PhD projects

PhD projects

Our current PhD research projects advance knowledge in various frontiers in innovation and entrepreneurship.

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Research area: Entrepreneurial teams

Entrepreneurial team formation in science-based start-ups

Exploring the collaborative dynamics between initial and potential co-founders

The formation of entrepreneurial teams is the process of bringing together individuals with diverse cognitive and experiential skill sets to start a new venture. While selecting the right co-founder can lead a start-up to success, choosing he wrong one can threaten the growth and performance of their startups.

However, the process of selecting the ideal co-founder is complex, especially for early-stage entrepreneurs. Many of these founders, particularly those focused on scientific innovation, may lack the commercial and entrepreneurial experience necessary to turn their ideas into successful businesses. This makes choosing the right team members even more critical, as the wrong decision can have significant consequences for the venture's development and success.

This PhD project aims to explore the intricate dynamics of entrepreneurial team formation, focusing on the challenges and strategies involved in building cohesive, high-performing teams in science-based startups. By investigating how initial founders select and collaborate with their potential co-founders, this research will provide valuable insights that can help foster more successful startup teams and contribute to a deeper understanding of entrepreneurial collaboration.

Phd Student: Dorothea Georgiadou

Inclusive

research area: inclusive entrepreneurship

Fostering an inclusive mindset in a technical university

Fostering an inclusive ‘Leave No One Behind’ mindset in a technical university: Educational strategies and impact measurement

Fostering inclusion is not just a social imperative; it also offers businesses a competitive advantage. As part of the DTU’s "Technology Leaving No One Behind" project, this research focuses on enhancing educational strategies (e.g., workshops, courses, and learning materials) to promote inclusivity. Through educational design research, we aim to develop a measurement framework and tools to assess the effectiveness of inclusive mindset educational strategies and refine them for maximum impact.

Technical universities play a pivotal role in advancing technology, shaping societal values and preparing future leaders. Our study seeks to empower students and educators with the tools and approaches to cultivate an inclusive mindset, ensuring that technology benefits all people. By bridging the gap between theory and practice, we strive to create a more inclusive and sustainable future.

PhD Student: Akrimar Tongkaew

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research area: innovation and corporate entrepreneurship

Designing organizations to mitigate tensions in corporate-startup relationships

Designing organizations to mitigate tensions in corporate-startup relationships in external corporate venturing

External corporate venturing (ECV) has become an increasingly popular approach for corporations to engage with startups—promising access to emerging technologies and new markets for corporations and providing funding and resources for startups.

While these engagements hold great promise, many still fall short of expectations due to persistent tensions between the two sides. Prior research has examined these tensions and explored various coping strategies, yet the potential of organizational design as a means of mitigation remains underexplored.

This PhD project investigates how corporations and startups can design their organizations to better manage tensions that arise between them within the context of ECV. The study draws on qualitative data from European corporate–startup relationships.

PhD Student: Liying (Crystal) Chen

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Research area: Entrepreneurship and health

Leveraging AI to promote entrepreneurial mental health

Detecting the Onset and Spread of Negative Wellbeing in Startup Teams Using Diverse Datatypes

Research has shown that entrepreneurs are exposed to an environment which is paradoxical in its impact on wellbeing: on the one hand, the autonomy and devotion entrepreneurs show in their endeavours are often reflected in positive levels of eudaimonic wellbeing (related to autonomy and fulfilment); on the other hand, the entrepreneurial landscape is regularly fraught with risk and uncertainty. These daunting stressors lead to startup failure and can eventually have negative, and even mortal, repercussions on entrepreneurs’ physical and mental health.

The goal of this study is ultimately to produce data-driven insights that will encourage early interventions, allowing the development of these effects to be curtailed and positive wellbeing to be achievable. The value of successful interventions is particularly felt because it has been established that stress is subject to spreading between individuals; there is therefore motivation to stem the tide of this spread, and to protect the wellbeing of team members. The data used here will include text and physiological biomarkers, with influence from machine learning approaches applied outside of entrepreneurship; text data will provide a valuable look at healthy language in startup settings, while biomarkers can constitute warning signs of the ongoing physical effects of stress and poor wellbeing.

Phd student: Gustav Ravi Hjerting

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Research area: Start-up creation and succes

Managing financing frictions in deep tech

Financing deep tech ventures: Exploring how entrepreneurs manage financing frictions and enroll financiers under uncertainty

Deep tech ventures promise transformative breakthroughs that may shape and disrupt existing industries - and enable new ones - such as mRNA platforms, reusable rockets, advanced materials, and quantum computing. They offer a reservoir of solutions to many of the urgent challenges.

Yet, realizing this promise remains difficult. Often emerging from scientific institutions, deep tech ventures are asset-heavy and face high technological and market uncertainty. These conditions entail high capital needs and long timelines, making it hard to match traditional finance to new ventures.

This Phd project investigates the dynamics of financing deep tech ventures, focusing on the challenges and strategies involved in building deep tech ventures and enrolling financiers on this journey. The study draws on qualitative data from European Deep tech ventures.

phd student: daniel hoang

Leaves

Research area: Entrepreneurship didactics and diversity

The bias in gendered entrepreneurship

Farnaz is investigating how gender bias affects the gender gap in entrepreneurship. She is interested in examining how the social construction of gender and entrepreneurship influence individual cognitions and perceptions, and inform biases, which effect the entrepreneurial processes in various ways. She is passionate about finding a solution by exploring how machine learning and big data can help expose implicit gender biases to reduce the gender gap in entrepreneurship.

Phd student: Farnaz Aref

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