Durham University Looking for PDRA: Social Venturing in the Social Sciences Full Time

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to support the “Social Venturing in the Social
Sciences” initiative. Business venturing is often promoted as a desirable mechanism for transferring knowledge from research-intensive
universities to the private sector for commercialisation. Yet, universities face difficulties in fostering business venturing and creating
spin-offs, particularly from social science research. This project seeks to address this issue. It will pilot-test a research intervention
to scale up the impact of social science research through commercialisation. The framework is grounded in Prospective Inquiry and Social
Venturing, leveraging the power of social science knowledge and the motivation behind social enterprising.

The successful applicant
will work alongside the project PI, Prof Pablo Muñoz, to execute the pilot and move it towards a sustainable university initiative in the
social sciences. The pilot will last 36 months and involve 10 research projects in total, two in year one and three in years 2 and 3. Each
research project team will go through a 12-month research venturing process. You will work Prof Muñoz and the wider team, as well as
academics across the university and local SMEs to implement this methodology and facilitate the intervention.

The role is funded by
Durham University Business School’s Smart & Scale initiative which is an interdisciplinary impact-driven research programme in smart and
scale-up activities, focusing on innovation and business development of SMEs in the North-East of England.