The Human Media Interaction group at the University of Twente has a vacancy for a Postdoctoral researcher within the ambitious Stress in Action project.
PostDoc position on Monitoring and Feedback systems Stress in Action
40 hours
The experience of stress is an inherent aspect of daily life. However, can we measure this validly, and how and under what circumstances does it contribute to disease? We are looking for researchers who work on our exciting Stress in Action project.
Stress in Action project
Over 80 multidisciplinary scientists from six Dutch Universities collaborate around the theme ‘stress in daily life’. Divided into three Research Themes and three Support Cores, the Stress-in-Action consortium will validate daily-life stress assessments, examine which contextual factors contribute to the experience of daily-life stress, and examine how daily-life stress leads to the development of both mental and cardiometabolic diseases. The project is funded through the Dutch Scientific Organisation under the Gravitation program. More details can be found here.
The goal of the Dutch research program Stress in Action is to measure stress in daily life by using wearables (e.g. Garmin watches), smartphones (e.g. EMA, mPath), passive sensing and small cognitive tasks.
What will you be doing?
Challenges that will be targeted in this project are how to do (real-time) integration of subjective and objective user data, design non-intrusive and fair motivational feedback strategies, optimisation of presenting cognitive tasks and self-report, and designing and presenting a personalised end report in an appealing and user-friendly way to promote self-autonomy.
In the coming years, the goal is to monitor large-scale cohorts for 3 months. The monitoring and feedback systems need to be smart, user-friendly, and morally responsible, taking into account the personal values of the participants in the cohort. The basic infrastructure for monitoring is ready. In this project you will work under supervision of scientists of the HMI group and the UMCG in Groningen.
Where will you be working?
The Human Media Interaction group does research into multimodal interaction: from brain-computer interfaces to social robots and from sensor technologies to interactive sports and play systems. Many projects at the HMI group delve into how such interactive technologies may be used to support or better understand sports, play, and learning. The HMI group is a multidisciplinary group of enthusiastic, kind, and passionate researchers with an open mind to science and society. We also connect with other groups such as Industrial Design and Biomedical Signals and Systems in university-wide collaborations such as the TechMed Centre and the Design Lab.
Requested profile:
- You are an enthusiastic and highly motivated researcher.
- You have, or will shortly, acquire a PhD degree in the field of Human-Computer Interaction, Interaction Design or Interaction Technology or equivalent.
- Ideally, you have experience with (contributing to) developing monitoring and feedback systems and motivational feedback strategies.
- You have a creative mindset and excellent analytical and communication skills.
- You have a good team spirit and like to work in an interdisciplinary and internationally oriented environment.
- You are proficient in English.
- You enjoy working together in a large project consortium.
What will we offer?
- You will be appointed for a maximum period of 3 years full-time within a very stimulating scientific environment. The university offers a dynamic ecosystem with enthusiastic colleagues;
- Your salary and associated conditions are in accordance with the collective labour agreement for Dutch universities (CAO-NU);
- Gross salary between € 3.546,- (step 0) and € 5.538,- (step 12) per month depending on experience and qualifications;
- Excellent benefits including a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary, a year-end bonus of 8.3% and a solid pension scheme;
- The flexibility to work (partially) from home;
- Free access to sports facilities on campus;
- A minimum of 232 leave hours in case of full-time employment based on a formal workweek of 38 hours. A full-time employment in practice means 40 hours a week, therefore resulting in 96 extra leave hours on an annual basis;
- Excellent support for research and facilities for professional and personal development;
- We encourage a high degree of responsibility and independence, while collaborating with close colleagues, researchers and other university staff;
- We are also a family-friendly institution that offers parental leave (both paid and unpaid) and career support for partners.
Interested?
For more information about this vacancy, you can contact Dr. Randy Klaassen (r.klaassen@utwente.nl).
Submit your motivation letter and a recent curriculum vitae until September 1, 2026 using the application link. For more information, see the UT website.