PhD student in Sustainability of Online Service Consumption

The Department of Information Technology holds a leading position in both research and education at all levels. We are currently Uppsala University's third largest department, have around 350 employees, including 120 teachers and 120 PhD students. Approximately 5,000 undergraduate students take one or more courses at the department each year. You can find more information about us on the Department of Information Technology website.

The Division of Visual Information and Interaction (Vi3) is a unique combination of expertise in computing education research, computerized image analysis, and human-machine interaction (HMI).  Within the HMI unit, the Digital Ecologies Lab is led by Prof Mike Hazas, has two postdocs, and five active, externally-funded research projects.

Description of the research area. The student will join the Digital Ecologies Lab, and be a key staff member in a new research project entitled “The Internet Microscope: Assessing the energy and environmental impact of online services, and their role in everyday life”, funded by Formas, the Swedish research council for sustainable development.  The project is led by Mike Hazas (Department of IT), and has international collaboration with Phil Grünewald (University of Oxford) and Daniel Schien (University of Bristol).  This ambitious, interdisciplinary project will gather a large, new primary data set on online service use and related household activity in Sweden. This will be accomplished by mailing a small network monitoring device to thousands of Swedish households, and asking them to complete a time use survey (joymeter.uk). We will use the dataset to (1) estimate the energy and carbon impact of online devices and services; (2) link these impacts to how the devices and services are used in households; and (3) interrogate possible alternative policies and designs for services which are sustainable and better support daily life and well-being. In an evidence-based way, society will thus be able to debate the extent to which different online services are justifiable, given their energy and environmental impacts, and the utility and meaning that they achieve for people in everyday life; and compare these to alternative trajectories for digitalisation in Sweden.

More information about the project

Duties
The actual PhD plan and work will be co-developed with the student.  However, the funded proposal suggests the student would lead the data collection (recruitment of participating households, sending devices to households with clear instructions), analyse the network logs which will likely involve grouping and classification of flows (based on IP address) for attribution to services (e.g. video streaming or social networking), and associating these services with activities from the time use data.  The proposal also suggests follow-up online interviews with at least 60 households to gain additional context and engage them in making meaning from the data.

The duration of the position is at most five years, and includes department duties (mainly teaching) at a level of at most 20%.  Doctoral education also includes participation in courses related to the research subject.

Requirements
To meet the entry requirements for doctoral studies, you must

• hold a Master’s (second-cycle) degree in human-computer interaction, human geography, science and technology studies, sociology, environmental psychology, data science, computer networking, or related areas relevant to the PhD topics, or
• have completed at least 240 credits in higher education, with at least 60 credits at Master’s level including an independent project worth at least 15 credits, or
• have acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way.

You must have some experience in quantitative research methodology.

Good communication skills in English, both spoken and written, are required.

You must be able to conduct yourself professionally in different contexts:  as a collaborative member of a project team, and with participants and stakeholders such as household inhabitants, policymakers and organisations such as the Swedish Internet Foundation (Internetstiftelsen).

Additional qualifications
Experience with qualitative data analysis, particularly as might be applied to social practices, and energy and environmental sustainability.

Ability to conduct the research with participants in Swedish, is meriting.

For this multidisciplinary PhD position, any of the following are meriting:  experience with time-use survey data; educational or work experience with computer networking; experience with algorithms for categorisation within large data sets.

Some familiarity with concepts and methods from life cycle assessment, and propensity to contribute to simple modelling based on data gathered in the project.

For special entry requirements, please see the subject's general study plan.

How to apply

The application should include:

• A statement of the applicant’s motivation for applying for this particular position, including the candidate’s research interests, and evidence of the applicant’s ability to work in a group (maximum 2 pages)
• A curriculum vitae (CV)
• A copy of relevant diplomas and transcripts (translated into English or Swedish)
• A copy of the MSc thesis (or a draft thereof).
• The earliest possible starting date.
• Contact information for at least one reference (but no reference letter).

Promising applicants will be invited for an interview on-site before hiring. Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date April 2025 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala.

For further information about the position, please contact: Mike Hazas, mike.hazas@it.uu.se
Please note: During the Christmas break 20 Dec - 6 Jan, email will be read less frequently.  You may not get a reply until the second week of January.

Please submit your application by 20 January 2025, UFV-PA 2024/4252.

Are you considering moving to Sweden to work at Uppsala University? Find out more about what it´s like to work and live in Sweden.