As part of an European Reseach Council grant (TRUSTPATH), the Experimental & Political Economics group (CREED), at the Amsterdam School of Economics (UvA), has a vacancy for a fully-funded PhD student in the field of behavioural ethics. We seek outstanding motivated applicants with a strong interest in experimental economics and psychology for a project investigating trust and information search patterns in the context of the sharing economy.

All candidates with a strong research background in Experimental Economics, Psychology, or related fields are encouraged to apply. The ideal candidate will have experience with running lab experiments, as well as strong programming, econometric, and writing skills. The PhD candidate will be part of an interdisciplinary team studying the antecedents and consequences of trust when using the sharing economy. Access to state of the art research facilities will be provided via CREED (http://www.creedexperiment.nl/creed/), which houses two experimental economics laboratories. PhD students often spend a half- to full-year visit at another internationally renowned school.

The starting date of the position: January 2021 (flexible).

What are you going to do?

Research (80%):

• design studies and experiments (e.g., experience sampling; lab experiments);
• program the experimental task using (e.g., oTree, z-TreeMatlab);
• collect and analyze data (R, STATA);
• write the results up for publication in peer-reviewed journals;
• present the work at academic conferences.

Teaching (20%):

• undergraduate tutorials;
• supervise of BSc thesis projects.

• MSc (Research Master) in (Behavioural) Economics, Cognitive/ Social/ Organizational Psychology or related field;
• advanced statistical and computational skills (e.g., R, STATA);
• experience with designing and running experiments;
• explicit interest and motivation to conduct scientific research.

Our offer

The employment contract will be an initial period of one year with a possibility to extend it for an additional two years, pending positive evaluation. As part of your contract, you will spend 20% of your time on teaching. You will be classified as PhD candidate (promovendus) in the Dutch University job-ranking system (UFO), providing a gross monthly starting salary of €2,790 in the first year (which increases to € 3,061 in the final year) with an additional end-of-year bonus (8.3%) and holiday allowance (8%). The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

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 Economics and Business – Microeconomics Section

The Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) at the UvA provides academic courses for more than 5,000 students and conducts research programs in many specialist areas employing about 400 people. The FEB has an internationally acclaimed profile and is located in the heart of Amsterdam. FEB consists of the Amsterdam Business School and the Amsterdam School of Economics (ASE). ASE is among the top economics research institutes in Europe.

The microeconomics section in the Amsterdam School of Economics (ASE) covers three different research programs: Experimental & Political Economics (CREED), Human Capital, and Markets & Organizations. The microeconomics section is responsible for teaching all microeconomics related courses at the BSc and MSc level. The section also actively participates in the teaching and research activities of the Tinbergen Institute, the graduate school of ASE.

CREED at the Amsterdam School of Economics is a leading experimental economics research institute. CREED members published their research in the top academic journals, in and outside economics. CREED is further known for its friendly and cooperative atmosphere.