Each year, the Behavioural Science Institute (BSI) Graduate School offers seven Master students the opportunity to become PhD candidates. If you are interested in becoming a behavioural scientist and want to work at an institute where multiple disciplines of behavioural science are studied under one roof, we invite you to apply for our 2024 PhD positions.

The BSI’s overall aim is to strengthen people by means of high quality research on human behaviour. BSI has a strong tradition of linking fundamental and applied science from an interdisciplinary perspective in order to contribute to societally relevant research themes.

This year the seven PhD positions are linked to the research theme “Empowering the Young”. “The Young” refers to the full range of young people: from infants, children and adolescents to young adults – such as students, early career workers and young parents.

Young people are faced with many challenges in today’s society. For example, society and social relations are rapidly changing, social media are playing an increasingly important yet controversial role, education is becoming more diverse whilst being under pressure, and performance pressure among children, students and early career workers is omnipresent. Mental health, health behaviour and well-being are at stake. The BSI aims to study the challenges that young people face and to contribute to their empowerment and well-being.

Below, the seven BSI research programmes are listed. These BSI programmes represent our seven disciplines. Each research programme will contribute to the theme “Empowering the Young” with one PhD position:

• Behaviour Change and Well-being (discipline of Social Psychology)
• Communication & Media (discipline of Communication Science)
• Developmental Psychopathology (discipline of Pedagogical Sciences)
• Experimental Psychopathology and Treatment (discipline of Clinical Psychology)
• Learning, Education and Development (discipline of Pedagogical and Educational Science)
• Social Development (discipline of Developmental Psychology)
• Work, Health and Performance (discipline of Work and Organizational Psychology)

In this file, you will find descriptions of our seven BSI research programmes. Each of the seven programmes offers one PhD position for which it has indicated one or more pre-specified topics that the PhD-project will focus on within the BSI theme ‘Empowering the Young’.

When applying, you are asked to indicate which particular (max. 3) BSI research programme(s) appeal(s) to you most.

• You hold a Master's degree (e.g. a taught or research Master's degree in Behavioural Science, Psychology, Pedagogical Sciences, Educational Sciences or Communication Science).
• You have excellent research, methodological and statistical skills.
• You have good written and spoken English language skills as required for scientific publishing.
• You are a team player and are able to work proactively and independently.

Fixed-term contract: 4-5 years.

• We will give you a temporary employment contract (0.8 FTE 5- year contract - 1.0 FTE 4- year contract) of 1,5 years, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, your contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4-year contract) or 3.5 years (5-year contract).
• You will receive a starting salary of €2,770 gross per month based on a 38-hour working week, which will increase to €3,539 from the fourth year onwards (salary scale P).
• You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus.
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Support Service. The Dual Career Programme assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands. Our Family Support Service helps you and your partner feel welcome and at home by providing customised assistance in navigating local facilities, schools, and amenities. Also take a look at our support for international staff page to discover all our services for international employees.
• You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 20.

Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions. You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.

The Behavioural Science Institute (BSI) is an interdisciplinary research institute where fundamental, applied, and translational research takes place, often with the aim of understanding important societal issues and contributing to their solutions. The BSI is one of three research institutes in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Radboud University. Our researchers collaborate across the boundaries of psychology, communication science, and pedagogical and educational science. Our mission for the upcoming years is to join forces in interdisciplinary research on the theme “Empowering the Young”. We study the challenges that young people face in our current society and contribute to their empowerment.

The BSI performs high-quality research with scientific and societal impact. To foster this, the institute provides excellent research facilities and has strong collaborations with non-academic partners. Moreover, the BSI is known for its successful graduate school and strong dedication to open science and team science. We stand for a warm, inclusive, and cooperative research environment in which our employees are well-supported in a work culture that promotes collaboration and respect.