Key background info
This project has received funding from European Union's EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Europe Horizon Europe (HORIZON) Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks (MSCA-DN) under the grant agreement 101072827. More on HOMEDEM can be found at www.homedem.eu and https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101072827.

Number of positions available: 8 PhD positions
Candidates can apply for a maximum of 3 positions, provided they have the required background and previous experience to apply. Candidates must mention the positions that they want to apply for in their cover letter.

Research fields
Co-design, design research, design for dementia, design with people with dementia, care for people with dementia, design for health, design for wellbeing, service design, care ecosystem design, care economics, dementia care, gerontology, psychology, education, social sciences.

The 8 PhD positions
As one can see, the positions differ in duration and wage. 36 months is the standard research time set by the European Commission. Some research institutes will fund another 12 months to finish the PhD. The differences in wages between different countries result in differences in cost of living, national tax and social security systems, and the ‘country correction coefficient’ (in relation to cost of living) applied by the European Commission in the calculation of the project grant.

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DC1
Host: Maastricht University (the Netherlands)
Main Supervisor: Prof. Marjolein de Vugt
Co-supervisor/mentors: Dr Sara Bartels, Dr Niels Hendriks, Adam James Cavallari
Duration: 36 +12 months

Required profile: Master’s degree in (Neuro-)Psychology, social sciences, neuroscience, health sciences, human-centered design or another related field; Researcher’s mentality: open-minded, curious, enthusiastic, and accurate; proactive, capable of working independently, and likes to work in a team; good organizational and communicative skills and a mastery of the English language in spoken and written form.

Desired skills: Due to the psychosocial nature of this project, the DC should have excellent soft skills essential for working with patients (e.g., people with dementia and caregivers) as well as have/ open to develop qualitative methodology skills and advanced statistical skills (e.g., multilevel modeling). Because of interactions with participants, it is preferable that the candidate also speaks Dutch.

Objectives: The project aims to understand the impact of dementia on the care constellation that includes couple relationships in everyday life, and to co-design an intervention to sustain relationship quality and reduce the negative impact of dementia on the couple relationship.

Specific Objectives: 1) explore daily fluctuations in relationship quality (i.e., partners’ helping motivation, satisfaction with communication, feelings of competence) and associated factors in a case series study with a minimum of 3 dyads based on the experienced sampling methodology (ESM); 2) co-design one tool or method to sustain relationship quality and reduce the negative and sustain and promote positive impact of dementia on couples; 3) evaluate the added value of the tool or method in an exploratory study on a minimum of 3 outcome measures. The outcome measures will be selected based on relevance to the couple and may include variables such as perceived stress, resilience, or satisfactions with communication.

Secondment(s): Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical Neuroscience (Sweden - 3 months); Noon Care (Italy - 3 months)

Gross salary: € 2.541,- gross per month in the first year up to € 3.427,- gross per month in the fourth year according to the PhD-candidate salary scale. An 8% holiday and an 8.3% year-end allowance is also provided. Each year an evaluation will take place.

Contact: supervisor Prof Marjolein de Vugt (m.devugt@maastrichtuniversity.nl) and co-supervisor Dr Sara Bartels (sara.bartels@maastrichtuniversity.nl).

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DC2
Host: LUCA School of Arts (Belgium)
The student will enroll in the doctoral training program of KU Leuven who will award the degree
Main Supervisor: Dr. Niels Hendriks
Co-supervisors/mentors: Dr. Andrea Wilkinson; Dr. Sara Bartels; Martin Klitsie
Host of the secondment: Tover (The Netherlands); Huis Perrekes (Belgium)
Duration: 36+12 Months

Required profile: designer with a strong interest and knowledge of co-design; potential to create digital or physical tools (in the broadest sense of the word); pro-active and capable of working independent; team player; strong in organizing and communicating; knowledge and understanding of design research methods; because of interactions with participants, it is preferable that the candidate also speaks Dutch, or has a willingness to learn Dutch and engage with the local context.

