The research at the Department of Health Sciences aims to improve public health which is defined as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals”. Our research is embedded in the Amsterdam Public Health and Amsterdam Movement Sciences institutes. In addition, the department is responsible for the BSc and MSc programs Health Sciences.
 
The section of Health Economics & Health Technology Assessment performs and assists in the conduct of cost-effectiveness studies mainly in the field of mental health, musculoskeletal health, nutrition and lifestyle, but section members are also involved in other research projects conducted at the VUmc. In addition, we are involved in research projects to improve the use of statistical methods within cost-effectiveness studies and to develop new methods.
 
Job description
For a recently funded Vidi project, we are searching for two PhD students in the field of cost-effectiveness research. Most cost-effectiveness studies are conducted alongside randomized controlled trials. However, the cost-effectiveness of an intervention may be quite different from trial estimates when implemented in the real world. The increasing availability of routinely collected cost-effectiveness data provides an excellent opportunity to perform real world cost-effectiveness analyses. However, in order to use routinely collected cost-effectiveness data validly for research purposes advanced statistical methods are needed to deal with the methodological problems associated with the use of such data.
 
Within this large methodological project, innovative methods will be developed and evaluated for the analysis of routinely collected cost-effectiveness data. Commonly occurring methodological problems when using routinely collected data (e.g. missing data, different follow-up measurements) will be tackled combining methods from epidemiology and econometrics. Within the project, there will be a close collaboration with a large mental healthcare institution (GGZ inGeest) and other research groups to obtain the datasets needed for this project.

• MSc in Epidemiology, Health Economics, Health Sciences, or a closely related discipline;
• good knowledge of biostatistics and statistical software such as R and Stata is an advantage;
• demonstrable interest in and affinity with the field of cost-effectiveness research;
• good command of written and spoken English;
• excellent communication skills and ability to work in an interdisciplinary team.

The appointment will be initially for 1 year. The initial appointment can be extended with 3 years for a total duration of 4 years.
You can find information about our excellent fringe benefits of employment at www.workingatvu.nl like:
• remuneration of 8,3% end-of-year bonus and 8% holiday allowance;
• a minimum of 29 holidays in case of full-time employment;
• contribution commuting allowance based on kilometers (0.07 Euro).
 
We offer a competitive salary package in accordance with university regulations for academic personnel, in the position of PhD in salary scale 85, ranging from a minimum of €2222 gross per month up to a maximum of €2840 gross per month based on fulltime employment.