We offer a PhD position as part of the TRANS-SENIOR project (www.trans-senior.eu) funded by the EU’s Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions within Horizon2020. The early stage researcher (ESR3) will contribute to the research project “Inter-professional community care to enhance Community Ageing in Place and Advancing Better Living for Elders in the Netherlands (CAPABLE-NL)”.

This research project, led by Maastricht University (the Netherlands), aims to reduce the number of avoidable transitions from home care to hospitals and nursing homes. It will focus on developing / adapting an inter-professional community care model for older care-dependent people in the Dutch community care setting. The model is based on the principles from a re-ablement perspective, and aims to assist older adults to attain and maintain their highest level of functioning. The model designs a re-orientation of home care services away from treating disease and creating dependency towards focusing on capabilities and opportunities and maximizing independence.

This project will deliver a protocol for the CAPABLE-NL model, provide practical insights on how to adapt, implement and evaluate a complex intervention in a community care setting and gain first insights into evidence on implementation (barriers & facilitators), residents (e.g., number of transitions, disability, mobility), family-related outcomes (e.g., caregiver burden, care satisfaction) and costs.

The project will be conducted from the Living Lab in Ageing and Long-Term Care, a formal and structural collaboration of Maastricht University with 7 long-term care organizations, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences and Vocational Training Institutes Gilde Zorgcollege and Vista College.

TRANS-SENIOR

The TRANS-SENIOR Innovative Training Network builds capacity for tackling a major challenge facing European long-term care systems: the need to improve care for an increasing number of care-dependent senior citizens by avoiding unnecessary transitions and optimising care transitions that are actually needed. 

Currently, the TRANS-SENIOR network is recruiting for one other PhD position (ESR1), at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, which is aimed at Developing guidance for necessary & avoidable care transitions in senior citizens. See www.trans-senior.eu for more information.

TRANS-SENIOR is a European Joint Doctorate network, meaning that the ESR trained through this project will receive a PhD-degree from Maastricht University (Netherlands) and KU Leuven (Belgium). TRANS-SENIOR offers an international, collegial and supportive work environment, where a total of 13 ESRs will be trained from our multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral team to become health care innovators. The ESR will receive additional training and undergo secondments at academic and/or non-academic partner organisations within the network. The latest starting date is October 1st 2019. 

Your Profile:

• Candidates from any nationality – including non-EU countries- are welcome to apply. As international mobility is a criterion in the EU-funded project candidates should, however, not have lived, worked or studied in the Netherlands for more than 12 months in the three years immediately prior to the recruitment.
• Master’s degree in Health Sciences (e.g. Nursing Science, Health Promotion, Movement Science), Psychology, Public Health or similar Master’s degree relevant to this project;
• Good communication, scientific writing and human relationship skills, has demonstrable capacity in organizing and managing projects and working in a team.
• Solid foundation in quantitative and/or qualitative research methods.
• As the project will be conducted in joint collaboration with health care practice (e.g. nurses, doctors, other health care professionals), the candidate should be able to speak the Dutch language (B2 level or equivalent).
• High motivation for working towards a PhD and the overall TRANS-SENIOR purposes, including spending time at another university (secondments).

Fixed-term contract: 4 years.

Temporary employment for 4 years. Your salary would be € 2.325,- gross per month in the first year up to € 2.972,- gross per month in the fourth year according to the PhD-candidate salary scale. Each year an evaluation will take place.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > Support > UM employees.

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 16.300 students and 4,300 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.

http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/

Health Services Research

The mission of the Department of Health Services Research is to improve quality of life, quality and efficiency of chronic care and care of older people. We do this by studying and teaching innovations in a multidisciplinary way addressing the broad spectrum from prevention to palliative care. https://hsr.mumc.maastrichtuniversity.nl

The department is part of the School CAPHRI (Care and Public Health Research Institute) of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/research/school-caphri-care-and-public-health-research-institute

Living Lab in Ageing and Long-Term Care

The Living Lab in Ageing and Long-Term Care (www.academischewerkplaatsouderenzorg.nl ) is a formal and structural multidisciplinary network consisting of Maastricht University, seven long-term care organizations (Cicero Zorggroep, Envida, Mosae Zorggroep, MeanderGroep Zuid- Limburg, Sevagram, Vivantes and Zuyderland), Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Gilde Zorgcollege and Vista College, all located in the southern part of the Netherlands. In the Living Lab we aim to improve the quality of care and quality of life for older people via a structural multidisciplinary collaboration between research, policy, education and practice. Practitioners (such as nurses, physicians, psychologists, physio- and occupational therapists), work together with managers, researchers, students, teachers and older people themselves to develop and test innovations in long-term care.

https://hsr.mumc.maastrichtuniversity.nl/health-services-research-hsr