Desired skills: prototyping skills and able to graphically visualize digital and/or physical interfaces; strong social and empathy-based skills; academic writing skills; good presentation skills

Objectives: This individual research project will focus on how existing design products and services can support the understanding of changing relationships and role transitions (throughout the journey in dementia). It applies the potential of design to mediate communication (on shared decision-making, interaction and shifting roles) within the care constellation.

Specific objectives: 1) to explore and design practices, tools and methods to understand the evolving relationships (partner to caregiver; independent decision maker to a person in need of support) through design; 2) to develop and prototype design practices, tools and methods to explore and facilitate the range of (shared) decision-making within care constellations of PwD; 3) to evaluate the co-created mediation tool that aims to support the relationships that are flexible enough to adapt to the changing nature of dementia, taking into account conflict (in decision-making), the transition of roles and the interaction between the ‘relationship’ and ‘social world’.

Secondment(s): During the posting the PhD student will do a secondment at Tover (The Netherlands - 4 months) and at Huis Perrekes (Belgium - 3 months)

Gross salary: The first three years, the DC will get a position of researcher at LUCA. The first year minimum wage is 3.915€ gross per month. The starting wage will be higher in case of a proven and validated track of experience. More information on the salary scales can be found on the website of the Education Department (www.ond.vlaanderen.be).

Contact: supervisor Dr. Niels Hendriks (niels.hendriks@luca-arts.be) and co-supervisor Dr. Andrea Wilkinson (andrea.wilkinson@luca-arts.be).

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DC3
Host: University of Aveiro, Portugal
The student will enroll in the doctoral program in Gerontology and Geriatrics at the University of Aveiro (in partnership with the University of Porto) who will award the PhD degree.
Main Supervisor: Prof. Liliana Sousa
Co-supervisor/mentors: Prof. Oscar Ribeiro, Dr. Rita Maldonado Branco, Dr. Andrea Wilkinson (LUCA School of Arts), Dr. Sara Alves (CASO50+).
Duration: 36 months

Required profile: Master’s degree in psychology, education, gerontology, social work, health sciences or another related field. Researcher’s mentality: open-minded, curious, enthusiastic, and accurate; proactive, capable of working independently, and likes to work in a multidisciplinary team; good organizational and communicative skills and master the English language in spoken and written form.

Desired skills: Due to the psychosocial nature of this project, the candidate should have excellent soft skills essential for working with people with dementia and caregivers. In addition, the candidate should have/ be open to develop advanced skills in qualitative data analysis and co-design approaches. Because of interactions with participants, it is preferable that the candidate also speaks Portuguese, or has a willingness to learn Portuguese, and engage with the local context.

Objectives: This project aims to identify unmet social needs (namely the needs for maintaining social interactions with relatives living outside the household, friends and neighbors) of the care constellation of PwD, considering the journey of dementia progression and the changing relationships within this social context. PwD and their care constellations need a social life that may comprise leisure, outside of home activities, and interactions, which have been described as often disregarded when dealing with a situation of dementia.

Specific Objectives: 1) to identify the unmet social needs of the PwD, main caregiver, other carers and relatives and map these needs considering the disease progression and the impact on changing relationships; identify preferences and aspirations in regard to the social needs of the PwD, informed by co-design practices; 2) to develop intervention strategies, tools or artefacts that support the community (including friends, neighbors and formal support services) to address social unmet needs, preferences and aspirations, namely communication validation techniques to all involved to facilitate social interactions; 3) to evaluate the adequacy of the interventions that have been created to facilitate social interactions.

Secondment(s): During your posting as a PhD student you will do a secondment at LUCA School of Arts (Belgium – 4 months); and at CASO50+ Centro de Atendimento e Serviços 50+, Associação (Portugal – 3 months).

Gross salary: Gross salary, approximately, between 24500,00€ and 29000,00€/annum, which includes living, mobility and family (if applicable) allowances (according to a country correction coefficient, and all compulsory deductions under national legislation, in line with EC rules for MSCA Doctoral Networks conditions).

Contact: Prof. Liliana Sousa (lilianax@ua.pt), Prof. Oscar Ribeiro (oribeiro@ua.pt) and Dr. Rita Maldonado Branco (rmb@ua.pt).

