The research group of Psychology of Conflict, Risk, and Safety are looking for a junior researcher to assist in examining adaptability of police officers working in covert operations.

The ability to adapt to changing situations is vital for law enforcement officers who are charged with the objective of establishing contact and building relationships with sources in criminal environments (i.e., covert law enforcement). Not only do these officers have to maintain a guise of adhering to a criminal conduct, they have to react fittingly to novel and uncertain situational demands. Consider, for example, the following situations: (i) when a police handler is to meet his source in secret, but the source decides to bring a friend along or (ii) when an undercover officer is invited to a private party, but the festivity turns into the planning of a crime. In order to maintain a credible guise while also maintaining the mission objective (e.g., to avoid participating in the criminal activity while upholding status in the criminal group), these situations require an adaptive response from the officer. 

The challenge
This project builds upon the extensive conceptual work on adaptability, as well as observations from practice, in order to develop a behavioral measure of adaptability relevant for covert law-enforcement. To achieve this, two experiments will be conducted; a behavioral experiment with university students and a perception experiment with the Dutch National Police.

Within the project you will have the responsibility to administer the two experiments. The following tasks are requested of the junior researcher:

• Plan and execute the data collections
• Set up studies on Qualtrics
• Guide and supervise research assistants and students
• Recruit student participants
• Code and analyze the data

This research is being funded by the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (https://crestresearch.ac.uk) – an independent Centre commissioned by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and which is funded in part by the UK’s security and intelligence agencies.

• You are interested in applied research.
• You have a MSc degree in the behavioral sciences.
• You are comfortable with recruiting and securing research participants.
• You are precise but also flexible in arranging logistics.
• You are motivated (i.e., focused, enthusiastic, and punctual) to fulfill obligations and meet deadlines.
• You have good social skills and are able to interact both with students and practitioners.
• It is of merit to be trained in or have experience with experimental methodology.

Information and application
For more information please contact dr. Simon Oleszkiewicz, s.oleszkiewicz@utwente.nl, tel. 053-4899011.
Submit your application (including motivational letter, curriculum vitae and your contact information) online before 29 October 2019 to the University of Twente at the attention of dr. Oleszkiewicz.

We offer a 50% position (20 hours a week) as a junior researcher for the period from November 1 (earlier start is possible) – May 30, 2020.
Your main responsibility will be to carry out research.
In accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, your salary depending on your experience will be between € 2.579,- to € 2.709,- gross per month based on 38 hours workweek.
Additionally, the University of Twente provides excellent facilities for professional and personal development, a holiday allowance (amounts to 8%) and an end-of-year bonus (amounts to 8.3%), and a number of additional benefits.

The University of Twente. We stand for life sciences and technology. High tech and human touch. Education and research that matter. New technology which leads change, innovation and progress in society. The University of Twente is the only campus university of the Netherlands; divided over five faculties we provide more than fifty educational programmes. We have a strong focus on personal development and talented researchers are given scope for carrying out groundbreaking research. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status. Because of our diversity values we do particularly support women to apply. Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social sciences The Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social sciences (BMS) strives to play a pivotal role in understanding, co-engineering and evaluating innovation in society. Innovation is driven by advances in technology. Through 'social engineering' these technological advances are embedded in society befitting human needs and behaviour, within proper public and private management and business structures. For this the faculty of BMS upholds high quality disciplinary knowledge in psychology, business administration, public administration, communication science, philosophy, educational science and health sciences. All with a focus on the challenges in society. Research is strongly connected to our institutes: Mesa+ Institute, TechMed Centra and Digital Society Institute.