Joint PhD project

• Research Centre Global Minds @ Work (Hotel Management School Maastricht, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences)
• Erasmus School of History, Culture & Communication (Erasmus University, Rotterdam)

Zuyd’s Research Centre Global Minds @ Work (part of the Hotel Management School Maastricht), is looking for a highly motivated PhD candidate / junior lecturer who seeks to conduct their PhD research on the effectiveness of intercultural educational interventions in international classrooms, based on the Global Mind Monitor research project.

The PhD project is a collaboration between Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in Maastricht and Erasmus University Rotterdam. You will be employed at Zuyd as a PhD candidate / lecturer and embedded as a PhD student in the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities. Your promotor will be affiliated with the EUR and you will have a daily supervisor at both institutes. Your daily professional activities will take place in Maastricht and we expect you to be able to travel to Rotterdam on a regular basis. You will be able to participate in the PhD programme offered by the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities (https://www.egsh.eur.nl/ )

The PhD project (60 %) has an anticipated (flexible) starting date in September 2023 and is funded by Zuyd University of Applied Sciences for four years. Your lecturing activities (20-40 %) will take place at the Hotel Management School Maastricht.

Project Description

Over the past decades, educators in higher education have been designing and analyzing a variety of educational interventions and strategies to support students’ intercultural learning. The goal of these activities is to promote intercultural competences among students, and prepare them to become professionals and citizens that can thrive in a challenging, diverse and globalized world. Some programs aim to internationalize their overall curriculum, while others set up (virtual) exchange programs with international partners, offer shorter projects or courses on intercultural learning, promote international internships, or try to internationalize their staff and students and use English as a language of instruction.

The goal of this PhD project is to conduct a structural analysis on how different educational interventions affect the long-term development of intercultural competences of students in higher education. To do so, the PhD candidate will use quantitative data from a large-scale longitudinal research project from Zuyd University’s research Center Global Minds @ Work that has been running since 2017: the Global Mind Monitor (GMM). This is a self-reflection tool on intercultural competences that includes – among others – the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire and the Cultural Intelligence scale. Currently, over 20.000 students have participated in one, two, three or more measures, leading to a unique longitudinal dataset that allows the PhD candidate to analyze student development over time. Using the GMM dataset as a basis, the PhD project will specifically focus on the long-term development of intercultural competences in higher education, applying advanced quantitative methods such as Multilevel Modeling, Latent Growth Curve Modeling or Latent Class Analysis.

Research and valorization activities (60%)

• Conducting PhD research within the framework of the project, starting from an original research proposal;
• Gathering additional (quantitative or qualitative) data for the PhD project;
• Contributing to the further development and expansion of a strong network or research partners in higher education working with the Global Mind Monitor;
• Participating in the PhD program and its related courses from Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities (EGSH);
• Publishing and presenting research results in the form of deliverable reports, articles in international peer reviewed journals and papers at international conferences;
• Actively contributing to the research activities at the Global Minds @ Work research center;
• Participating and assisting in the organization of project meetings, workshops and other research activities;
• Formulating evidence-based advice on educational innovations and curriculum development in this field;
• Formulating policy input for next steps in internationalization (at home) in education;
• Contributing to staff training on intercultural competence, and applied (quantitative) research methods.

Lecturing duties (20-40%)

• Teaching courses on research skills, (intercultural) communication or other relevant topics in the Hotel Management School Maastricht or the domain of International Business & Communication;
• Supervising and coaching (graduation) projects and/or internships;
• Actively participating in committees or working groups on curriculum development.

• A (research) master’s degree in sociology, (social) psychology, communication sciences, educational sciences, pedagogy or a related academic discipline;
• Knowledge and demonstrable experience with advanced quantitative research methods (multilevel modeling, structural equation modeling) in a statistical package such as R, Mplus, SPSS or Stata;
• Knowledge of and affinity with intercultural research, as demonstrated by your master’s thesis or other research projects;
• Strong organizational skills and the skills to work both in a team and independently;
• A global mindset and willingness to work in an international environment;
• A first experience with teaching or supervising students is welcome, but not required;
• A willingness to teach different subjects within the Hotel Management School Maastricht or the domain of International Business & Communication;
• Proficiency in spoken and written English (C1-level). If you are a non-native Dutch speaker, we expect a willingness to learn Dutch (to a B2 level);
• Willingness to travel frequently to the EUR campus in Rotterdam.

A warm welcome to Hotel Management School Maastricht and the Erasmus University which offers a challenging and innovative environment with great opportunities to explore.

A position between 0.8 - 1.0 FTE depending on your availability, in a salary scale awarded depending on your qualifications and experience at level 11, with a maximum of € 5,332,48 gross per month when appointed full-time.

To this is added holiday allowance (8%) and a fixed year-end bonus (8.3%), a generous number of holidays, lots of professionalization and a complete offer to work vitally and with pleasure.

Zuyd University | Hotel Managementschool Maastricht

Please take a look at www.hotelschoolmaastricht.nl.