Are you exceptionally interested in social media, conflicts, and political communication? Is it your ambition to become a top-tier interdisciplinary researcher?

We are seeking a PhD candidate for an exciting interdisciplinary project on digitalisation, which is funded by NWO. This PhD track is part of the Political Communication and Journalism programme group and the Theoretical Philosophy group at VU Amsterdam.

Project description

The project will focus on the use, content, and effects of politicians’ use of conflict framing. Politicians increasingly use online and social media to communicate with voters directly. In doing so, they frequently use conflict framing (e.g., criticizing other politicians, ideas, or institutions). Conflicts can take a variety of forms and have different effects. This project investigates whether and, if so, how the nature of the conflict frame affects voters; whether it mobilizes and informs voters, or whether it leads to cynicism and disengagement.

What will you be doing?

You:

• are required to apply a mixed-method design;
• will draw on philosophical literature focusing on disagreement;
• will conduct a conceptual analysis;
• will conduct a manual and computer-assisted content analyses of online communication of politicians;
•  will conduct an experiment;
• will write publications on newly collected datasets and present these on conferences;
• will organize knowledge dissemination & impact activities.

Candidates for this position should have an academic degree in communication science, or a related field such as sociology, information science, or political science. A Research Master’s degree is a plus, as is a minor or similar academic training in Philosophy.

In addition, you:

• are interested in research on political communication;
• are interested in digital communication methods;
• are interested in political philosophy;
• have knowledge about (or are willing to learn) automatic content analyses;
• excel academically, as shown in a curriculum vitae;
• have elaborate experience with quantitative research methods, especially (manual and automated) content analysis, and experimental research, as indicated in their Master thesis and/or courses taken;
• have an excellent written and spoken command of English;
• have preferably a written command of Dutch;
• are familiar with research on social media;
• have the ability (or are willing to learn) to collect and analyze large scale data sets;
• are interested in disseminating academic knowledge, engaging in discussions and impact activities with societal stakeholders and practitioners.

Our offer

The position concerns a temporary appointment of 38 hours per week for a maximum term of 4 years. The initial appointment 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. We will put together a curriculum which will also include the opportunity to attend training courses and both national and international events. You will also be tasked with teaching Bachelor's students.

Your salary will be €2,325 gross per month in the first year and will increase to €2,972 in the final year, based on full-time employment and in keeping with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities. We additionally offer an extensive package of secondary benefits, including 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8,3%.

What else can we offer you?

A challenging work environment with a variety of duties and ample scope for individual initiative and development within an inspiring organisation. The social and behavioural sciences play a leading role in addressing the major societal challenges faced by the world, the Netherlands and Amsterdam, now and in the future.

To work at the University of Amsterdam is to work in a discerning, independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is a leading, innovative, and growing university that is at the heart of society and actively contributes to new developments in teaching and research. The VU has ten faculties which span a wide range of disciplines, as well as several institutes, foundations, research centres, and support services.

University of Amsterdam

With over 5,000 employees, 30,000 students and a budget of more than 600 million euros, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is an intellectual hub within the Netherlands. Teaching and research at the UvA are conducted within seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Law, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. Housed on four city campuses in or near the heart of Amsterdam, where disciplines come together and interact, the faculties have close links with thousands of researchers and hundreds of institutions at home and abroad.  

The UvA’s students and employees are independent thinkers, competent rebels who dare to question dogmas and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and standard solutions. To work at the UvA is to work in an independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.

Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences – Communication Science

The Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR) is the research institute for the Communication Science department at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. The Department of Philosophy, which is one of three departments in the Faculty of Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, is a vibrant and international community of philosophers committed to high-quality teaching and research in diverse areas of philosophy.