Are you exceptionally interested in climate change communication or emotions research? Do you like to work in an inter-disciplinary team of communication scientists, social psychologists, and political scientists? Are you eager to employ mixed methods? And, do you want your office to be located in the vibrant city of Amsterdam? If the answer to all these questions is yes, then we are looking for you!

In this two-year project, we will investigate the role of emotions in climate change conversations. Emotions are theoretically conceptualized and empirically investigated in different ways across academic disciplines. Hence, we adopt an interdisciplinary approach to answer the question: “How do facial, verbal, physical, and experiential emotions in conversations about climate change shape the course of conversations and ultimately shift viewpoints on climate change interventions?”

The project is financed by the RPA Emotions, an interdisciplinary research priority area of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences (UvA). The post-doc will be situated at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), but also has the opportunity to become part of the psychology and political science departments and the Environmental Communication Lab (ECoLab).

The Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR) is the research institute for the Communication Science Department in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Amsterdam.

What are you going to do?
The project consists of three sub-projects. The first subproject focuses on the dynamic interplay of experiential, physical, and verbal emotions in climate change conversations. The second subproject qualitatively investigates how verbal expressions of emotions in climate change conversations shape viewpoints on climate change. The last subproject computationally analyses patterns of emotions in the facial movements, vocal characteristics and speech contents in climate change conversations.

You will be responsible for data collection (i.e. focus groups) and data analyses, which involve qualitative analyses (i.e. interactional framing analysis and thematic analysis) and quantitative analyses (algorithmic coding, Multimodal Emotional Expression capture software [MEXCA]).

Budget is available to hire research assistants, develop yourself as academic researcher, and go to conferences. Depending on your interest and the needs of the educational institutes of the department in which the candidate will be placed, it may be possible to discuss opportunities for adding teaching activities in the appointment depending on approval from the teaching institutes.

You will/tasks

• Recruit participants, arrange, and conduct focus-group discussions;
• Data analyses with mixed methods;
• Supervise research assistants;
• Lead and coordinate the publication of three papers;
• Presenting results at conferences and RPA Emotions summer school;
• Science communication;
• Educational responsibilities are negotiable.

Your experience and profile

• A PhD degree in a relevant field (e.g. communication science; social psychology; political science);
• Passionate about climate change communication and/or emotions research;
• Experience with statistical analyses
• Experience with programming in Python and/or R;
• Genuine interest in mixed-methods;
• Motivated to work in an inter-disciplinary team;
• Proactive coordination skills;

Dutch language proficiency is desired.

The position concerns (temporary) employment of 38 hours a week for a maximum term of two years. Following a positive assessment and barring altered circumstances. We will put together a curriculum which will also include the opportunity to attend training courses and both national and international events.

For this position the University Job Classification profile Researcher 4 applies.

Depending on your experience, the minimum salary is €3.226 and the maximum salary is €5.090 gross per month based on a 38-hour working week, in keeping with salary scale 10, as per the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities.

We additionally offer an extensive package of secondary benefits, including 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.3%.

The UvA offers excellent possibilities for further professional development and education.

What else do we offer

• a position in which initiative and input are highly valued
• an enthusiastic and interdisciplinary team
• an inspiring academic and international working environment in the heart of Amsterdam.

Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences

The University of Amsterdam is the largest university in the Netherlands, with the broadest spectrum of degree programmes. It is an intellectual hub with 39,000 students, 6,000 employees and 3,000 doctoral students who are all committed to a culture of inquiring minds.

A challenging work environment with a variety of duties and ample scope for individual initiative and development within an inspiring organization. The social and behavioral sciences play a leading role in addressing the major societal challenges faced by the world, the Netherlands and Amsterdam, now and in the future.

Want to know more about our organisation? Read more about working at the University of Amsterdam.