Open Ph.D. Position in Open Source Governance

We have a full-time Ph.D. position (German Mitarbeiter position at TVL-E13 level) available on the topic of open source governance.

In this research project, the new team member will build and evaluate a theory on what constitutes good open source governance and license compliance at companies who use open source in projects and products. The specific focus is on selecting open source components for company use, both from a managerial and legal perspective. The new team member will join a team where other people are working on related (but distinct) topics.

Specifically, the new team member will perform case study research both for theory building and evaluation. Theory building is done by performing and analysing interviews with expert companies. Theory evaluation will be performed by applying the learnings i.e. theory at three different case study companies. The team member will cast their theory as part of a handbook for good open source governance.

Successful applicants must be smart, driven, and communicative. Ideally, they have experience with case study research and qualitative data analysis, but this is not a must and can be picked up during the course of the project. International applicants may find it helpful to learn about the German Ph.D. system, which is different from the Anglosaxon one, by reading this post: https://osr.cs.fau.de/2010/06/08/the-german-ph-d-system-explained-in-one-post/

Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) is a large public internationally renowned German university, see http://www.fau.de. FAU values diversity and encourages applications from all walks of life. This position is available at the Open Source Research Group at the computer science department of the engineering faculty. Interested parties can learn more about the group at http://osr.cs.fau.de.

If you are interested in this position, please send a cover letter and resume to Prof. Dr. Dirk Riehle at dirk.riehle@fau.de.