PhD Social effects of democratic decision-making in citizen collectives

Are you passionate about democratic innovation, behavioral research, and developing creative methodologies that engage practitioners? Do you want to combine scientific research with the development of practical solutions for citizen collectives? Then this PhD position may be an interesting opportunity for you.

About the project
In this four-year PhD project, you will investigate whether citizen collectives function as "schools for democracy." You'll explore how participatory decision-making within citizen collectives influences members' civic engagement beyond the collective. You will examine whether democratic practices in cooperatives foster broader pro-social and democratic tendencies in society.

Together with citizen collectives, you will study the effect of democratic decision-making within citizen collectives on members' civic engagement and cooperative and civic tendencies outside of the collective, both in the context of labour market participation and in co-housing situations (eco-villages) which heavily rely on democratic decision making but do not involve a work setting. In this way, we can gain fine-grained understanding of the democratic decision-making processes that facilitate the educator-role of citizen collectives in different cooperative settings. By exploring these dimensions, our project aims to foster a more participatory and democratic society through the experiences and practices gained in these cooperative settings.

One of the outputs will be a psychological assessment tool to evaluate different dimensions of civic engagement and cooperative and pro-social tendencies, building on existing validated scales. This “Civic Engagement tool” will have the form of a serious game, whereby data collection is embedded within the gameplay itself.

Your role
As the PhD researcher, you will:

• Conduct comparative research across different types of CCs
• Design and implement a serious game for data collection
• Analyze spillover effects of citizen collective participation on broader society
• Collaborate with citizen collective networks like LaNSCO
• Publish findings in academic journals and create practitioner-friendly outputs

What we offer

• A four-year, fully funded PhD position at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
• The opportunity to implement cutting-edge, societally relevant research to understand how different forms of democratic decision-making affect civic behavior.
• Tailored research training and development through the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities.
• Access to a vibrant community of PhD peers within the ECCO consortium and the Governance & Pluralism team, which helps you to find your way in academia at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

We are looking for a curious and committed researcher with an affinity for transdisciplinary research carried out in close collaboration with citizen collectives. Ideally, you have some or all of the following characteristics:

• A Master’s degree in a relevant discipline, including (but not limited to) social and cultural anthropology, public administration, psychology, sociology, political science, or transition studies.
• A strong research interest in themes such as democratic innovation, citizen collectives and/or behavioral sciences.
• Experience with qualitative research, like ethnographic research, and/or participatory action research approaches. Comfortable in working in and with communities is a plus.
• Motivation to engage in both academic and practice-oriented research.
• Strong ability to work independently as well as collaboratively within a team.
• Proficiency in Dutch as the research will take place in the Dutch context; mastering of the English language is also a must.
• Ability to express complex issues in a clear fashion, verbally and in written form.

We offer you an internationally oriented and varied job in an enthusiastic team, with excellent working conditions in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU).

The start date of this position is 1 September 2026 and you will be based at Campus Woudestein in Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB) and linked to the Erasmus School of Philosophy. The objective is that all PhDs in the ECCO consortium project will start at the same time to create a cohort of PhD's. This position is for 0.8 fte - 1 fte. The salary starts from at € 3.059 gross per month Scale PhD on a fulltime basis (38 hours), in accordance with the CAO-NU. The contract is entered into for the duration of 1 year. Upon proven suitability an extension of the contract of 3 year is offered.

Everything else we offer you, you can find below!

• Everything you need for a good work-life balance: the option to work from home in consultation with your manager, 41 days of paid leave with a 40 hour contract, 8% holiday pay and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a significant discount on a subscription for our on-campus sports centre!
• Sustainable, inclusive and diverse work environment with an open culture, where you can be yourself and we pay attention to each other and to the world around us. Make the most of our bicycle budget, or join networks such as Young@EUR, FAME or QuEUR.
• Time and space for your development in the broadest sense: development days and a personal career budget and free access to our university library.
• Good pension with ABP that EUR contributes 2/3rds towards, discounts on various collective insurances with Zilveren Kruis Achmea, Loyalis, and Allianz, and compensation for travel, working from home and home internet use.
• Are you currently combining your job with parenthood, or do you want to do so in the future? EUR offers partially paid parental leave and fully paid additional birth leave for partners, and our campus features a daycare (daycare not paid for by EUR).
• Moving to the Netherlands for your job with EUR? Then you may be eligible for the 30%-ruling if you meet the requirements of the Belastingdienst (Dutch tax agency), and with our Dual Career Programme we will also help your partner find the right job for them.

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is an internationally oriented university with a strong social orientation in its education and research, as expressed in our mission ‘Creating positive societal impact’. EUR is home to 4.100 academics and professionals and almost 33.000 students from more than 140 countries. Everything we do, we do under the credo The Erasmian Way – Making Minds Matter. We’re global citizens, connecting, entrepreneurial, open-minded, and socially involved. These Erasmian Values function as our internal compass and create EUR’s distinctive and recognizable profile. From these values, with a broad perspective and with an eye for diversity, different backgrounds and opinions, our employees work closely together to solve societal challenges from the dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Rotterdam. Thanks to the high quality and positive societal impact of our research and education, EUR can compete with the top European universities. www.eur.nl.

Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB)
Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB) combines various disciplines such as public administration, pedagogical sciences, psychology and sociology. In addition, the Erasmus University College is affiliated with the faculty. Within ESSB, we work in teams on education and research, emphasising interdisciplinarity, diversity, inclusion and sustainability. Together, we strive for societal and scientific impact.

ESSB distinguishes itself through inter-, multi- and transdisciplinary research, in which academics and students work together on complex social issues. Thanks to this approach, ESSB successfully attracts national and international research subsidies and funds, with which we continuously strengthen and renew our education and research.

ESSB serves almost 6,000 students annually with a wide range of bachelor's and master's programmes and has more than 600 employees. These programmes are highly rated by students and alumni. Within ESSB, developing new insights and realising positive societal impact are central, always with a focus on people and society.

Visit our website for more information about the faculty, and click here for more information about our academic teams.

Social Enterprises & Institutions for Collective Action
The core of the work done by research group Social Enterprises & Institutions for Collective Action focuses on community-driven governance regimes in past, present and future. This means that organizations which benefit the community and function with the explicit participation of community members, take centre stage in our research. In addition, many of our projects focus on systemic transitions, involving both social and ecological aspects. By taking a longitudinal approach – ranging from a few years to an entire millennium – our researchers aim at understanding the change that takes place in these systems over time.

For more information, please visit our website.

CollectieveKracht is a knowledge platform for and by citizen collectives across all sectors: from energy to housing, from healthcare to food. The platform connects citizen collectives with each other and with stakeholders such as scientists, policymakers, financiers, and networking organizations. The platform emerged from collaboration between the Social Enterprises and Institutions for Collective Action research team (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and a broad base of network organizations and citizen collectives from a wide range of sectors.