Project Assistant 'Youth Education & Life Skills'

Do you enjoy organising activities and are you excited about connecting scientists, social partners and youth? The Dynamics of Youth (DoY) research community ‘Youth Education & Life Skills’, is looking for a project assistant to support the community.

Your job
Youth has the future. What that future looks like, we do not know: the world and our society are constantly and rapidly changing. It is therefore important to prepare our youth to seize opportunities and deal with challenges, and to teach them the skills needed to do so. Every day, education professionals passionately dedicate themselves to guiding every child in this. They do so in teaching and in educational programmes outside school with the ambition of moving with the changing society and offering every child and young person optimal opportunities. We support this ambition from Youth Education & Life Skills, a community with evidence-based knowledge and activities.

Our community values are: (1) co-creation with researchers, young people and social partners, (2) multidisciplinary collaboration, (3) a creative and playful approach to discovery and (4) active participation in community building.

Our community offers researchers and education professionals a network of experts with a passion for education and youth, activities for sharing insights and inspiration (e.g. roundtables, symposia), support in developing ideas and fostering new collaborations, and funding for relevant research activities.

At the moment, the community's project team consists of two community chairpeople, a postdoc and a student assistant. The community itself is still growing and currently consists of more than 50 scientists who actively identify with our community.

The position focuses on community building and organising activities to support the community. You will connect scientists, social partners and young people related to our community. You will work closely with the team to implement the vision of our community. You will be responsible for the following tasks:

• identify and connect scholars, social partners and young people involved in our community;
• develop and strengthen relationships with key community partners;
• organise activities and/or co-develop materials to share scientific research with scientists, social partners and engaged young people;
• organise activities and/or co-develop materials to share the needs of community partners and young people, together with Utrecht University researchers;
• supervise student assistants (and possibly in the future interns);
• support and inspire other team members and community members in creating new collaborations and strengthening existing ones.

There are many ways to put the vision and mission of Youth Education & Life Skills into practice. This list of tasks is not set in stone. We value co-creation and a creative and playful approach and welcome ideas to adapt tasks to achieve our goal together.

The Youth Education & Life Skills community requires an open and creative mind who is passionate about working with and connecting people. We are looking for someone with the following qualifications, skills and attributes:

• a completed Bachelor's or Master's degree in educational sciences, social geography and planning, psychology, sociology, communication or a related field;
• a good written and oral command of Dutch and English (minimum level B1);
• interest in the discipline learning and education, both nationally and internationally;
• team skills: support the team by actively listening, sharing and building on ideas, taking and sharing responsibility, good sense of group dynamics;
• project management skills: be proactive, well organised and structured, good at project planning and time management, creative and flexible;
• networking skills (pre): easily approachable and approaches others easily, curious / broad interest, active listening, engaging partners, playful;
• experience in building a community (pre);
• experience working with teachers, students, stakeholders or community partners, from diverse backgrounds (pre).

We offer:

• a valuable network and support for personal development and career planning;
• a temporary position for a year, starting in April or May 2025;
• a working week of 24 to 28 hours and a gross monthly salary between €2,899 and €3,809 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale 7-8 under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.3%;
• a pension scheme, parental leave on partial pay and flexible working conditions on the basis of the collective labour agreement of Dutch Universities.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University has a number of schemes and facilities of its own for employees. This includes schemes facilitating professional development, leave schemes and schemes for sports and cultural activities, as well as discounts on software and other IT products. We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit 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 strategic themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Pathways to Sustainability. Sharing science, shaping tomorrow.

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. Almost 7,000 students are enrolled in a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programmes. The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences has some 1,100 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 faculty is located at Utrecht Science Park near the historical city centre of Utrecht.

For more information about this position and/or the team, please contact Pascale van Zantvliet (she/her) at p.i.vanzantvliet@uu.nl or at +31 6 43 60 44 43 (on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday).

Candidates for this vacancy will be recruited by Utrecht University.

As Utrecht University, we want to be a home for everyone. We value staff with diverse backgrounds, perspectives and identities, including cultural, religious or ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. We strive to create a safe and inclusive environment in which everyone can flourish and contribute.

To apply, please send your curriculum vitae, including a letter of motivation, via the ‘apply now’ button.

We expect to schedule the first interviews in the week of 24 March.