The University of Groningen (founded 1614) is a research university with a global outlook and is currently in the top 100 universities worldwide on several influential ranking lists. The University creates and shares knowledge through its outstanding research, scholarship and education. With an academic tradition dating back to 1614 and a rich heritage, the University is a unique academic community with a strong sense of belonging and a culture of innovative education and research.

The Faculty of Spatial Sciences is a growing faculty with an open character that has short lines between staff and students. There are four departments: Cultural Geography, Demography, Economic Geography and Planning. The mission of the faculty is to produce research which is world-leading, distinctive, and policy-relevant to these major issues faced by contemporary society and that is communicated and communicable to the global academy and to societal stakeholders. The distinctive character of the Faculty’s research is that it explores the roles place, space, identity and culture play in the social and spatial transformation of society from a multi-methods perspective. The policy-relevant features of the Faculty’s research derive from the issues investigated. The research is built on evidence and experience, while addressing issues of perception and identity.

About the Economic, Social and Spatial Inequalities in Europe in the Era of Global Mega-Trends (ESSPIN).

There is an increased understanding of the importance of the spatial and regional aspects of inequality. Regions left behind have different voting outcomes than core regions, different health outcomes, and different socio-economic prospects for their inhabitants. ESSPIN uses an integrated approach to find how, when, and where different drivers affect inequality.

The University of Groningen is involved in assessing how these processes work using registry data in the Netherlands. In addition to the registry data, we aim to use a uniquely large detailed biobank dataset (Lifelines) with information on health and well-being in the North of the Netherlands, including inter-generational links, household links, and detailed locational information. Using these large datasets, we will be able to provide a uniquely detailed perspective on regional inequalities and their reproduction for individuals, households, and small scale areas.

You together with the UoG ESSPIN team and our HORIZON partners, will be heavily involved in working on the WP2 deliverables. This includes contributing to reports and papers on the drivers of:

- health inequalities
- housing inequalities in changing cities
- access to and the provision of public goods
- social and spatial inequalities in well-being

Your exact focus within this set of topics is subject to discussion, also given you the expertise. Furthermore, you will be involved in the production of the Scientific Synthesis Report of WP2, Activity Report of WP2 and the Policy Report of WP2. The position will involve presentation of papers in international conferences.

You will be based in the Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen and will be responsible for liaising with relevant partners and for collecting and analyzing suitable datasets. You will also take the lead in the analysis of model outputs and writing up the results as scientific manuscripts.

We are looking for candidates who have:

● a PhD in Geography or Economics, or Behavioural and Social sciences
● excellent English for written and verbal communication
● experience with regional or spatial analysis
● experience with micro-level analysis and willingness to learn and apply relevant micro-analysis methods (such as spatial microsimulation)
● experience with handling large datasets
● a track record of working in R, Python, or Stata

Fixed-term contract: 12.

Conditions of employment

We offer you in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:

• a salary, depending on qualifications and work experience, with a minimum of € 3,567 to a maximum of € 4,670 (salary scale 10) gross per month for a full-time position
• excluding 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus, participation in a pension scheme for employees and excellent secondary benefits. We offer 232 holiday hours per calendar year for a full-time employment
• an appointment on a temporary basis for 12 months with the possibility of extension depending on funding.

For more detailed information about working conditions and working for the University of Groningen, please check: https://www.rug.nl/about-us/work-with-us/

The appointee will ideally commence on 1 June, 2023