PhD Social Psych: Cultural Gender Beliefs and Support for Gender-affirming Care

“4-Year PhD in Social/Cultural Psychology of Gender”
Passionate about researching culture, gender, and support for gender-diverse people?
Join Gender-InSIGHT, an interdisciplinary doctoral network. This 4-year Social/Cultural Psychology PhD will examine how cultural beliefs about gender shape support for transgender and gender-diverse individuals. Apply if you enjoy ambitious, collaborative research, are keen to develop statistical skills, and want your work to inform policy. Startdate: June 1st, 2026.

Candidates should NOT have resided in the Netherlands for more than 12 months during the 3 years prior to June 1st, 2026 (MSCA mobility rule). This rule is not negotiable.

“Become a PhD student in the Gender-InSIGHT consortium”
‘Gender-InSIGHT’ is an international network for the Investigation of biopsychoSocial Influences on Gender during (diverse) Hormonal Transitions. The network brings together a range of disciplines including psychology, history, ethics, endocrinology, neuroscience and public health and consists of 15 doctoral projects (1 at UvA Social/Cultural Psychology), all of which are now open for applications (you can find a list of all projects at www.genderinsight.eu). Although you should submit a primary application for only ONE project, you can also indicate interest in up to four additional projects (in order of preference, in your motivation letter).

This PhD project (“Cross-cultural gender beliefs and support for gender-affirming care” – DC 14): Most research on gender roles to date has focused on Western concepts of gender. However, countries differ in their socio-cultural beliefs about the nature of gender. The project will begin with a scoping review of lay theories of gender and views on gender-affirming care across countries, drawing on psychological, sociological, and anthropological research. Based on this review, we will develop and validate a novel measure of cultural lay theories about gender. We will conduct a large cross-cultural study in 25 countries to document nuanced differences in how people understand gender. We will further examine how such cultural differences in lay theories, along with structural factors such as a country’s religion and political system, shape support for different forms of gender-affirming care. As part of a secondment/internship with TGEU (Transgender Europe), the PhD candidate will prepare a report on cross-cultural differences in beliefs about—and support for—gender-affirming care, tailored to the needs of professionals involved in policymaking or activism related to gender-affirming care.

We will aim to:

1. Conceptualize and document how people in different countries think about the nature of gender (i.e., differing lay theories of gender that may be based on uniformity, innateness, immutability, sacredness, etc.).
2. Examine how these cultural lay theories of gender, alongside other cultural factors, shape the general public’s support for TGD individuals and different forms of gender-affirming care (e.g., hormones vs. surgery; government funding for gender-affirming care; etc.).

What are you going to do

• Map the evidence base by conducting a scoping review of cross-cultural “lay theories of gender”
• Conceptualize, plan, and manage a large-scale cross-cultural survey study to document how people understand gender and where key differences cluster.
• Learn and apply complex statistical analyses to test what predicts support for gender-affirming care by linking lay theories and other cultural factors to attitudes toward different forms of care (e.g., hormones vs. surgery, public funding).
• Translate findings into real-world outputs through a secondment (internship) with TGEU, producing a tailored report for policymakers, advocates, and professionals working on gender-affirming care.

What you should offer as a candidate
The following are the requirements for this position:

• Candidates should NOT have resided in the Netherlands for more than 12 months during the 3 years prior to June 1st, 2026 (MSCA mobility rule). This rule is not negotiable.
• You have a Master’s degree in psychology or a closely related quantitative social science by May 31st, 2026
• You have a passion for researching gender, culture, and LGBTQ+ issues.
• A major in social or cultural psychology, OR at least completed course work in social and/or cultural psychology
• Experience with basic statistical analyses (R, SPSS, or similar) and willingness to learn complex analyses
• Strong organizational skill and willingness to coordinate large projects
• Excellent higher education track record
• Fluent spoken and written English skills
• We value diverse applications, particularly from populations that are historically underrepresented in higher education and/or marginalised because of an intersection of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, sex and/or gender.

What else do we offer you
You will be conducting research and completing a PhD thesis within the period of the appointment.

We offer a temporary full-time position of 38 hours a week for a term of 4 years. The teaching load for PhD candidates is 5%, equating to teaching a small number of tutorials or supervising 2 Bachelor/Master’s theses a year. The initial employment is for one year. Following a positive assessment and barring altered circumstances, this term will be extended by a maximum of 36 months, which should result in the conferral of a doctorate. The starting date is June 1st, 2026 (with little room for negotiation given grant rules). We will put together a curriculum which will also include the opportunity to attend training courses and both national and international conferences.

You will work here
The Social Psychology programme group at the University of Amsterdam is a large, international, and vibrant community of PhD candidates, postdocs, and professors within the Department of Psychology. The PhD candidate working on this project will be supervised by Dr. Katharina Block (primary supervisor), with Dr. Bertjan Doosje as promoter and Dr. Thomas Morton (University of Copenhagen) as external supervisor. The candidate will be embedded in the Amsterdam Culture and Intergroup Dynamics Lab (https://uvaculturalpsych.nl/), a group of scholars focused on understanding how cultural dynamics shape processes such as gender roles, polarization, and intergroup conflict. As part of the Gender-InSIGHT consortium, the candidate will also have the opportunity to collaborate with researchers from other disciplines, as well as with practitioners.

If you recognize yourself in this profile and are interested in the role, please attach to your application (as one merged pdf file) through the online portal:

• Your motivation letter (2 pages max, 12-point font, please list if you want to be considered for other projects in the consortium)
• Your CV
• Minimum two academic references (names & contact details) that have agreed to write you a reference letter if requested (we will request letters only for top candidates)
• Transcripts (can be unofficial copies) of your Bachelor’s and Master’s grades
• A sample of written work, ideally your Master or Bachelor thesis

You can apply via the red button until March 1st, 23:59 pm European Standard time.

Interviews will take place on in mid-March, 2026. This position starts in June 2026.

For questions about the vacancy, you can contact:

Dr. Katharina Block, k.a.e.block@uva.nl

No agencies please.