Position for a doctoral student at the CCSR, University of Helsinki

The Centre for Consumer Society Research (CCSR) is a research institute located in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki. It studies consumption and the consumer society from consumer perspective.

CCSR is offering a four year position for a doctoral student. The position is located in the thematic area ‘Food, health and wellbeing’. Your dissertation focuses on the interface of consumption and health. In contemporary industrialized societies health has become an object of consumption and source of profit, and citizens are expected to take responsibility of their health as consumers. This is evident on the one hand in the organization of health services, where marketization, public/private partnerships, and freedom of choice are current buzzwords. Moreover, consumerist strategies, e.g., techniques from marketing and advertising, are prevalent in illness prevention and health promotion. On the other hand, everyday personal health management has become intensely commercialized. Lifestyle choices such as eating and exercising are today considered key to individual health and well-being. These choices are made on the market by health consumers. Moreover, the health effects of new practices and domains of life are being calculated and inserted into economic circuits. Together these developments create consumption needs and market demand and make health a sales argument and marketing vehicle for both private and public actors. Your research will address how the quest for health and well-being intersects with market creation and profit seeking on an empirically circumscribed arena.

Possible topics and research questions include but are not limited to:

*Through what kind of metrics and processes are new domains of life made health-relevant and/or ‘economized’?

*How do practices of health consumption unfold in different domains of life?

*How are health and well-being incorporated into development, marketing and selling of various products and services?

*How has health policy adopted market-based strategies to guide health consumption and behavior?

The final research topic will be defined in discussion with your supervisor at CCSR (see below).

Your background is preferably in social sciences. You have good communication skills in Finnish and English, both oral and written. At CCSR you are expected to develop your own and our common research agenda, and contribute to collective academic tasks such as teaching and seminars.

The deadline for the application is 27.9.2018. Attached to the application should be (1) a CV, including research competences and experience; (2) a tentative research plan, or alternatively, a short outline of possible research themes, including how the proposed topic fits to the profile of CCSR, the thematic area, and the call (max 3 pages); and (3) contact information of one referee. You are expected to apply for the right to conduct doctoral studies at the University of Helsinki in the relevant discipline (see https://www.helsinki.fi/en/research/doctoral-education/the-application-process-in-a-nutshell).

More info on CCSR: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/consumer-society-research-centre. For questions contact Adjunct Professor Mikko Jauho, tel. +358 50 5744869, email. mikko.jauho@helsinki.fi.