The Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences at the University of Groningen is looking for a PhD student to work with us on the ambitious Stress in Action project.
PhD-student position: ‘Stress in Action. Stress and cardiometabolic health’.
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Stress in Action project
In this project, 25 multidisciplinary scientists from six Dutch Universities collaborate around the theme ‘stress in daily life’. Divided over three Research Themes and three Support Cores, the Stress in Action consortium, we 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 Research Council under the Gravitation program. More details can be found here.
Job description
In the context of the Stress in Action gravitation project (www.stress-in-action.nl) we are looking for a PhD student to strengthen our team. The new PhD student will focus on the association of (daily) stressors and physical health, cardiometabolic health in particular. There are numerous recent systematic reviews focusing on the question whether stress leads to cardiometabolic disease such as heart disease and diabetes. These studies in general find evidence for an association between stressors and physical disease, although there are remaining questions on the strength of the association, mediating and moderating factors, and causality, e.g. (residual) confounding by disease severity. Therefore, we plan to not just merely review the current literature but move the research further by focusing on various innovative aspects using different methods and data (systematic review, time series analyses, and cohort and registry data), focusing on research questions and topics such as:
- how much of the disability (e.g. DALYs) that is currently attributed to cardiometabolic diseases is actually accounted for by preceding stress/mental disorders?
- conduct an integrative review on (bi)directional associations between stress and cardiometabolic diseases, its underlying physiological and behavioral mechanisms, and issues of (residual) confounding by disease severity.
- how do (different) stressors in daily life affect physical symptoms, e.g. glycemic control in persons with diabetes?
- systematic review/meta-analysis of time series analyses on the topic of stressors and physical symptoms.
- using a data-driven approach to identify groups of individuals who follow specific trajectories indicative of disease development patterns, leading to somatic conditions associated with preceding psychopathology.
The tasks of the PhD candidate are:
- conduct research that results in a dissertation and is in line with the objectives and requirements of the project;
- organize and execute the data collection for the different studies;
- publish the results of the research in international scientific journals;
- present the research findings to fellow scientists and developers in the larger project, and collaborate with them;
- provide a limited number of educational activities at the Psychology department, such as small-scale tutorials and guest lectures, in collaboration with the supervisors.
Where will you be working?
The University of Groningen is a research university with a global outlook, deeply rooted in Groningen, City of Talent. Quality has had top priority for four hundred years, and with success: the University is currently in or around the top 100 on several influential ranking lists.
The Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences excels in teaching and research in the fields of human behaviour, thinking, learning, and how people live together. We work on societal issues and problems that people experience in daily life. Central to this is individual and societal resilience and how to increase this. To this end, we focus on the topics of migration, the environment and climate, health, upbringing and education, the protection of vulnerable minorities, and sustainable partnerships. The Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences employs over 800 staff members. For more information about the Faculty please check the link https://www.rug.nl/gmw/.
The project will be conducted in the framework of the Gravitation project Stress in Action (www.stress-in-action.nl), in which four universities and three university medical centers in the Netherlands collaborate.
Requested profile
For this position you are expected to:
- have a (research) master’s degree in clinical or health psychology (or a related discipline);
- expertise with reviews and/or time series analysis;
- have a good academic track record;
- be enthusiastic about writing international publications and a dissertation;
- have good academic English writing skills;
- have good social and communication skills and are willing to work with other team members;
- be enthusiastic about translating scientific insights into practical guidelines and advice;
- have good organizational skills and the motivation to organize and realize data collection;
- have demonstrable competences as conceptual capacity, presenting, planning and organizing and monitoring.
What do we offer?
We offer you in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:
- a salary of € 2,770 gross per month in the first year of the appointment, rising to € 3,539 (salary scale P) gross per month in the fourth year for a full-time position;
- a holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income an 8.3% end-of-the-year allowance;
- attractive secondary terms of employment;
- the position is classified in accordance with the University Job Classification (UFO) system; the UFO profile is PhD candidate;
- a temporary employment of 1.0 FTE for a period of four years. You will first be employed for a period of one year. After a positive result and development interview, the contract will be extended for the remaining period of three years.
Intended starting date: February, 2024.
Interested?
For more information about this vacancy, you can contact: Prof. dr. Peter de Jonge, peter.de.jonge@rug.nl *
*Please do not use the email address above for applications
Application
You can apply by submitting a letter of application and curriculum vitae before November 16, 2023. Only submissions via the application form will be considered. See the applicaiton link below
The selection interviews will take place at December 1, 2023.
The University of Groningen strives to be a university in which students and staff are respected and feel at home, regardless of differences in background, experiences, perspectives, and identities. We believe that working on our core values of inclusion and equality are a joint responsibility and we are constructively working on creating a socially safe environment. Diversity among students and staff members enriches academic debate and contributes to the quality of our teaching and research. We therefore invite applicants from underrepresented groups in particular to apply. For more information, see also our diversity policy webpage: https://www.rug.nl/(…)rsity-and-inclusion/
Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP): https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/nl/sollicitatiecode and European Commission’s European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code
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