At the Erasmus University Rotterdam we are looking for a central liaison PhD officer to improve the welfare of our PhD candidates. You are responsible to ensure PhDs are well supported by making existing facilities easily accessible and findable, and by initiating and communicating new initiatives where needed a.o. to prevent work related stress. You need to make an inventory of the various existing processes and structures. In addition, you will cooperate with Academic Affairs, the central department at EUR responsible for academic policies, to implement structural improvements in the guidance and support of the PhD candidates at the EUR. In addition, the PhD officer will make connections between the various actors within the EUR who are committed to PhD candidates.

You will be:

• Establishing links with PhDs and the various actors within the EUR who are committed to PhD candidates. Furthermore, you make connection between the PhD/research officers of the various faculties and graduate schools
• Mapping out various PhD programmes, types and conditions in the various faculties
• Researching and bringing together all necessary information for PhDs,  organizing a clear way of communicating with al EUR PhDs
• Taking up various projects concerning stress/high workload of PhDs within and across graduate schools
• Initiating various events and meetings where PhD candidates and those involved come together
• Contribute to tactical/strategic issues concerning EUR-wide PhD policy.

Your profile:

Ideally, you have a university level education and strong affinity with a university environment. Experience in working at a university is considered an asset. You are a pro-active and strong communicator who works well in a team, but can also happily work independently. Furthermore you have/are:

• Curiousness, pro-activity and great organising skills  
• A strong communicator (written and verbal) in Dutch and English, both at minimally C1 level
• A strong international orientation
• A connector between different (PhD) research policy officers of the faculties/institute inside the EUR
• A curious and strong analytical mind, able to make contextual choices and establish and maintain an overview
• Sensitivity to the needs and well-being of PhD candidates
• Interest in working at operational as well as strategic level

You could be a recently finished PhD or currently in the process of finishing your PhD, or you could also be in a different stage in your career with experience in academic world. The position is temporary, for the duration of 1 year, and is placed in scale 10. Remuneration will be according to the PhD scales set by the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU), and will range from € 2.709 to € 4.274 per month (gross amounts, in case of fulltime employment). The EUR has attractive employment conditions, which include a holiday allowance of 8.0%, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% and up to 41 days paid time off.

You will report to the manager HR Policy, and functionally also work with the manager Academic Affairs.

Erasmus University Rotterdam

The Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), named after Rotterdam-born humanist and theologian Erasmus, is a research university with a strong international orientation and a pronounced social focus, both in its education and research activities. On the lively, modern campus, more than 28.000 students and scholars of more than 100 nationalities are constantly encouraged to develop their talents and meet their ambition. Our more than 2700 scientists and employees work together with all our students to solve challenges faced by global society, drawing their inspiration from the consistently dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Rotterdam. The academic education offered at our faculties is intensive, engaging and strongly focused on practical application. We increasingly perform our research in multidisciplinary teams, which are closely interwoven with international networks. In terms of research impact and the quality of its degree programmes, EUR can compete with the foremost universities in Europe, which is reflected in its consistent top-100 position in most major universities rankings. Erasmus University Rotterdam’s key values are daring, curiosity, social involvement, breaking new ground and striving for success www.eur.nl.