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DC4
Host: TUE
Main Supervisor: Prof. dr.Wijnand Ijsselsteijn (promoter)
Co-supervisor/mentors: dr. ir. Rens Brankaert (co-promoter), Prof. dr. Chantal Van Audenhove (KUL), dr. Ana Correia de Barros (FhP-AICOS), dr. Joan Vermeulen (Archipel)
Duration: 36 + 12 months

Desired profile: We are looking for someone with affinity for and skills in design research, with an strong interest in the dementia field; from Human-Computer Interaction, Industrial Design, Computer Science or similar; We want you to be able to make or support making physical and digital prototypes;

Desired attitude: We want you to bepro-active, capable of working independent with a sensitivity for collaboration within the project team and the stakeholders involved; strong in organizing and communicating; because of interactions with participants, it is preferable that the candidate also speaks Dutch, or has a willingness to learn Dutch and engage with the local context.

Desired skills: Preferred skills that are (but not limited to) Design research, design in practice, participatory design, Co-design experience, conducting field research with prototypes; academic writing skills; professional presentation skills

Objectives: This individual research project will focus on person-centered design of Warm Technology (www.ecdt.nl) that contributes to initiative and autonomy of people with dementia in the living environment. Warm Technology is a frame for inclusive, user-friendly, empowering, and non-stigmatizing technology. The DC will co-design technologies to augment human autonomy and enhance ability and quality of life. The DC will explore the balancing act between human intelligence and machine intelligence through design in the context of dementia. The technology co-evolves with the person with dementia, and is a continuous process of mutual learning and adaptation between person and technology that becomes better attuned to needs and abilities. The research will provide insight into the interaction design and interfaces that allow for such dynamic learning.

Specific Objectives: 1) to understand the context and the dynamics of the needs of PwD and their care constellation in the different phases of dementia related to initiative and autonomy; 2) explore and develop experiential technologies that co-evolve with PwD to support initiative and autonomy through a warm technology perspective; 3) to experiment with the technologies in context via field evaluations with PwD and their care constellations. These will converge into guidelines for designing co-evolving technologies and an understanding of human-machine interaction in the context of dementia.

Secondment(s): Archipel (The Netherland - 4 months); FhP-AICOS (Portugal - 3 months)

Gross salary: Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. € 2.541,- max. € 3.247,-).

Contact: supervisors (promoter) prof. dr. Wijnand Ijsselsteijn (w.a.ijsselsteijn@tue.nl) and co-supervisor (co-promoter) dr. ir. Rens Brankaert (r.g.a.brankaert@tue.nl)

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DC5
Host: Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
Main Supervisor: Dr. Alessandro Biamonti
Co-supervisor/mentors: Prof. dr. Marjolein de Vugt (UM), Andrea Alessandri (Noon Care), Dr Silvia Maria Gramegna (Politecnico di Milano)
Duration: 36 months

Required profile: designer, researcher or professional with expertise in participatory approaches and principles, possibly with knowledge/experience with human-centered design projects; pro-active and capable of working independently and in interaction with multiple disciplinary fields and sectors; good organizational and communicative skills.

Desired skills: strong social and empathy-based skills; academic writing skills; good visualisation skills; good presentation skills

Objectives: The research project will focus on identifying home-making processes and dynamics, enabling people with dementia and their care constellations to create and establish a sense of belonging and a “sense of home” towards the living environment they are living in. The term environment includes the network of human relations, and the place and its environmental characteristics, as well as the system of objects, artefacts, rituals and habits.

Specific Objectives: 1) to explore studies focused on home-making practices and understand how to adapt them to the living spaces of an urban integrated dementia village; observing and understanding the context of both the dementia villages, finding peculiarities and potential areas of intervention in internal and/or external areas; 2) to develop and test co-design solutions, derived from the application of therapeutic habitat approach, along with therapists and caregivers in order to promote autonomy, maintain personhood and support social interaction through the study and test of home-making practises; 3) to create design guidelines for defining and developing physical enhancements, (re)designing the material environment including technological solutions, fostering social interactions and the establishment of rituals and social habits shared among PwD and their care constellations.

