“I am thrilled to receive this grant. It is one of the most prestigious and competitive grants in the EU with a success rate of less than 15 percent. I am very excited to work with my supervisor Lina Daouk-Öyry who helped me tailor my project and narrow down my research topic during the writing process,” says Sazier Samuk Carignani.
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowships target early career researchers who want to carry out research activities abroad, acquire new skills, and develop their careers. Interested researchers apply together with a host organization. The fellowships are awarded based on the merits of both the researcher, the supervisor, and the institution. The funding is for two years and covers living costs, travel costs, and research activities.
Samuk Carignani will research how companies can attract the best international talent by also providing services for their spouses.
MSCA fellow Sahizer Samuk Carignani and her supervisor Lina Daouk-Öyry.
“The labour market in Europe is in high demand for highly skilled workers. If organizations want to attract the best global talent, they must also consider spouses, who most likely are highly skilled too and would want to establish a sustainable career in the host country. Sahizer’s research has important implications for employers, organizations, and governments,” says her Supervisor Lina Daouk-Öyry, Associate Professor at the Department of Leadership and Organization.
The project will investigate three main research questions in a comparative perspective in Norway and Italy:
- What are the policies, practices, and programmes that focus on including highly skilled migrants' spouses in the labour market and how well tailored are they to their needs?
- What are the roles of employers, employment agencies and rights-based organisations in addressing the challenges that highly skilled migrants' spouses encounter?
- What career adaptability strategies do highly skilled migrants' spouses develop to overcome the difficulties in finding and retaining jobs?
Why isn't sustainable consumer behaviour more widespread?
Samuk Carignani’s colleague Karen Gorissen will study barriers to the adoption of sustainable consumer behaviour.
“Despite the growing availability of sustainable products and services, adoption has been slow. The goal of my project is to figure out why that is. I will look at two areas, on the individual level I will study how people’s biases affect eco-friendly choices and whether they make consistent decisions in different situations. On the social level I will explore why people may find it hard to follow or copy others who are already making eco-friendly choices,” Gorissen says.
Enabling sustainable consumption is an essential challenge to successfully address climate change.
MSCA fellow Karen Gorissen and her supervisor Luk Warlop.
“Even when initiatives to promote ecologically responsible or ‘green’ consumer behavior are successful, they tend to fizzle out and do not help grow a green culture. Karen’s project studies how social marketing can help develop isolated green acts to permanent habits and a shared culture,” says her supervisor Luk Warlop, Professor at the Department of Marketing.
Gorissen hopes the project findings will provide valuable input in defining policy and strategies to encourage environmentally sustainable consumption and will help consumers in accurately interpreting eco-information.
“The need for action on tackling climate change has reached a make-or-break moment: we can only deliver on the commitments made in the Paris Agreement if we act now. In light of this, the European Commission has composed a package of proposals to make the EU ‘fit for 55’ and reduce net emissions by at least 55% by 2050. A key component of doing so is transforming culture and society by shifting everyday consumer choices towards more environmentally sustainable options,” explains Gorissen.
A leading academic community in an attractive location
“BI is a highly respected school, with some of the best scholars working here. I am looking forward to being part of this challenging environment and learning as much as I can during my time here. I also look forward to working with my colleagues from the Marketing department. It seems like a very nice and collegial group of people who made me feel welcome from the very first day!”, says Gorissen.
Both she and Samuk Carignani also make it clear that location matters.
“I visited Oslo many years ago for a conference and loved the city. Seven years later, I visited Balestrand and Bergen. Finally, I came here to work and have already seen more of Oslo in the last months since we moved here. I think it is a great capital, with many cultural, natural and social opportunities. I look forward to discovering different ways of living, being outdoors, snow, and cosiness of the house and the coffee breaks/discussions with colleagues. I also wish to learn the language a little bit, if I can manage to do so,” Samuk Carignani says.
Facts about the Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowships
- Fellowships are awarded annually.
- There are two types of Postdoctoral fellowships: European Postdoctoral Fellowships targeting researchers moving within Europe or coming to Europe from another part of the world, and Global Postdoctoral Fellowships funding mobility of researchers outside Europe.
- The calls are extremely competitive, with over ten thousand applications to last year’s call and a success rate of only 15 percent .
- The funding for the European fellowships is for two years and covers living costs, travel costs, and research activities.