Background: The ZonMW project is a unique collaboration between science, health care, and technique to develop an evidence-based, integrated, personalized, and user-friendly treatment of female genital pain. The larger project consists of three separate but integrated work packages that together aim to (1) identify biopsychosocial, individual and dyadic risk and resilience factors across genital pain conditions; (2) examine causal pathways between pain-related fear, sexual arousal, and pelvic floor muscle tension; (3) explore interactions between partners’ sexual responses in relation to genital pain; (4) develop and test the user-experience of wearable instruments for daily pain management; (5) test the added value of home-based instruments, compared to treatment-as-usual  to improve pain and sexual functioning. The current PhD project will mainly be directed towards the first three aims.

Challenges and tasks: You will design and coordinate the couple-based, nation-wide survey of individual and dyadic risk and resilience factors across different genital pain conditions. You will design and conduct a series of lab studies (1) examining causal pathways between pain-related fear, sexual arousal and pelvic floor muscle tension using a smart dilator that gradually induces vaginal pressure and (2) studying the interaction between sexual arousal of both partners while sexually stimulating each other using mobile plethysmographs (in the lab and at home) in combination with Experience Sampling Methods. You will work in close collaboration with the other partners of the project: a PhD student at TU Eindhoven who works on a smart watch to register and manage pain in daily life; the engineers of the Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+) and TU Berlin who work on the development of the smart dilator; and the clinical researcher at the MUMC+ who will test the clinical application of the smart watch and smart dilator in patients with genital pain.

• A (Research)Master’s degree in (clinical) psychology.
• A keen interest in chronic pain and sexology.
• Experience in experimental research and preferably also in psychophysiology and/or partner interactions.
• Well-developed analytical skills and creativity.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills.

A PhD candidate appointment (0.8 FTE) lasts five years (1 year + 4 years after receiving a positive evaluation).

We offer a salary according to the PhD salary scale of the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) of €2.541 gross per month in the first year to €3,247 in the fourth year. On top of this, there is a yearly holiday allowance (8% of annual income) and an annual end-of-year bonus (8.3% of annual income).

In addition to good primary employment conditions, UM also offers an attractive package of secondary employment conditions.

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 www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > About UM > Working at UM.

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 22,000 students and about 5,000 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. 
For more information, visit www.maastrichtuniversity.nl.