Secondment(s): During your posting as a PhD student you will do a secondment at EQUA Cooperativa - 4 months - and at LCM - 2 months

Gross salary: The monthly gross salary for Politecnico di Milano is €3.911,60. This figure refers to the gross salary cost for the institution taking into account the living and mobility allowance items.

Contact: supervisor Dr. Alessandro Biamonti (alessandro.biamonti@polimi.it) and Dr. Silvia Maria Gramegna (silviamaria.gramegna@polimi.it)

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DC6
Host: KU Leuven (Belgium)
Main Supervisor: prof. dr. Chantal Van Audenhove
Co-supervisor/mentors: dr. Evelien Coppens
Duration: 36 + 12 months

Required profile: Master degree in Psychology; personal strengths: open-minded, curious, enthusiastic, motivated, accurate, critical, team player. Each year an evaluation will take place.

Desired skills: The student must have a strong interest in the living environment of persons with dementia and their family caregiver and soft skills to interact with this target group. As well as good organizational skills and the ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines. The student must be able to work independently and collaboratively within an internationally diverse team and have good communication skills, including written and spoken English. Because of interactions with participants, it is preferable that the candidate also speaks Dutch, or has a willingness to learn, and engage with the local context. The student must be familiar with qualitative and/or quantitative research methods, including basic statistical skills as well as an ability to search scientific literature (or willingness to learn). Experience in academic writing is an advantage. The student must have a willingness to travel to attend academic events.

Objectives: This project aims to address sleeping and nightly wandering problems in persons with dementia in a nonpharmacological way to make home care tenable for as long as possible. A tool for “nightly agitation in dementia” will be enriched, implemented, optimized and valorized. The tool focuses on triggers of sleeping problems in the person and in the person’s social, spatial and sensory environment. It provides caregivers with evidence-based and practice-based solutions to address these triggers and improve the person’s sleep. The project includes the co-design of a product, service or process to facilitate the use of the tool and the development of guidelines for caregivers and designers on the influence of the social, spatial and sensory environment on sleep.

Specific Objectives: 1) Enrich the tool based on new evidence; 2) Implement the enriched tool among persons with dementia and their caregivers to evaluate its appropriateness, acceptability, user-friendliness, and effectiveness; 3) Develop a product, service or process that allows a wide scale valorization of the tool supporting easy access and availability; 4) Develop a series of guidelines on the social, spatial and sensory influence on sleep

Secondment(s): Huis Perrekes (Belgium - 7 months); Panton (i.e. design studio specialized in designing products, services and processes in health care to investigate how the tool can be enhanced) (Netherlands) [M20-24]

Gross salary: € 2.709,80,- gross per month in the first year up to € 2862,10- gross per month in the fourth year according to the PhD-candidate salary scale. An 8% holiday and an 8.3% year-end allowance is also provided.

More information, contact: Prof. dr. Chantal Van Audenhove (chantal.vanaudenhove@kuleuven.be) and dr. Evelien Coppens (evelien.coppens@kuleuven.be)

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DC7
Host: Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
Main Supervisor: Dr. Daniela Sangiorgi
Co-supervisor/mentors: Prof. dr. Eamon O’Shea (NUIG) / Tomas Edman (Experio Lab, VLL)
Duration: 36 months

Required profile: Design researcher or professional with expertise in service design and co-design approaches and principles, possibly with knowledge/experience in the healthcare domain and/or in complex service systems’ innovation projects; pro-active and capable of working independently and in interaction with multiple disciplinary fields and sectors. Personal and strong motivation in working in design research and for the improvement of dementia care.

Desired skills: field research skills; strong social and empathy-based skills; academic English writing skills; good visualization skills.

Objectives: This project aims to identify service design strategies for shaping formal aged care services in a way to maximise the value co-creation across the multiple social actors that are involved in the evolving and adjusting dementia care ecosystems

Specific Objectives: 1) to develop a framework to adopt a service ecosystem perspective for dementia care, integrating key values of sustainability, citizenship, personhood and autonomy for people with dementia; 2) to create case studies across the participating countries to compare innovative care ecosystem models and their value co-creation or co-destruction dynamics; 3) to study and experiment with design strategies and approaches that can help multiple social actors maximise value co-creation between formal and informal care to enhance responsiveness and complementarity; 4) to develop design guidelines and policy recommendations to enhance value co-creation across (in)formal care.

