Adolescence marks rapid surges in alcohol and cannabis addiction, but also remarkable recovery rates, as most adolescent addictions naturally resolve over time. Brain development holds an import key to understanding the brain’s recovery potential. Within an ERC-funded project, you will conduct a longitudinal neuroimaging study that aims to unravel addiction risk and resilience in adolescents and adults. Together with 1 other PhD candidate, you will be responsible for protocol development, participant recruitment, and data collection, management and analysis. Measures of brain activity, connectivity and structure will eventually be combined with behavioral data to test the predictive value of social and cognitive processes for changes in cannabis and alcohol abuse over time. As such, you will learn to handle different modalities of neuroimaging data.

What makes this position unique, is the work within a multidisciplinary team. You will closely collaborate with other team members who will conduct parallel rodent studies. Besides research related activities, you will also be involved in the supervision of student research projects. We aim to start the project in March 2023.

You have:

• A MSc degree in psychology, neuroscience, psychobiology, or a related field.
• Strong analytical skills and neuroimaging experience.
• An interest in the (social) neuroscience of brain development and addiction.
• A good command of written and spoken English and Dutch (all interaction with participants will be in Dutch).
• Affinity with programming (e.g., R, Matlab, Python, Presentation).
• A team oriented working style, good communication skills, and a flexible work attitude (data will be collected in Amsterdam, team meetings will be in Rotterdam).

An internationally oriented and varied job in an enthusiastic team, with good working conditions in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU).

The start date of this position is March 1 2023 and you will be based at The Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies of the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB)

in Rotterdam. The position is for 0.8 FTE. Your salary is based on the P-scale in accordance with the CAO-NU. You start with a salary of € 2.541 gross per month on a fulltime basis. In addition, we offer an 8% holiday allowance, an end-of-year payment of 8.3%, and a very generous paid leave scheme. Furthermore, EUR is affiliated with ABP for the pension provision, and we offer partially paid parental leave, fully paid extended birth leave for partners, a personal career budget, work-life balance coaches, discounted collective health insurance, and more. As an employee, you can also use EUR facilities such as the University library and receive a discount on subscriptions for the Erasmus sports center.

Erasmus University Rotterdam offers a Dual Career Programme (DCP) to assist the life partners of new academic staff (on payroll) in finding employment in The Netherlands. The programme is offered in close cooperation with the nearby universities of Delft and Leiden.

Erasmus University Rotterdam aspires to be an equitable and inclusive community. We nurture an open culture, where everyone is supported to fulfill their full potential. We see inclusivity of talent as the basis of our successes, and the diversity of perspectives and people as a highly valued outcome. EUR provides equal opportunities to all employees and applicants regardless of gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, neurodiversity, functional impairment, citizenship, or any other aspect which makes them unique. We look forward to welcoming you to our community.

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR)

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 such as Problem-Based Learning (PBL). 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)

The Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies provides education and research in the area of pedagogical and psychological sciences and is embedded within the Faculty of Social Science. The education is characterized by a successful and innovative didactical approach: problem based learning in combination with extensive professional and academic skills training. Our bachelor and master tracks receive top rankings each year.