Project Description
The PhD researcher will work in the project ‘The roles of siblings and school peers in young adults’ life-course events’, led by Principal Investigator Clara H. Mulder and funded by an Open Competition Large grant from the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO). The research team will further include a postdoc researcher, an assistant professor who will co-supervise the PhD project, and collaborators from the University of Groningen and Statistics Netherlands (CBS). In the project, we aim to identify the roles of siblings and school peers in the occurrence, timing, and outcomes of important life-course events in young adulthood. The events are leaving the parental home, residential relocations, and entry into post-secondary education and the labour market. We will investigate differentiation in sibling and school-peer roles with regard to advantage versus disadvantage, gender, migrant background, age, and time period. We will use register data covering the entire population of young adults in the Netherlands, including newly developed family and school-peer network data, and analyse these data with advanced statistical methods. The results may help combat inequality and enhance young adults’ ability to realise their potential. The envisaged role of the PhD researcher will be to work on leaving the parental home or, according to preference and expertise, residential relocations (residential mobility, internal migration). The end product will be scientific journal articles, to be combined in a PhD thesis. The PhD researcher will also write outreach articles and help organise stakeholder workshops. A contribution to teaching is expected.

Organisation
The PhD researcher will be hosted by the Faculty of Spatial Sciences (FSS), Population Research Centre, of the University of Groningen. FSS is a dynamic faculty with an open character. With approximately 100 employees and 100 PhD researchers, we focus on highly qualified education and research in the field of planning, demography and human geography. With two bachelor's degrees and seven master's programmes, the faculty offers broad training opportunities to around 1,100 students all over the world.

We are looking for candidates with

- A Master degree in population studies, demography, human geography, economics, sociology or another relevant social science, to be completed before the starting date (around February 2025).
- Excellent study results.
- Excellent quantitative research skills; preferably experience in multivariate statistical analyses of large survey or register data sets.
- Good writing skills and fluency in written and spoken English; experience in academic writing in English; preferably mastering some Dutch or willing to learn Dutch.
- A keen interest in the topics to be investigated in the project, preferably demonstrated by previous work on similar topics.
- Strong conceptual thinking.
- Strong motivation, good communicative skills, proactive and independent work attitude.
- Strong planning skills, ability to organize own work and related activities, ability to meet deadlines.
- A great curiosity and enthusiasm for scientific research.

We warmly invite you to apply for this vacancy, if you are interested and will have completed your Master degree before the starting date (around February 2025).

Fixed-term contract: 48 months.

The appointment of the PhD researcher is at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen. The PhD researcher will be a member of the Graduate School of Spatial Sciences. The PhD researcher will get the opportunity to participate in the Faculty’s training program for PhD students and will draw up a personal training and supervision plan. The University of Groningen offers a salary of € 2,872 gross per month in the first year of the appointment, rising to € 3,670 gross per month in the fourth year of a full-time position. The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for the University of Groningen. This full-time appointment as PhD researcher is temporary for four years. You will first be appointed for a period of 12 months. After a positive evaluation, the contract will be extended for the remaining part of the project.

Starting date is 1 February 2025 or a few months earlier or later in consultation with the project leader.

The project proposal can be obtained from the secretaries
secr.demography@rug.nl

Prof Clara H. Mulder, further information about the project that cannot be derived from the proposal
c.h.mulder@rug.nl