Secondment(s): Eurocarers (Belgium - 4 months) and at VLL - ExperioLab (Sweden - 5 months)

Gross salary: The monthly gross salary for Politecnico di Milano is €3.911,60. This figure refers to the gross salary cost for the institution taking into account the living and mobility allowance items.

Contact: supervisor Dr. Daniela Sangiorgi (daniela.sangiorgi@polimi.it) and co-supervisor Prof. dr. Eamon O’Shea (eamon.oshea@nuigalway.ie)

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DC8
Host:University of Galway (Ireland): The doctoral researcher will enroll in the doctoral training program of University of Galway who will award the PhD degree.
Main Supervisor: Professor Eamon O’Shea
Co-supervisor/mentors: Dr. Sharon Walsh, Dr. Rens Brankaert, Nik Baerten
Hosts of the secondment: Pantopicon (Belgium); Eurocarers (Belgium)
Duration: 36 +12 months

Required profile: Highly motivated, independent and enthusiastic doctoral researcher with an interest in exploring resource allocation for people with dementia and the economics of dementia care using discrete choice experiments and contingent valuation methodologies. Applicants must have achieved a Masters in Economics/Health Economics/Statistics with high honours standard achieved. Experience of working on, or contribution to, economics-based health/ageing/dementia research projects is essential. So too is a good understanding of health care/social care/ageing/dementia issues across different countries.

Desired skills: Strong technical skills in microeconomic theory and quantitative research methods, including proven ability in using quantitative data analysis packages (e.g. use of STATA]. Excellent communications skills in English, both verbal and written, is essential – an example of written skills must be submitted with the formal application. Digital media skills and experience of social media platforms for research dissemination purposes are also important.

Objectives: The successful candidate will conduct research on the economics of dementia care. The research project is focused on the microeconomics of ageing using: discrete choice experiment (DCE) to explore the preferences of citizens for different bundles and types of care for people living with dementia; contingent valuation to examine willingness to pay for different types of autonomy-enhancing design in home care provision; and economic evaluation to examine resource allocation for autonomy-enhancing design measures for people living on the boundary between home care and residential care.

Specific Objectives: 1) to explore the preferences of citizens for autonomy-enhancing services and supports at various points on the continuum of care; 2) to estimate citizens' willingness to pay (additional taxation and out-of-pocket) for differently designed home care and residential accommodation for PwD; 3) to develop a balance of care cross-country comparative analyses to examine service provision and autonomy on the boundary of care between different types of home care and residential care.

Secondment(s): The successful candidate will complete two 3-month secondments: in year one with Pantopicon, based in Antwerp, Belgium and in year three with Eurocarers, based in Brussels, Belgium.

Gross salary: €35.836,82 per annum plus mobility and Family Allowance as applicable and in line with the EC rules for Marie Sklodowska Curie Doctoral Networks 2021.

Contact: Prof. Eamon O’Shea (eamon.oshea@universityofgalway.ie) or Dr Sharon Walsh (sharon.walsh@universityofgalway.ie)

General requirements

• Doctorate Candidate (DC) i.e., must not already be in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment. DC must have a master degree.
• The candidate must agree to do the foreseen secondment(s) in the associate partner of the hosting institution (see the following section for further details).
• Recruited researchers can be of any nationality and must comply with the following mobility rule: they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the recruiting beneficiary for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their recruitment date (counting back from the date of recruitment so, potentially February-April 2020). Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays and time spent by the researcher as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account.

As one can see, the positions differ in duration and wage. 36 months is the standard research time set by the European Commission. Some research institutes will fund another 12 months to finish the PhD. The differences in wages between different countries result in differences in cost of living, national tax and social security systems, and the ‘country correction coefficient’ (in relation to cost of living) applied by the European Commission in the calculation of the project grant.

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