The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Utrecht University has an opening for a postdoctoral research project. The vacancy is temporary, for a fixed period of 12 months and is funded the Dutch health services research funder (ZonMw).

Your job
Vaccines are a very effective way to prevent the spread of infections. However, citizens may decide not to vaccinate due to lack of knowledge, misbeliefs, religious values, being embedded in social networks of vaccination hesitancy, and/or other factors such as accessibility. This postdoc project aims at designing and evaluating a new data driven framework to better predict vaccination uptake and tailor interventions using population-level data of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

The goals of this project are:

1. Identifying and characterizing subpopulations in the Netherlands that correspond to cohesive vaccination decision profiles.
2. Modeling the distribution of vaccination decision profiles at the local level for the whole population.
3. Modeling vaccination willingness based on the social networks of different vaccination decision profiles.

This postdoc will focus on objective 3. A different postdoc, located at Amsterdam UMC, will focus on objectives 1 and 2. In this position, you will investigate how vaccination decisions are correlated for individuals belonging to the same social context, such as family and neighborhood. You will then investigate how vaccination uptake at the regional level depends on the composition of such social contexts.

Your responsibilities will include:

• conducting research for the project, including literature reviews, statistical modeling and data analysis;
• writing scientific papers for international top journals combining theoretical and statistical aspects of the project;
• presenting at national and international scientific conferences;
• actively participating in the research team of the UU Department of Sociology and Methodology and Statistics.

This position may be the right fit for you, if:

• you have completed (or are about to complete) a PhD in a domain relevant to the project, such as quantitative social or behavioral science, epidemiology, methodology and statistics, complex systems, or data science;
• you have strong programming skills, preferably in R or Python;
• you have experience in social network analysis, preferably in the context of contagion;
• you are comfortable working with large datasets. Experience with CBS data is a plus;
• you have a passion for interdisciplinary research;
• you are a motivated and collaborative team member, communicative and open to collaboration across scientific fields;
• you are willing to contribute to Open Science;
• you can work independently and have good verbal and written communication skills in English (C1 level).

We offer:

• a temporary job for one year in an international working environment;
• a working week of 36 to 40 hours and a gross monthly salary - depending on previous qualifications and experience - between €3,345 and €5,929 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale 10/11 under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University has a number of schemes and facilities of its own for employees. This includes schemes facilitating professional development, leave schemes and schemes for sports and cultural activities, as well as discounts on software and other IT products. We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

Universiteit Utrecht

A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major strategic themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Pathways to Sustainability. Sharing science, shaping tomorrow.

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences is one of the leading faculties in Europe providing research and academic teaching in cultural anthropology, educational sciences, interdisciplinary social science, pedagogical sciences, psychology, and sociology. Almost 7,000 students are enrolled in a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programmes. The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences has some 1,100 faculty and staff members, all providing their individual contribution to the training and education of young talent and to the research into and finding solutions for scientific and societal issues.

The faculty attaches great importance to the fact that its employees can be widely deployed in the university organisation, now and in the future, to further professionalise the support of education and research. To encourage this, every employee is given the time and facilities – for example in the form of training – at some point in their career to participate in projects or work in other departments. Characteristics that the faculty considers important are involvement, the ability to collaborate and flexibility. The faculty is located at Utrecht Science Park near the historical city centre of Utrecht.

For more information about this position, please contact Kevin van Kats at K.vanKats@uu.nl.

Please note that international candidates that need a visa/work permit for the Netherlands require at least four months processing time after selection and acceptance. Our International Service Desk (ISD) can answer your questions about living in the Netherlands as international staff. Finding appropriate housing in or near Utrecht is your own responsibility, but the ISD may be able to advise you therewith. In case of general questions about working and living in The Netherlands, please consult the Dutch Mobility Portal.

Candidates for this vacancy will be recruited by Utrecht University.