We are seeking a highly motivated candidate for a 3-year postdoctoral position on a project on the psychology of science scepticism, which is funded by an ERC grant awarded to Dr Bastiaan Rutjens. We are looking for someone who either has already obtained their PhD or will defend their thesis before the project commences. Within the project, you will work closely together with the other members of the core project team, which will consist of Bastiaan Rutjens, two PhD students, and a research assistant.

The postdoctoral researcher will be embedded in the Social Psychology programme group at the University of Amsterdam. Within the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, the discipline of Psychology offers a range of Bachelor's and Master’s degree programmes, while its research is carried out at the Psychology Research Institute (Psyres). The successful candidate will be part of the Social Psychology programme group.

Job description

Increases in science scepticism among the public represent an important societal challenge. While recent research has shed light on some of the ideological correlates of specific manifestations of science scepticism - such as climate change denial and vaccine hesitancy - a unifying psychological principle that can be applied to science scepticism more generally has not yet been identified. In this project, psychological distance to science will be investigated as a precursor of science scepticism in various domains. This will be done with large-scale cross-national surveys, controlled experiments, and daily diary studies.

The postdoctoral researcher will work with Dr Bastiaan Rutjens at the Department of Psychology of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which is ranked 16th in the QS World University Rankings. The University of Amsterdam has access to state-of-the-art research facilities (Psychology labs / Spinoza center) to implement and coordinate the proposed research. The postdoctoral researcher will report the research results at project meetings, conferences and in international journals.

• A PhD in Social Psychology, Cultural Psychology, Sociology, Communication Science, or equivalent programme;
• a research profile fitting the research project described above;
• high-quality publications in international, peer-reviewed academic journals;
• passion for research and a demonstrable interest in the topic of the project;
• strong methodological and statistical skills; in particular experience with longitudinal research design and analysis (e.g., experience sampling) and multilevel analysis;
• experience with teaching; particularly thesis supervision at the bachelor and master level (with good evaluations);
• strong writing skills;
• excellent English proficiency.

The postdoctoral researcher position is for three years (initial employment is 24 months and after a positive evaluation, the appointment will be extended with 12 months. Based on a full-time appointment the gross monthly salary will be between €3,637 and €4,978 (in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities).

University of Amsterdam

With over 5,000 employees, 30,000 students and a budget of more than 600 million euros, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is an intellectual hub within the Netherlands. Teaching and research at the UvA are conducted within seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Law, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. Housed on four city campuses in or near the heart of Amsterdam, where disciplines come together and interact, the faculties have close links with thousands of researchers and hundreds of institutions at home and abroad.  

The UvA’s students and employees are independent thinkers, competent rebels who dare to question dogmas and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and standard solutions. To work at the UvA is to work in an independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.

http://www.uva.nl/en/home

Department of Psychology

In the psychology department, talented and internationally renowned scholars work in their own wayward manner to gain a better understanding of the human mind and human behavior. The critical UvA-student is educated by them during this quest, in which independent thinking is expected and nothing and no one is beyond critique.

https://www.uva.nl/en/faculty/faculty-of-social-and-behavioural-sciences/disciplines/psychology/psychology.html