You will work as a PhD student within the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA), one of the research departments of Maastricht University's School of Business and Economics (SBE). ROA has a leading position nationally and internationally in research in the field of education and the labour market. You will also be part of the Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE) that coordinates SBE’s PhD programme.

You will work in ROA’s research line ‘Labour market and Training’, and focus on lifelong learning and employability, with particular attention to the elderly and other risk groups on the labour market. This PhD project focuses on the role of human capital investments in increasing economic resilience. More specifically, we aim to answer the question how to make sure that workers who are not inclined to take part in lifelong learning will do so after all, and how this will affect their opportunities on the labour market. By analysing microdata and setting-up field experiments, more insight should be gained into how workers with low motivation to learn can be stimulated to part take in lifelong learning activities and thereby made more resilient to the changing skills needs in the labour market.

Are you self-motivated, curious and interested in research? Do you have a record of high academic achievement in economics (e.g., good grades and/or involvement in other academic activities) and the skills required to become an excellent researcher in your field? Then this PhD-student position at ROA might be the challenge you are looking for.

• You have a strong academic background and willingness to publish in high-ranking academic journals;
• You have excellent quantitative and analytical skills, as well as oral communication and writing skills;
• You have affinity with setting up field experiments in the field of education and labour;
• You have knowledge of statistical software (e.g., Stata, R);
• A preference is given to graduated economists who have shown excellence in at least one (preferably more) of the following subjects: labour economics, education economics, public economics, (applied) micro-economics;
• A Research Master (or equivalent) is preferred.

In case you do not fulfil the starting requirement yet (e.g., when you do not have a Research Master or equivalent), we can discuss possibilities for a part-time pre-PhD position which allows time to catch up.

Fixed-term contract: 4 jaar.

Remuneration will be according to standard salary levels for PhD students starting with a salary of €2.395,00 with a yearly growth to € 3.061,00 gross a month (based on a full-time appointment). Each year the standard salary is supplemented with a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% of the yearly gross income.

You have to be willing to move to (the vicinity of) Maastricht. If you do not already live in Maastricht (or its direct surroundings), you will be eligible for an allowance for moving costs and a relocation reimbursement.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website: http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > Support > UM employees

Maastricht University

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 20,000 students and 4,700 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.

The School of Business and Economics (abbreviated as SBE) is a high-level European school in the fields of Economics and International Business Administration and is accredited by both the AACSB and EQUIS. The school is located in the heart of Maastricht.

The key characteristics of SBE are small-scale teaching methods, a portfolio of international study programs, and strong incentives for top-quality research. SBE attracts outstanding students from over 60 countries on its MBA, Bachelor, Masters, Ph.D., and executive education programs (all in English). Forty percent of the student population and thirty-five percent of the academic faculty come from outside The Netherlands.

The Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA)

ROA is a research institute of the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics, established in 1986. The overarching research theme of ROA is the acquisition and depreciation of human capital over the life course in relation to the dynamics of the labor market. ROA aims to do high level scientific research with a substantial policy impact. This dual mission is pursued in all research project, regardless of the type of funding (fundamental or commissioned research). ROA receives funding from scientific funds (e.g. NRO, NWO, NETSPAR, ORA, H2020), as well as from national and international authorities (Ministries, European Commission, OECD) and various other organizations such as training funds, educational institutes and regional governments.