Project description
The PhD researchers will work in the project ‘Meaningful Mobility: a novel approach to movement within and between places in later life (MeaningfulMobility)’, led by Principal Investigator Louise Meijering and funded by Starting Grant no. 802202 from the European Research Council. The research team further includes a postdoc researcher and external international collaborators in the United Kingdom, India and the United States.

Mobility or physical movement contributes to health and well-being in later life and is a key issue in geographical gerontological research. MeaningfulMobility will be the first to connect the capability approach to mobility research to study diversity in movement within and between places by healthy and impaired older adults. The project aims to develop and employ an integrative approach to explain mobility practices in later life in relation to well-being. Its objectives are:

1. To compare objectively measured mobility patterns of older adults within and between places, and between impaired and healthy older adults in three socio-cultural contexts (PhD project 1).
2. To conduct an in-depth study of the subjective mobility experiences within and between places of impaired and healthy older adults, in three socio-cultural contexts (PhD project 2).
3. To use these insights to connect mobility research with the capability approach to gain comprehensive understanding of the diversity in mobility practices in later life in relation to well-being (Postdoc and final part of both PhD projects).

An in-depth comparative study will be carried out of three categories of older adults: healthy older adults; older adults with early stage Alzheimer’s; and older stroke survivors in three socio-cultural contexts of the Netherlands, the UK and India. The study will apply an innovative convergent mixed-methods design to measure objective mobility patterns (PhD1) and subjective mobility experiences (PhD2). Data will be subject to geographic and regression analysis (PhD1); thematic analysis (PhD2); and the findings integrated using advanced grounded visualisation methods (postdoc and PI, with help from the PhD students). This study has the potential to transform gerontological mobility research and to provide policy inputs on the mobility, well-being and health of our ageing population.

We are looking for two candidates with:
• a (research) master degree in Human Geography, Population studies, Demography, Sociology, Public Health or another relevant social science, to be completed before April 2019
• excellent study results and CV
• PhD 1: excellent quantitative research skills and proven experience with regression analysis and working with Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• PhD 2: excellent qualitative research skills and proven experience with conducting and analysing in-depth interviews and/or focus group discussions
• good writing skills and fluency in written and spoken English; experience in academic writing in English
• a keen interest in the topics and target groups to be investigated in the MeaningfulMobility project, preferably demonstrated by previous work on similar topics
• willingness to spend periods of up to four months conducting fieldwork abroad with the research team, as well as to attend conferences abroad
• insider knowledge on at least one country under study in the project (The Netherlands, UK and India), based on having studied, lived and/or worked in that country
• strong conceptual thinking
• strong motivation, good communicative skills, proactive and independent work attitude
• strong planning skills, ability to organize own work and related activities, ability to meet deadlines
• a great curiosity and enthusiasm for scientific research.

We invite you to apply for one of these vacancies.

Fixed-term contract: 48 months.

The University of Groningen offers a salary of € 2,325 gross per month in the first year of the appointment, rising to € 2,972 gross per month in the fourth year of a full-time position. The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement 1 February 2109 for the University of Groningen. This full-time appointment as a PhD researcher is temporary for four years. You will first be appointed for a period of 12 months. After a positive evaluation, the contract will be extended for the remaining part of the project.

The appointment of the PhD researcher is at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen. The PhD researcher will be a member of the Graduate School of Spatial Sciences. The PhD candidate will get the opportunity to participate in the Faculty’s training programme for PhD candidates and will draw up a personal training and supervision plan.

Starting date is 1 April 2019.

Procedure
You may apply for this position until 2 December / before 3 December 2018 Dutch local time by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website).

We ask you to submit
• a motivation letter, including which PhD position you are applying for, and your ideas on the MeaningfulMobility project
• your CV, including a list of academic output (e.g. publications), the study results of your master programme and the names and contact details of two referees.

Candidates who are shortlisted will be asked to submit written work (e.g. master’s thesis or papers) at a later stage.

Interviews with the selection committee will take place on 10 December 2018. If necessary, a second round of interviews will be held on 17 December 2018.

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.

Faculty of Spatial Sciences

The Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen (RUG) consists of around 95 members of staff and 95 PhD researchers. The Faculty focuses on high quality teaching and research in the fields of spatial planning, economic and cultural geography and demography. The research theme of the Faculty of Spatial Sciences is 'towards Wellbeing, Innovation and Spatial Transformation' (tWIST). Our mission is to produce research which is world-leading, distinctive, and policy-relevant. With two bachelor and eight master programmes, the faculty offers a wide range of courses within the field to about 900 students.