Vacancy for PhD-researcher (1,0 fte) 'The Geography and Evolution of the European Internet Infrastructure' Job description The project aims to understand why certain Internet nodes have grown out to major European hubs of high-end Internet and other nodes have not. We expect, apart from the traditional determinants of geographical location and population density, that two other factors affect the growth of bandwidth of a node. First, following Barabasi�s evolving network model, the self-reinforcing mechanism of preferential attachment future connectivity is positively related to current connectivity is important. The time of entry of a location in the Internet will thus affect its current bandwidth. Second, the more a host region is specialised in specific internet-intensive activities (both in academia and industry), the faster its bandwidth grows. The project aims to model these relationships using graph theory, and to estimate the resulting model statistically using data on bandwidth, price (dependent variables), location, population density, year of entry, and specialisation in internet-intensive activities (independent variables) for multiple European countries for the past twenty years. The effect of institutions and policies is also investigated by means of case studies on selected Internet nodes in The Netherlands. The project is financed by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO-NVN). The candidate will become a member of the Urban and Regional research centre Utrecht (URU) and will follow Ph.D. courses provided by NETHUR, ETIC and SIME. The project is a collaborative effort with dr. A. Scharnhorst (KNAW-NIWI) and prof. R. Cowan (MERIT, Maastricht University). Qualifications Candidates with a Master's degree of equivalent (drs.) in geography, transportation studies, economics, sociology, operations research or related discipline, preferably with experience with quantitative research. Terms of employment A full-time PhD-position for four years duration. Gross monthly salary increases from Euro 1.813 in Year 1 to 2.394 in Year 4. We also offer a pension scheme, a health insurance allowance and flexible employment conditions. Conditions are based on the Collective Employment Agreement of the Dutch Universities and salaries are supplemented with a holiday bonus of 8% per year and a year-end bonus of 2% per year. Further details For more information, including the complete research proposal, please contact dr. K. Frenken at k.frenken@geog.uu.nl or (0031) (0)30 253 2466. How to apply Applications, including curriculum vitae, a list of referees (with e-mail contact info) and a description of experience relevant to the research project, should be sent before 11th February 2005 to: Utrecht University, Personnel Department, Faculty of Geosciences, Dept. of Human Geography and Urban and Regional Planning, PO Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands, or e-mailed to peno@geog.uu.nl. Please mention where you originally saw our advertisement and quote vacancy number 72025 in all communications.