PhD on Loneliness of Young Adults & the Built Environment

Are you passionate about exploring how public spaces can reduce loneliness and enhance well-being for young adults? Contribute to innovative research combining experience sampling, co-design, and immersive Virtual Reality to shape inclusive, socially vibrant urban environments.

Information
Loneliness in young adults has increased significantly worldwide, posing serious health risks. Social and built environment factors can affect these feelings, but knowledge about their impact is limited, especially among young adults (18-25 years). The CARE: Co-designing Public Spaces to Alleviate Loneliness and Restore Emotional Well-being of Young Adults project aims to understand by using the experience sampling method, how young adults experience public spaces during daily activities how this influences their loneliness and emotional well-being. Subsequently, this insight informs a series of collaborative design workshops where young adults explore their routines, preferences, and needs for public spaces that foster positive social experiences. These findings are then translated into design attributes recreated in an interactive virtual reality application, allowing young adults to experience and design public space scenarios in an immersive environment. The overall co-design methodology helps co-create safe, welcoming spaces that enhance social interaction and positive emotions. The CARE project promotes public space planning and design that alleviates loneliness and fosters a sense of community and belonging, enhancing young adults’ emotional well-being.

As part of this CARE project, the Ph.D. will perform the main research of the three phases of the project. First measuring how built environment settings interact and influence young adults' daily activities and experiences measured using the experience sampling method. Secondly, identifying young adults' needs and preferences for public spaces that provoke positive experiences during daily activities based on co-design workshops. The third phase involves co-designing safe and welcoming public spaces for young adults that enhance social interaction and positive emotions and experiences, in an immersive virtual reality environment application.

The Ph.D. will be expected to:

Develop the measurement tools for the different phases of the project (Experience Sampling Method data collection instrument, co-design workshop, and design VR experiment) and conduct research among young adults to uncover the intricate connections between the physical living environment and the experience of loneliness among young adults

• Write journal articles on the scientific outcomes
• Representation of the project to the wider research and stakeholder community to increase societal knowledge

The Ph.D. will be hosted within the unit Urban Systems and Real Estate (USRE) in the Department of the Built Environment.

A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate assessment after nine months. You will spend a minimum of 10% of your four-year employment on teaching tasks, with a maximum of 15% per year of your employment.
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. € 3,059 max. €3,881).
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates.