The Department of Psychology is looking for a PhD candidate in Urban Mental Health.

Computational modelling of psychological and social dynamics in urban mental health conditions: the case of addictive substance use.
The Urban Mental Health research priority area has approved a PhD project at the University of Amsterdam between the Psychological Methods Group in the Department of Psychology, the Department of Computational Science in the Informatics Institute, and the Institute for Advanced Studies. This project will be supervised by Dr Sacha Epskamp and Dr Michael Lees, and will be hosted at the Psychological Methods group and the Institute for Advanced Studies. For more information, please see the full PhD project description and/or contact Sacha Epskamp or Michael Lees .
There is a well-established association between psychological disorders and substance abuse, with very high reported comorbidity rates. Unraveling causality in this complex problem is hugely challenging: the propensity for addiction is higher in individuals with mental health issues, and seemingly people abusing illicit substances are more likely to develop mental health issues. This complexity stems from the realization that addiction and mental health problems are driven by underlying psychological (e.g., mental unrest) and social (e.g., peer pressure) processes. While significant progress has been made through a complexity approach to psychology, societal environments and social components are often modeled in simplistic ways, typically as mere covariates. Increasing urbanization places the individual in ever increasingly complex social and environmental contexts that can no longer be ignored. Psychosocial factors, such as: peer pressure, (lack of) social support, and availability of substances, play a vital role in the use of addictive substances. In addition, people shape and influence their social environment as much as they are shaped by it – clearly the mental state of individuals will impact the way they deal with their social environment.

Project description

In this project we plan to develop novel computational models to study the dynamics of addictive substance (ab)use. Our central hypothesis is that the complex dynamics of addiction and mental health issues are driven by psychological and social dynamics and we aim to build complex system models to understand this. The goal of this project is to integrate the psychological and social levels of explanation in an encompassing computational modeling framework. This modeling framework will be applied to study the interplay of substance use and mental health, and will provide a toolbox applicable to study other common mental health conditions throughout the Urban Mental Health (UMH) research priority area.

You have:

• a strong affinity to both psychological research and computational modeling;
• a multidisciplinary and collaborative mindset;
• a strong motivation for pursuing a PhD, also demonstrated with a high GPA during the master's study;
• proficiency in programming in at least R and/or Python;
• familiarity with (social and psychological) network modeling, agent-based modeling, simulation studies and differential equations.

Fixed-term contract: 12 months.

The appointment will be on a temporary basis for a period of 12 months and after satisfactory evaluation it can be extended for a total duration of 4 years. The appointment should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). An educational plan will be drafted that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. The PhD candidate is also expected to assist in teaching bachelor and master students.

The gross monthly salary will range from €2,325 (first year) up to a maximum of €2,972 (last year). The salary is based on a full-time appointment (38 hours a week). The total salary includes an additional 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% end-of-year bonus, under the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities.  A favorable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants.

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.

Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences – Psychology Department

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences enjoys a prominent standing within the social sciences sector in Europe and is the largest educational and research institution in the social and behavioural sciences in Europe.

Research and education at the Faculty address societal and human behaviour related themes, like the impact of new media on society, healt care, urbanisation, human and child development, mental health, inequalities, diversity and social cohesion.