Are you eager to make psychological science more open and inclusive? This PhD position challenges you to contribute to the future of the open science movement.

Job description
The Brain & Cognition Team at Erasmus University Rotterdam seeks applicants for a fully funded 4 year PhD position on the project Open Science Reform: Past, Present, and Future, under the supervision of Steven Verheyen, Oliver Lindemann, and Rolf Zwaan. The position involves taking stock of the impact the open science movement has had on psychological science and investigating which further steps toward a transparent and inclusive science can be taken. To this end, you will perform both quantitative and qualitative research into the publication culture during the decade that followed the replication crisis to assess the impact of the various scientific reforms, and look into how publication policies and undergraduate education can be further shaped to promote responsible science. You are expected to write articles for an academic audience, develop tools or policies that can be implemented more broadly, and where possible to join or initiate team science projects, for instance through the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science or the Framework for Open and Reproducible Research Training. The position is ideally suited for candidates who are interested in handling large data sets, and who are keen to engage with various stakeholders on how to better our discipline.

The position provides ample time to develop these skills and to pursue individual projects in a supportive environment, comprised of both early and senior career researchers of diverse backgrounds. Both individual Brain & Cognition team members and the team as a whole have worked on projects related to replication and meta-science, looking, for instance, at the replicability of seminal studies in cognitive psychology and the role of participant nonnaiveté herein. Prof. Dr. Rolf Zwaan has written extensively on replication and has participated in several multi-lab replication studies. Dr. Oliver Lindemann is one of the founding members of the Open Science Community Rotterdam and is the main developer of several open source software packages for psychological research and data analysis. Dr. Steven Verheyen has taught about open science at the graduate and undergraduate level, and is supervising a related PhD project on the effects the dissemination of open science practices has on students.

• We are looking for a candidate who holds a master’s degree in psychology or cognitive science, has good project management skills, and is able to work independently;
• It is important that the candidate fluently speaks and writes in English, and is able to convey ideas clearly and enthusiastically to a diverse audience;
• The candidate is expected to be comfortable with data-analysis and familiar with a programming language for statistical computing such as R or Python;
• The ideal candidate is able to take a meta-perspective and to initiate or engage in interdisciplinary collaborations;
• Affinity with teaching is considered a plus.

We offer you an internationally oriented and varied job in an enthusiastic team, with excellent working conditions in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU).

The start date of this position is 01-JAN-2024 and you will be based at Campus Woudestein in Rotterdam at the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB). This position is for 1 FTE. The salary is € 2.770 gross per month (scale Scale PhD) on a fulltime basis (38 hours), in accordance with the CAO-NU. The contract is entered into for the duration of 1 year and can be extended if performance is good and the organizational circumstances remain unchanged.

Everything else we offer you, you can find below!

• Everything you need for a good work-life balance: the option to work from home in consultation with your manager, 41 days of paid leave with a 40 hour contract, 8% holiday pay and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a significant discount on a subscription for our on-campus sports centre!
• Sustainable, inclusive and diverse work environment with an open culture, where you can be yourself and we pay attention to each other and to the world around us. Make the most of our bicycle budget, or join networks such as Young@EUR, FAME, QuEUR, or Young Erasmus Academy.
• Time and space for your development in the broadest sense: development days and a personal career budget, foreign exchange opportunities with most costs paid by EUR, and free access to our university library.
• Good pension with ABP that EUR contributes 2/3rds towards, discounts on various collective insurances with Zilveren Kruis Achmea, Loyalis, and Allianz, and compensation for travel, working from home and home internet use.
• Are you currently combining your job with parenthood, or do you want to do so in the future? EUR offers partially paid parental leave and fully paid additional birth leave for partners, and our campus features a daycare.
• Moving to the Netherlands for your job with EUR? Then you may be eligible for the 30%-ruling if you meet the requirements of the Belastingdienst (Dutch tax agency), and with our Dual Career Programme we will also help your partner find the right job for them.

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is an internationally oriented university with a strong social orientation in its education and research, as expressed in our mission ‘Creating positive societal impact’. EUR is home to 3.700 academics and professionals and almost 33.000 students from more than 140 countries. Everything we do, we do under the credo The Erasmian Way – Making Minds Matter. We’re global citizens, connecting, entrepreneurial, open-minded, and socially involved. These Erasmian Values function as our internal compass and create EUR’s distinctive and recognizable profile. From these values, with a broad perspective and with an eye for diversity, different backgrounds and opinions, our employees work closely together to solve societal challenges from the dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Rotterdam. Thanks to the high quality and positive societal impact of our research and education, EUR can compete with the top European universities. www.eur.nl.

Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB)
The Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences is home to a vast diversity of scientific disciplines: public administration, pedagogical sciences, psychology and sociology. In addition, the Erasmus University College, IHS, and two research institutes RISBO and DRIFT are linked to the faculty. This also reflects in the content of the (international) bachelor's and master's programs and in research. Our activities are always focused on people and society. At the ESSB fundamental, internationally oriented research is of paramount importance. In addition, social research for professionals, policy makers, and the society is part of our research activities. ESSB offers a stimulating research environment where major national and international research grants are received. Appealing guest researchers and ambitious PhD candidates come along to conduct their research. Our education is small-scale and works with innovative forms of education. Both the Dutch and English programs are highly ranked by students and alumni. ESSB is home to over 4000 students and more than 400 staff-members. The different disciplines are supported by the Faculty Office (for more information, please visit www.eur.nl/essb).

Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies (DPECS)

More information about the education of DPECS can be found here: https://www.eur.nl/en/essb/education/find-your-study

Department
The Brain & Cognition Team’s overarching research interest is in higher cognitive processes, such as memory and language comprehension. We combine fundamental brain and behavioral research into these processes with applied research on topics of high societal interest in which these processes are involved as well, such as susceptibility to stereotypes, misinformation, and conspiracy stories. Open Science is a key value in the Brain & Cognition team. Both individual team members and the team as a whole work on projects related to replication and meta-science. Open and responsible science is a recurring theme throughout the courses taught by the team members.