PhD Fellowships 2019 at The Center for Information and Bubble Studies (CIBS), University of Copenhagen, Denmark

The Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark, invites applications for two PhD positions. The successful candidates will be appointed to the Center for Information and Bubble Studies (CIBS) sponsored by the Carlsberg Foundation, where the project will be based, and will be expected to begin on August 1, 2019 or as soon as possible thereafter. 

“Bubbles” are usually considered unwelcome and destabilizing phenomena associated with finance and real estate markets. Generally a bubble has developed when assets trade at prices far exceeding the estimated fundamental value. The guiding research principle of The Center for Information and Bubble Studies (CIBS) is that bubbles essentially amount to information control problems among deliberating agents who are collectively susceptible to robustly demonstrated socio-psychological features like boom-thinking, group-thinking and lemming effects, which together with determinate market models and conditions may make for bubble-hospitable environments. 

 

CIBS studies bubble phenomena across different ontologies by 

 

1. focusing on the socio-psychological phenomena among agents leading to often irrational group behavior facilitated by imperfect or wrongful information processing among group members influenced by social proof, 

2. being inspired by the main strands of bubble models in economics accordingly study concepts like “social capital”, “opinion”, “fame”, “recognition”, “scientific progress” apparent in other “markets” (agent interactive settings) with particular emphasis on the information-driven dynamics and thus study bubble formation, bursts and deflation across traditional domains and disciplines, 

3. uncovering the formal structure and dynamics, provide simulation and experimental results, offer resolutions of, and recommendations for avoiding (or stimulating benign) bubbles or boom behavior of agents reasoning and processing information in concert. 

The advertised PhD positions will be part of uncovering the formal structure and dynamics of bubble phenomena across sectors, domains and institutions. 

 

1. We are looking for a candidate with a background in mathematics and economics with particular emphasis on econometric and statistical methods for studying social media data. 

2. We are looking for a candidate with a background in economics, logic, mathematics or theoretical computer science with particular emphasis on formal models of knowledge representation for attention economics.  

 

The successful candidate will be working in close cooperation with computer scientists, economists, social psychologists and behavioral scientists in order to crack the code of these interdisciplinary objects of scientific inquiry, which bubbles are within the CIBS understanding. 

It is expected that the successful candidate will be present, part of the team and partake in the activities of CIBS on a daily basis. The successful candidate must therefore demonstrate an ability to work in teams and a ready ability to interact with and acquire operational knowledge of bubble theories in economics and relevant themes in social psychology, behavioral studies and formal methods of knowledge representation. 

 

For further information including a copy of the project description for CIBS, please contact Director of CIBS, Professor Vincent F. Hendricks, vincent@hum.ku.dk. 

 

For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.