Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences is seeking an enthusiastic colleague for the position Research lab manager in the Department of Communication and Cognition.

The department hosts multiple state-of-the-art research labs, which are intensively used by researchers and by students, both from within and outside of the department. For details about the lab facilities, please see https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/about/schools/tshd/departments/dcc/lab.

Currently, the lab management is shared between three persons, and we are looking to extend and solidify this team with a new research lab manager. Tasks will be divided among the team, and may include:

• Offering general support of DCC researchers and students during their lab-work;
• Coordinating the lab research process from planning to execution, including scheduling of space usage and handout of equipment;
• Maintenance of the hard- and software in the labs;
• Technical support for new research, helping develop and test new experimental set-ups, and occasionally contributing to data collection and analysis;
• Organization of trainings or workshops about research methods (explaining hardware use, etc.);
• Management and monitoring of the research participant pool;
• Supporting timely planning, acquisition and introduction of new lab equipment in the lab, to make sure that facilities stay relevant for the state-of-the-art;
• Contributing to lab-related education (e.g., skills courses);
• Providing advice on the purchase of lab equipment to researchers for grant proposals;
• Developing and implementing policies and procedures to ensure that the lab (hardware and software) is and continues to be compliant with all applicable regulations (e.g., TSHD ethical regulations, GDPR etc.).

These tasks are divided among the entire lab management, so the successful candidate will only be responsible for a selection of these tasks.

• A degree in a relevant discipline (for example, Communication and Information Science, Media Design Studies, Cognitive Science, Psychology, or Communication Science).
• An interest in research in Communication and Cognition, as well as in the methods and tools used for this research.
• Experience with programming or scripting for research, and preferably some hands-on experience with at least some of the hard- and software in the lab (e.g., eye tracking, online questionnaires, EEG/ERP, fEMG, virtual reality, social robots and chatbots, 3D printing and prototype development).
• Strong communicative and collaboration skills in English and in Dutch.
• Affinity for process management and/or excellent skills in planning, organization, coordination.

In general: you quickly acquire new skills, are independent and proactive, have excellent problem solving skills, and you feel comfortable in a service-oriented role. Demonstrated knowledge of and experience with lab management is recommended. We realize this is a lot to ask. Hence also people who are enthusiastic about the position, and are willing to acquire certain missing skills along the way, are invited to apply.

Fixed-term contract: 1 year with the option to contract for indefinite period.

This is a position for 0.6 – 0.8 fte (24 – 32 hours per week) of full working hours. Working hours can be flexible for caring responsibilities. The salary amounts to a minimum of € 3.266 and a maximum of €5.090 gross per month for full time employment contract, based on UFO profile research and teaching employee 1 and salary scale 10 of the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities. Tilburg University uses a neutral salary system for scaling that is based on relevant education and work experience.This is a vacancy for a structural position in accordance with Article 2.3, paragraph 1 of the CLA for Dutch Universities. You will be given a temporary employment contract for the duration of 12 months. After this period, if your suitability has been proven and you continue in the same position, you will receive an employment contract for an indefinite period.  

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. 
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. All employees of the university are covered by the so-called General Pension Fund for Public Employers (Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP).  

We make clear agreements about career paths and offer all kinds of facilities and arrangement to maintain an optimal balance between work and private life. You can also follow numerous training courses, for example, in the areas of leadership skills, personal effectiveness, and career development. 

Tilburg University values an open and inclusive culture. We embrace diversity and encourage the mutual integration of groups of employees and students. We focus on creating equal opportunities for all our employees and students so that everyone feels at home in our university community. 

Tilburg University has a lively campus in beautiful green surroundings that is easily accessible by public transport. We are committed to a sustainable society and challenge you to make an active contribution.

Please visit working at Tilburg University for more information on our terms of employment. 

Tilburg University

Tilburg University's motto is Understanding Society. Based on this vision, our more than 2,800 employees conduct research, inspire more than 20,000 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. In doing so, we work from the fields of economics, business and entrepreneurship, social and behavioral sciences, law and public administration, humanities and digital sciences, and theology. We seek the connection between the various disciplines to find solutions to the major issues we face as a society. Our students are educated to become responsible and entrepreneurial thinkers, driven by solidarity, a sense of responsibility, and empathy, who are able to influence and give direction to a rapidly changing society in an innovative way. Tilburg University has a culture of collaboration and co-creation, at local, regional, national, and international level.

Who we are
Research and education at the Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences (TSHD) has a unique focus on humans in the context of the globalizing digital society, on the development of artificial intelligence and interactive technologies, on their impact on communication, culture and society, and on moral and existential challenges that arise. The School of Humanities and Digital Sciences consists of four departments: Communication and Cognition, Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Culture Studies and Philosophy; several research institutes and a faculty office. Also the University College Tilburg is part of the School. The School has approximately 3100 students and around 270 employees.

The Department of Communication and Cognition (DCC) is responsible for the Tilburg center for Cognition and Communication (TiCC), where research is conducted into cognitive and social aspects of human communication through a multidisciplinary approach combining careful experimentation with survey methods, corpus analyses and computational modeling. The research group consists of about 80 researchers covering a broad range of topics relevant for cognition and communication, and this includes approximately 20 PhD students. Core research domains include communication and technology, cross-cultural communication, computational linguistics, information visualisation, marketing and business communication, language production, and non-verbal communication, with a strong emphasis on digital methods.