“How can new digital health technologies and initiatives contribute to mental well-being?” We are looking for an enthusiastic colleague who will help us find answers to this question. 

In the upcoming year digital tools and interventions will play a more dominant role in improving people’s health and well-being. We expect that in the near future the usage of such tools for individuals to work on their own health will be common. New digital health applications (eHealth, mHealth and other technologies) will become widely available. But for this to become a reality, more research is required where different disciplines are brought together and a collaboration between researchers and societal partners is essential. 

The University-wide Academic Collaborative Center for Digital Health & Mental Well-being is founded by Tilburg University to contribute to the ambition that using  such  tools  to  work  on  your  own  mental  and physical  well-being  is  natural  and  possible  for  everyone  in  Dutch  society. We will achieve this by investigating, developing, evaluating, and implementing new digital health technologies that contribute to mental wellbeing. Four research themes have been identified:

1. Data and Digitalisation: how can data and digitalisation contribute to better wellbeing and which ethical, privacy, and safety factor should be taken into account?  
2. Prevention and (Self-)Monitoring: how can digital health contribute to a healthier lifestyle and thus avoid development or progression of (mental) health conditions?
3. Technical Development and Evaluation: how can we enable a good match between technology and the and end-user and how will we ensure that digital health is accessible to everyone in society? 
4. Policy and Practical Implementation: what factors are involved in implementation of digital tools and how can a sustainable usage be encouraged?  

Within the Academic Collaborative Center researchers from all Tilburg University’s Schools will collaborate and co-create with external partners within the above mentioned themes. This post is a new position financed through the Center. You will work with other post-doctoral researchers who are part of the Center and be part of a larger community of junior researchers who are part of the University's different Centers.

Job description
As postdoctoral researcher you will be developing your own research, in which science and society are brought together. You will play a part in developing, leading and executing research in co-creation with partners, develop your own research projects, play a role in the development of grant proposals and contribute to existing, or develop new, education programmes around digital health and mental well-being. You will be working with colleagues and partners to develop a collaboration-agenda and further develop the strategy of the Center. You will be a part of the Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, but be part of interdisciplinary collaborations with researchers from across the University. 

We are looking for a candidate who: 

• has completed their PhD in a relevant field (applicants who are about to submit their thesis are also invited to apply), 
• has research experience in at least one of the research themes,
• preferably has experience of working at societal partners (i.e. governmental, commercial or non-profit),
• can showcase an interest and commitment to co-create research with societal partners,
• has strong methodological skills (qualitative, qualitative and/ or digital),
• Is fluent in English and preferably also in Dutch. 

If you don’t meet all requirements, but feel you could be a good match for this role, we would still encourage you to apply. 

Fixed-term contract: 2 years.

Tilburg University offers excellent employment conditions with sufficient room for flexibility and (personal) development. We make clear agreements about career progression and offer various arrangement and possibilities to maintain an optimum work-life balance. Tilburg University works on strengthening diversity and inclusion; we therefore have active policies in place for inclusive teams where diverse talents can flourish.

Depending on the candidates’ experience, the salary for the position of a Postdoctoral researcher ranges between €2.960 and €5.439 gross per month based on scale 10 or 11 of the Collective Labour Agreement (CAO) of the Dutch Universities. Tilburg University actively incorporates equal and transparent salaries between men and women by applying pre-determined parameters based on the experience of the candidate.

Researchers from outside the Netherlands may qualify for a tax-free allowance of 30% of their taxable salary if they meet the relevant conditions. The university applies for this allowance on their behalf. 

The contract will be for 2 years.

You are entitled to a vacation allowance of 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.3% of your gross annual income. If you work 40 hours per week, you will receive 41 paid days of leave per year.

Further information on employment conditions can be found on the webpage Working at Tilburg University | Tilburg University.

Tilburg University

Tilburg University’s motto is 'Understanding Society'. Based on this vision, our more than 1,500 employees conduct research, inspire more than 19,000 students of 110 nationalities and bring people from different disciplines and organizations together to learn from each other. In this way we want to contribute to solving complex social issues. We work from social and behavioral sciences, economics, business sciences and entrepreneurship, , law and public administration, humanities and digital sciences and theology. We seek the connection between the various disciplines in order to find solutions for the major issues that we face as a society. Our students are trained to be responsible and entrepreneurial thinkers, driven by solidarity, a sense of responsibility and empathy, who are able to exert influence in an innovative way and give direction to a rapidly changing society. Tilburg University has a culture of collaboration and co-creation, on a local, regional, national and international level.

Academic Collaborative Centers Academische Werkplaatsen
Tilburg University has various Academic Collaborative Centers. In these Centers researchers co-create with societal partners to find solutions to improve society through long-term partnerships and research programmes. In the Centers, knowledge and skills from academia and practice are joined-up to generate societal impact and generate new knowledge and innovations. Four Centers, amongst them the Center for Digital Health & Mental Well-being, are part of the strategic programme “widespread prosperity”; they all contribute from different disciplines to new knowledge and innovations to maintain and improve the prosperity. These Centers work cross-faculty and each Center has two academic leads, who are professors from different Schools (for Digital Health and Mental Well-being the Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences and the Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences are involved). The team of the Center exists of the academic leads, post-docs and other researchers and staff from the Knowledge Transfer Office. Co-creation with external partners and across faculties is relatively novel, there are many opportunities for development and all Centers regularly exchange experiences and best-practices. The Centers aim to also include students in novel ways, for instance through challenge-based learning in student teams.