Applications are invited for a postdoc position to work within an exciting project within the newly established interdisciplinary Centre of Urban Mental Health of the University of Amsterdam (www.uva.nl/urban-mental-health), linked to the Health Systems Complexity team at the Institute of Advanced Study in the University of Amsterdam. The team is an interdisciplinary group of researchers, based in the Amsterdam University Medical Centre (location AMC) and the Institute of Advanced Study in the University of Amsterdam, devoted to understand and target psychological, biomedical and social processes and their interplay in depression and concurrent mental health conditions.

Background
There is a growing consensus that the complexities underlying the high prevalence of mental disorders at the population level cannot be unravelled by traditional methods alone; a shift in research paradigm to systems thinking is imperative to move this field forward. The expertise in this field is still limited, however. To build this expertise we take up the challenge of applying systems thinking to depression and concurrent common mental health conditions. Depression is inherently a result of multiple processes acting at multiple scales, all the way from an individual network of symptoms and mechanisms to cross sectional networks of symptoms and mechanisms (such as affective fluctuation, avoidance etc.) and to population level factors, that encompass processes such as social cohesion and exclusion. The link between these processes and networks is complex, involving multifaceted, dynamic causal pathways. A systems approach that encompasses the complexity of these pathways from micro to macro level, can support innovation in interventions and public health policy and practice in effectively tackling depression.
Particularly novel to this project is that we will link symptoms and mechanisms of depression at the individual level to social environment processes in order to better understand and exploit their interplay and establish how social processes “get under the skin”. In the spirit of complex system modelling, the question is how the onset and relapse of depression is an emergent phenomenon of individual processes coupled with population-level processes.

Goal
This PostDoc will be enabled to acquire research grants (international and national funds) to further develop the centre of UMH, in close collaboration with prof. Bockting and prof. Stronks (Amsterdam UMC and Centre of Urban Mental Health) and with researchers of the involved other faculties and international collaborators.

The candidate for this position:

• Has a PhD in psychiatry, public health, sociology, psychology or related areas.
• Has an affinity towards and good knowledge on mental health, preferably depression.
• Has experience with writing research proposal and grant acquisition.
• Enjoys interacting with scientists from different disciplines and tackling complex problems.

This is a full-time 2 year Postdoc position based in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). Appointment starts as soon as possible.

Fixed-term contract: 24 months.

We offer you ample opportunity for development, deepening and broadening, additional training and a place to grow! Working at AMR means working in an inspiring and professional environment where development is encouraged in every respect.

• The maximum gross monthly salary based on a 36-hour work week is € 4.481 (scale 36 CAO UMC).
• The base salary does not include holiday pay (8%) and a year-end bonus (8.3%).
• We offer a contract for 24 months.
• In addition to excellent accessibility by public transport, AMC also has a sufficient number of parking spaces for employees.
• Pension is accrued at Be Frank.

For an overview of all our other terms of employment.

Amsterdam UMC

Over 7000 people work here to provide integrated patient care, fundamental and clinical scientific research, and teaching.
The AMC complex houses the university hospital and the faculty of medicine of UvA as well as the Emma Children’s Hospital, the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, the Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, the medical department of the Royal Tropical Institute and the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development. A number of biotech companies (some of which are AMC spin-offs) are also located on the premises. This concentration of expertise makes the centre a breeding ground for fruitful scientific collaboration.