The employment is primarily dedicated towards carrying out the proposed research described above, with the aim to write several academic articles that are publishable in high-impact peer-reviewed journals (supported by computer code), and should result in a doctoral dissertation. If desired, the position and the environment in which the candidate will be embedded provide an optimal starting point for a possible academic career. The candidate will follow a customized track of graduate courses that will further develop the candidate’s research skills and background knowledge. 

You have a Research Master degree (or equivalent) in (quantitative) psychology, sociology, or social sciences, or econometrics, statistics or biostatistics, or computer science or machine learning, and have demonstrable knowledge of advanced quantitative research methods and techniques. You are familiar with programming in at least one of the following languages: R, Python, Julia, Java, C++ or otherwise. You have a strong interest in developing statistical methods to solve “real-world” problems in social and behavioral sciences, and have academic curiosity and an interest to work in an interdisciplinary environment. You have excellent writing and verbal skills.

Fixed-term contract: 4 years.

Tilburg University is among the top Dutch employers and has an excellent policy concerning terms of employment. The collective employment terms and conditions for Dutch universities will apply. Initially the appointment will be on a temporary basis for the period of 1 year. After a positive first year evaluation the contract will be prolonged for 3 years. The salary for the position of PhD-candidate on a full-time basis ranges between € 2.325,- and € 2.972,- gross per month (not included are various allowances). Furthermore, an attractive package of benefits, including, sports facilities, an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year allowance. If applicable, we can apply for the 30% tax regulation.

Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (TSB) is a modern, specialized university. The teaching and research of the Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences are organized around the themes of Adaptive societies, organizations, and workers, Healthy life span, Personalized prevention and care. The School's inspiring working environment challenges its workers to realize their ambitions; involvement and cooperation are essential to achieve this.

Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Department of Methodology and Statistics

The Department of Methodology and Statistics is an internationally renowned group, holding several experts in data science methods, latent variable methods, psychometrics, meta-research, survey methodology, and other applied statistics fields. The department has a strong tradition of working with the other (substantive) research programs in our School. The department is part of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Tilburg University and responsible for the teaching and the research in the area of methodology and statistics for the social and behavioral sciences, the Data Science programs (including the novel joint bachelor in Data Science together with the technical university of Eindhoven), and the Liberal Arts and Science program of Tilburg University. The department is a member of the Interuniversity Graduate School for Psychometrics and Sociometrics (IOPS).