Postdoctoral Position with the StudentLines initiative

The Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen offers a four-year Postdoctoral position on the StudentLines initiative which is fully funded by Nationaal Programma Groningen.

The candidate will join the StudentLines initiative which is a lively and highly multidisciplinary project team consisting of PhD candidates and (senior) researchers, spanning the University of Groningen, Hanze University of Applied Science and vocational education institutes in the region.

What are you going to do?

The StudentLines initiative

StudentLines is a large-scale, collaborative and student-centered research and data infrastructure project co-developed by the University of Groningen and the Hanze University of Applied Science. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the quality of education through research, promote educational innovation, monitor interventions and map the interconnections between educational institutions and the professional field (educational careers, progression paths). The project features PhD projects which will contribute through pilots on key elements of this infrastructure of data and people. They will investigate how StudentLines can engage researchers, educators, policymakers, regional stakeholders and above all, students, to transform how data is used to support students across their entire learning journey.

The PostDoc position

The successful candidate will contribute directly to the design, evaluation and implementation of StudentLines, supporting research that explores how students conceptualise well-being, engage with institutional support systems and how their educational experiences affect long-term outcomes on the regional labour market.

The candidate will be required to:

• Contribute to the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of StudentLines
• Support and explore new collaborations and integration of new projects into StudentLines and contribute to outreach activities and the evaluation thereof
• Contribute to the development of novel longitudinal datacollection
• Design, plan and conduct their own programme of investigation within the scope of StudentLines, in consultation with their manager
• Disseminate the research through publication in leading peer-reviewed journals, presentations at international conferences, outreach, social media etc.
• Collaborate interdisciplinarily with the PhD students and other researchers in the StudentLines project, and with local government, employers, students and staff from vocational education, Hanze and University of Groningen
• Contribute to the goals of the wider StudentLines project
• In consultation with the candidate, possibilities of building an educational portfolio will be explored

We are looking for a candidate who:

• Holds a PhD degree (or will complete their PhD close to the appointment date) in the field of spatial sciences, educational sciences, economics, demography or the social sciences
• Is curiosity-driven and passionate about fundamental research in the context of educational interventions in the Dutch education system, well-being and transitions to the local labour market, and has a good track-record of publications on these subjects
• Has strong quantitative skills (analyses of longitudinal data, modelling and statistical analyses, ideally in the R environment).
• Has demonstrably good writing skills.
• Is proficient in English and meets the university’s English language requirements (https://www.rug.nl/(...)requirements?lang=en).
• Has a working knowledge of Dutch or is willing to learn.

The ideal candidate will also have:

• Data wrangling experience in extracting data from databases or large datasets
• Strong communication skills, and is motivated to disseminate results to both scientific peers and a broad audience
• Excellent teamwork skills, and is willing to work with a diverse group of researchers and technicians, and can also work independently

• 232 vacation hours per year, based on a 38-hour workweek (1.0 FTE). You can also work more or fewer hours in exchange for more or fewer free hours. For example, with a 40-hour workweek, you save 96 extra free hours, and with a 36-hour workweek, you lose 96 hours.
• End-of-year bonus of 8.3% and 8% holiday allowance.
• Extensive opportunities for personal and professional development.

At the University of Groningen (UG), researchers from all fields of academia and technology are working on academic challenges and societal questions. Lecturers prepare their students for meaningful careers within or outside the academic world. Interdisciplinary research and teaching, sharing of knowledge, collaboration with businesses, government institutions, and societal organizations are aspects that are of the utmost importance to this European top university. The UG aims to be an open academic community with an inclusive and safe working climate that invites you to add your value.

The Faculty of Spatial Sciences (FRW) is an interdisciplinary faculty that makes a significant impact on societal issues such as climate, broad prosperity, population decline, healthy ageing, and sustainable energy. With approximately 100 staff and over 100 PhD students, we engage daily in up-to-date and relevant teaching and research in the fields of planning, demography, and geography. Through our research programme TRACE (Transformations, Communities, and Environments), we are committed to internationally oriented, interdisciplinary research. With two Bachelor's and seven Master's programmes, the Faculty offers broad educational opportunities to about 1,100 students from around the world. The Faculty of Spatial Sciences plays a crucial role in understanding and shaping the living environment of the future. We work for and with society. Our motto is: we are making places better together. If you would like to learn more, visit rug.nl/frw. 

The Faculty of Spatial Sciences is a mid-sized faculty with approximately 100 members of staff, 100 PhD researchers and around 1000 undergraduate students. We focus on high quality teaching and research in the fields of human and economic geography, demography, and spatial planning. Our research programme is titled TRACE (TRAnsformations, Communities and Environments). Our ambition is to create scientific and societal impact by undertaking cutting-edge research at the interface of people, places, and planning in rural and urban settings, especially at local and regional scales, in the Netherlands, Europe and globally. With two bachelor and six master programmes, we provide a wide range of courses in the fields of geography and spatial sciences. The Department of Economic Geography, in which the position will be based, is one of the four departments in the faculty and it offers an open and friendly academic environment with an international staff. The department has about 20 members of staff and 25 PhD researchers. The University of Groningen has a very strong reputation as one of the main centers in regional science globally. In terms of teaching, the department of Economic Geography contributes to the bachelor Human Geography and Planning and it is responsible for the master’s programme in Economic Geography, which includes the tracks ‘Regional Competitiveness and Trade’ and ‘Sustainable Rural Futures’, and the master of Real Estate Studies. Our research is directed towards issues related to regional labour markets, migration, entrepreneurship, happiness, socio-spatial inequalities and real estate applying quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods.