The Department of Education and Pedagogical Science, division Youth and Family, has a vacancy for a Postdoctoral Researcher on the project Development of Adolescent Identity and Autonomy during Transitional Periods: Putting the Individual Back into Development (INTRANSTION). The INTRANSITION project has been funded by an ERC Consolidator Grant. You will be part of a larger project team, containing the principle investigator, three PhD candidates, two Postdocs and a number of Student Assistants. You will potentially be involved in the supervision of the PhD candidates.

The INTRANSITION project examines how identity and autonomy are formed in daily interactions with parents and friends, during important school transitions from childhood to adolescence and from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Identity develops through interactions with parents and friends and is important for adolescents’ relational functioning and societal participation. The project will examine intra-individual (or within-person, as opposed to inter-individual or between-person) processes of change in identity and autonomy. Adolescents will be followed longitudinally during important transitional periods: a cohort that transitions from elementary to secondary education and a cohort that transition from secondary to tertiary education. Data will be collected using a combination of experience sampling, observations of interactions with parents and friends, and questionnaire data. The Postdoc will specifically focus on the role of person-environment interactions in intra-individual development of identity and autonomy.

The successful candidate should meet the following requirements:

• a PhD in Pedagogics, Developmental Psychology, or a closely related field;
• expertise in and affinity with psychosocial development of adolescents;
• experience with advanced longitudinal data analysis;
• ability to initiate, develop, and deliver high quality research;
• fluency in English and good writing skills, reflected in published articles in leading peer-reviewed international citation indexed journals in the field;
• ability or potential to generate external research funding;
• excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work independently and as part of a team;
• fluency in Dutch, to be able to assist in the design of the study and the coordination of the data collection.

We offer a temporary position for one year. Upon a positive performance the appointment will be extended with a period of two years. The gross salary ranges between €2,640 and €4,166 gross per month for a full-time employment (scale 10 of the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities). In addition, we offer attractive and flexible secondary terms of employment such as an annual holiday pay of 8%, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% per year and partially paid parental leave. We also provide an attractive working environment and a vibrant research climate. More information is available at: working at Utrecht University.

A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major societal themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Sustainability.

The city of Utrecht is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, with a charming old center and an internationally oriented culture that is strongly influenced by its century-old university. Utrecht city has been consistently ranked as one of the most liveable cities in the Netherlands.

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences is one of the leading Faculties in Europe providing research and academic teaching in Cultural Anthropology, Educational Sciences, Interdisciplinary Social Science, Pedagogical Sciences, Psychology, and Sociology. Research and teaching activities are concentrated in five areas:

• Behaviour in Social Contexts;
• Child and Adolescent Studies;
• Cognitive and Clinical Psychology;
• Education and Learning;
• Methodology and Statistics.

More than 5,600 students are enrolled in a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programmes. The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences has some 850 faculty and staff members, all providing their individual contribution to the training and education of young talent and to the research into and finding solutions for scientific and societal issues.
 

The division Youth and Family is a part of the Utrecht Centre for Child and Adolescent Studies (UC-CAS). The Utrecht Centre of Child and Adolescent Studies is dedicated to the study of child and adolescent development, and focuses on one common overarching research issue: the interaction between individual characteristics and the social and cultural context in producing a variety of developmental pathways from childhood into adolescence and young adulthood. Its aim is to explain why and how particular developmental trajectories are affected by (interacting) factors at the level of the individual (neurocognitive, psychophysiological, emotional and behavioural aspects), the level of the proximal social environment (relations with parents, peers, intimate relationships, informal and formal social networks) and the level of the social and cultural environment (socioeconomic inequality, ethnic background, cultural lifestyles). To accomplish this goal, research groups originating from Psychology, Pedagogics and Interdisciplinary Social Science are participating in the Utrecht Centre of CAS.