Economics and Decision Sciences: The Economics of Mentorship

The Special Fellowship is focused on "The Economics of Mentorship". It provides an additional €10,000 per year (on top of the €26,000 HEC Foundation PhD Research Fellowship) for up to five years. Work on cutting-edge research with Professors Thomas Åstebro & Carlos Serrano, exploring mentorship's impact across startups, firms, universities, and NGOs. Your research could shape innovation, leadership, and even AI-driven mentorship tools.

The fellowship supports  a ground-breaking  research  program on the economics  of mentorship in collaboration with the ION Management Science Lab at HEC Paris. This Lab studies mentorship across startups, mid-sized  firms,  large  enterprises,  universities,  and  NGOs, with  a  focus  on  selection, matching, interaction methods, and incentives. By collecting and analyzing data, it aims to understand mentorship's impact on performance and innovation,  bridging academia,  industry,  and non-profits while disseminating actionable insights. A stated objective is to scientifically explore the use of AI tools across these domains.

As a PhD student, you will join a research team led by Professors Thomas Åstebro (Executive Director) and  Carlos Serrano (Scientific Director) of the Lab. Your research  tasks may include: Expanding data collection efforts; Developing theoretical models; Developing AI-driven tools; Designing and executing experiments; Data analysis; and publishing your work. You may address  topics such as: selecting and nurturing startups and entrepreneurs, supporting employee onboarding and leadership development, making investments in startups, and helping individuals reskill with AI-driven tools.

The starting  date  for the PhD position is September 2025. To apply, you need  to follow the regular PhD application process  at HEC Paris. Please see here. For    project-related    questions, please contact astebro@hec.fr and serrano@hec.fr. French language skills are not required.

The PhD typically takes 5 years to complete.  In addition to taking courses, you should expect to spend extended time interacting with individuals, program managers  in Universities, our collaborators: HEC Incubateur, CDL Paris, University of Utah, Bocconi University, ION Group, as well as startups, firms, and non-profits. Good social skills are useful for such work.

After a successful doctorate, you will have excellent chances for a scientific career at top Universities. Professors Åstebro and Serrano have previously placed their PhD students at the University of Oxford, NYU, IE Business School, NBER/MIT, Bocconi, and Northeastern University.