collaborative Partnerships with Citizens

Are you interested in how creative practices and competencies foster better collaboration between citizen collectives and local governments? Apply for this PhD position and join the ECCO consortium to contribute to groundbreaking research!

Job Description

Citizen collectives (CCs) are essential actors in shaping transitions, as they innovate new pathways, (bottom-up) approaches, and potential solutions for persistent societal challenges. Examples of innovations developed by CCs include community energy collectives that stimulate local energy markets, or neighbourhood cooperatives that create local jobs and income. These innovations spark local transitions that ultimately contribute to larger societal transitions. For such innovations to start, flourish, and sustain, collaboration with governments is imperative.

Creative competences (e.g. empathy, visualisation, idea generation), practices (e.g. co-design, iteration), and attitudes (e.g. reflexivity, open mindset) are indispensable for CCs to develop their ideas towards implementation and adapt along the way, particularly in a configuration with other crucial actors. Apart from innovation capacity, continuity of CCs remains a challenge, because the collectives often rely on one or a few key figures. Likewise, fruitful collaboration with local governments is usually dependent on a few creative civil servants, acting as boundary spanners to bridge the (proverbial) gap between system world and life world.

Representatives of many government agencies are increasingly under pressure due to budget cuts, tightening regulations (e.g. the widely debated nitrogen issue), an overemphasis on accountability, and the wider erosion of the public sector. These factors further complicate their ability and agency to collaborate with, support, and facilitate CCs beyond the scope of one-time subsidies or projects. We hypothesise that creative competencies of CCs are responsible for sparking the innovation in the collaborative practices with government agencies and other actors, in ways that may creatively overcome the aforementioned barriers and set off actual transitions. However, which configurations of creative competences play a role in these collaborative partnerships and how these can be strengthened (and maintained) remains underexplored. This hinders CCs and civil servants from unleashing their full potential in shaping inclusive and just societal transitions.

Research Question: What creative competences do CCs and civil servants need to establish effective collaborations and innovation to spark societal transitions and how can these be strengthened?

Your research will identify creative competences—such as empathy, adaptability, visualization, idea generation—essential for citizen collectives and civil servants to collaborate effectively on innovations driving societal transitions. You will explore how these competences can be strengthened to overcome barriers like bureaucracy, budget constraints, and silo funding. Through systematic literature review, qualitative case studies, and research-through-design approaches, you will develop the "Creative Competences Roadmap" (CCR)—a practical tool helping citizen collectives and civil servants identify, self-monitor, and develop creative capabilities.

You will work both with successful CCs and CCs experiencing collaboration difficulties, to co-design pathways for competence development through workshops.

You will be embedded in the ECCO (Empowering Citizen COllectives in societal transitions) consortium. This setting offers an exceptional opportunity to pursue your PhD as part of a groundbreaking research initiative that bridges academia and society. ECCO investigates how citizen collectives—grassroots organisations formed by citizens working together on shared goals—can become powerful drivers of societal change in areas like housing, work, income, and sustainability. You will explore how these collectives can partner effectively with governments to address today's most pressing challenges, from climate change to social inequality.

Job Requirements

This position is perfect for candidates with backgrounds and strong interest in design, innovation studies, or social entrepreneurship who want to bridge creative practices with governance transformation. We require of applicants:

• A Master’s degree in a relevant field such as innovation studies, design research, public administration, sustainability transitions, sociology, or a related discipline.
• Being an enthusiastic team player who enjoys working in multidisciplinary settings and can actively contribute to the ECCO consortium, engaging with researchers, citizen collectives, and governmental stakeholders. Proven experience in working with residents and/or civil servants is an asset.
• A strong interest in topics such as citizen participation, collective action, societal transitions, public-sector collaboration, local social entrepreneurship, and community-driven innovation.
• Proven experience with qualitative research skills (e.g., interviews, case studies, participatory methods) and/or design research skills (e.g., co-design, visualisation, prototyping), with the ability to translate findings into practical tools or frameworks.
• Proven strong written and verbal communication abilities, enabling you to engage effectively with diverse audiences, facilitate workshops, and present research outcomes to both academic and non-academic partners.
• Proficiency in the written and spoken use of the English and Dutch language.

About TU Delft

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

Faculty of Architecture & the Built Environment

The Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment has a leading role in education and research worldwide. The driving force behind the faculty’s success is its robust research profile combined with the energy and creativity of its student body and academic community. It is buzzing with energy from early in the morning until late at night, with four thousand people studying, working, designing, conducting research and acquiring and disseminating knowledge. Our faculty has a strong focus on 'design-oriented research’, which has given it a top position in world rankings.

Staff and students are working to improve the built environment with the help of a broad set of disciplines, including architectural design, urban planning, building technology, social sciences, process management, and geo-information science. The faculty works closely with other faculties, universities, private parties, and the public sector, and has an extensive network in the Netherlands as well as internationally.

Conditions of Employment

• Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1.5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months, followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2.5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.
• Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from €3059 - €3881 gross per month, from the first year to the fourth year based on a fulltime contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.
• As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.
• The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

If you need to relocate to the Netherlands for this job, TU Delft is committed to making your move as smooth as possible. The HR unit, Coming to Delft Service, offers information to help you prepare your relocation. In addition, Coming to Delft Service organises events to help you settle in the Netherlands, and expand your (social) network in Delft. A Dual Career Programme is available, to support your accompanying partner with their job search in the Netherlands.

Additional Information

For more information about this vacancy, please contact dr.ir. Geertje Slingerland, e-mail: g.slingerland@tudelft.nl.

The successful candidate will join the Urban Studies section at the Department of Urbanism in the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. Consisting of a group of highly interdisciplinary scholars, the section studies the interactions between people and their social and built environments, and the effects of urban design on their behaviour.