We are looking for a PhD candidate to join our research project entitled “Simulation tool to compare outcomes of treatments in psychopathology”. The project is part of the Gravitation grant “New Science of Mental Disorders”.

The aim of this project is to build a tool to help in deciding which treatment for a given mental disorder is optimal considering patient-specific information and using network-based computer simulations.

Simultaneously with this project, another PhD project will start with whom you will be working closely. This project is led by Prof. Reinout Wiers, dr. Lourens Waldorp, dr. Jonas Haslbeck and dr. Lynn Mobach and dr. Tessa Blanken.

Create computational tools for clinical interventions
The first part of the project is building the simulation tool. This requires mapping out the most important available interventions and formalising them so that the outcomes of interventions can be simulated. We will be able to evaluate the benefit of the simulation tool in an empirical setting using an e-health program offered to students (Caring Universities). This allows us to evaluate and further develop the computational tool . Finally, the computational tool is further adapted to be applied to more general clinical settings using information from clinical experts. The upgrade is tailored to just-in-time adaptive interventions, where parts of the intervention are adapted such that they correspond to the tracks of the highest success rates provided by the computer simulations.

The PhD student will help achieve the objectives. They will do so in collaboration with the supervisors, other colleagues, and other PhD students within the same track. The PhD candidate is to join our research project entitled “Simulation tool to compare outcomes of treatments in psychopathology”. The project is part of the Gravitation grant “New Science of Mental Disorders” (see website).

Teaching is limited to 5% of the contracted hours, by assisting in courses and supervising (bachelor) thesis students.

What are you going to do
To help achieve the above objectives, research tasks will include the following.

You will:

• Review literature on interventions on networks and in practice
• Do conceptual and formal work on the mapping between real life interventions and hypothetical network interventions
• Program network models and perform simulations of possible outcomes from the interventions
• Rest and validate the simulations on students from Caring Universities, and adapt the simulation accordingly (together with corresponding PhD)
• Meet with experts to improve the performance of the simulation tool
• Test the simulation tool in a more complex patient population (together with other PhD)

What do you have to offer
A promising candidate has proven affinity both with conceptual (clinical) issues, as well as with the statistical models that are used in psychology. The project involves learning about clinical interventions, and about formalising them, so that we will be able to represent interventions in formal models. Additionally, the project will be about modeling individual patients. Therefore the candidate should feel comfortable engaging with these topics. Large scale simulations will also be part of this project, therefore a promising candidate will also have affinity with doing simulations in R.

Your experience and profile:

• A master's degree with specialisation in psychological methods or a related discipline
• Skilled in formal modelling.
• Experience with programming in R.
• Affinity with clinical applications, specifically psychopathology.
• Experience with networks.
• Excellent written and spoken command of English.

What else do we offer you
The position concerns temporary employment of 38 hours per week. The initial employment is for one year. Following a positive assessment and barring altered circumstances, this term will be extended for a total duration of 4 years, which should result in the conferral of a doctorate. We will put together a curriculum which will also include the opportunity to attend training courses and both national and international events.

The UvA offers excellent possibilities for further professional development and education.

What more?

• A position in which initiative and input are highly valued.
• An enthusiastic and warm team that is open to new colleagues.
• An inspiring academic and international working environment in the heart of Amsterdam.
• You will become a member of a graduate school. The graduate school that best fits this PhD project is IOPS, see this link for more information.

In this department you will work
You will work in the Psychological Methods group, which is part of the Psychology department of the University of Amsterdam. Colleagues in the Psychological Methods group will work on various topics related to the methods that are used in psychology research, including: psychological network methodology, Bayesian methods, mathematical psychology, psychometrics, dynamical systems modelling, theory construction methodology and behavioural data science. As a PhD student you will also be part of the New Science of Mental Disorders, in which several related PhD projects are embedded. You will be working together with several other PhDs and postdocs of the NSMD.

If you recognize yourself in this profile and are interested in the role, we look forward to receiving your motivation letter and CV. You can apply via the red button until 5 January 2025. Interviews will take place at the end of January 2025. In case of equal qualifications, internal candidates will be given preference over external candidates.

Applications in .pdf should include:

• a curriculum vitae.The curriculum vitae should include the contact details (email address and phone number) of two references.
• a cover letter (max 500 words). The cover letter should address the candidate’s fit to the project (especially regarding the sections ‘what are you going to do’ and ‘what do you have to offer’ in this vacancy).

For questions about the vacancy, you can contact:

• Reinout Wiers, Professor of Developmental Psychology, specialized in addiction, r.w.wiers@uva.nl

or

• Lourens Waldorp, Associate Professor of Psychological Methods, l.j.waldorp@uva.nl

The UvA is an equal-opportunity employer. We prioritise diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for everyone. We value a spirit of enquiry and perseverance, provide the space to keep asking questions, and promote a culture of curiosity and creativity. No agencies please.

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