Are you an outstanding scholar with international reputation, with a thematic profile on life courses and inequality, and with a strong commitment to research and teaching? The Department of Sociology has an opening for a Full Professor of Sociology. The full professor will focus on sociology in general and the study of inequalities relating to work, social stratification and life courses in particular, and on how policies and institutions matter for stratification processes. You will be embedded in the programme group, Institutions, Inequalities, and Life courses. Members of this programme group examine institutions in a broad way as the formal and informal rules and arrangements in society that govern individual behavior and social relationships. They study how institutions, such as welfare state regulations and policies, impact social stratification over the life course, in education, the labour market, family relationships, and health. Categories of stratification that are typically studied are social class, ethnic and migration background and gender.

The IIL programme mostly uses quantitative methods and data, such as (longitudinal) survey data, register data, (field)experimental data, big data, social network data and macro data, often using an internationally comparative perspective. An important objective of the IIL group is to invest in the collection, development, enrichment, and dissemination of cross-national, longitudinal and (field)experimental data.

What will you be doing?

You study social stratification processes over the life course, in education, the labour market, family relationships, and/or health. You will display academic leadership in both research and teaching, and establish a bridge between the two other sociological research programmes at the UvA. You will also be actively involved in managing the department, the programme group, the interdisciplinary centres, the teaching programmes and so forth. You will be asked, in short:

• to contribute to the broad and diverse research and teaching profile of Sociology in Amsterdam;
• to develop, carry out and supervise empirical-theoretical sociological research at a high academic level, develop international leadership in this field, develop a research line in collaboration with junior staff members and other researchers working at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) and its sociology programme groups;
• to develop and lead educational programmes in the field of sociology and tailored to meet societal demand and the needs of students;
• to teach general, specialist and methodological courses in the Bachelor’s-, Master’s-, Research Master’s- and PhD-programs of our department, and supervising graduate students;
• to be actively involved in the Inter-university Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS), including contributing to its graduate school activities.
• to acquire and help to acquire external funding for research (also on behalf of junior researchers);
• to actively contribute to the development of sociology in the national and international context by publishing and participating in national and international research networks and educational initiatives;
• to carry out administrative tasks.

What do we require?

You have:

• a strong general knowledge in the field of sociology;
• an outstanding track record in quantitative empirical research connected to the priorities of the Programme Group Institutions, Inequalities and Life Courses, as exemplified in a strong publication record in internationally peer reviewed journals and/or books published by internationally recognized press;
• a demonstrated ability to acquire research funding from external sources (e.g. Netherlands’ Organization for Scientific Research, the European Research Council, or other research councils, European Union, or other national and international funding agencies);
• a proven record of high-quality teaching, preferably at Bachelor’s-, Master’s- and PhD-level. Also a commitment to teaching general and specialist courses in the Bachelor’s and Master’s programs in Sociology and in the interdisciplinary Research Master Social Sciences;
• a track record in administration and commitment to carry out administrative tasks; and
• an adequate knowledge of Dutch, or the willingness to learn the Dutch language within two years.

You are:

• committed to the research agenda of the AISSR in general and the programme group ‘Institutions, Inequalities and Life Courses’ in particular;
• in possession of the Dutch Basic Teaching Qualification or Senior Teaching Qualification (or foreign equivalents), or willing to acquire such a qualification on a fairly short term.

Our offer

The position concerns an appointment of 38 hours per week. The starting date is negotiable. Salary depends on past education and relevant work experience, with a minimum salary of €5,749 and a maximum salary of €8,371 gross per month based on a full-time appointment for a 38-hour working week (in keeping with scale H2, as per the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities). We additionally offer an extensive package of secondary employee benefits, including a generous holiday scheme and year-end bonus. Because we value your continued personal development and professionalisation, we also offer excellent opportunities for study and development.

What else can we offer you?

A stimulating work environment with a variety of duties and ample scope for individual initiative and development within an inspiring organisation. The social and behavioural sciences play a leading role in addressing the major societal challenges faced by the world, the Netherlands and Amsterdam, now and in the future.

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences is an active participant in a diverse, international community. Our goal is for you to feel at home here, regardless of your background, race, orientation and/or beliefs.

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  -Department of Sociology

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences is an active participant in a diverse, international community. Our goal is for you to feel at home here, regardless of your background, race, orientation and/or beliefs.

Sociology at the UvA focuses on the spatial and socio-economic mobility of the urban population, the rise and fall of urban lifestyles and cultures, social relations between individuals and groups, old and new forms of discrimination, inequality, and citizenship, as well as the policy dimensions.