The Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute invites applications for 2 PhD positions as part of the NWO funded project Retirement Migration: A Large-Scale Survey Study of Risks and Rewards 

Project description
An increasing number of people migrate from the Netherlands to a foreign country after their retirement. While retirement migrants typically move in search of a better climate and a less hectic life environment, migration in the later stages of life also poses challenges. There have been prior studies of retirement migration but the number of studies is small, typically qualitative, and mostly descriptive. The current project raises new questions about the potential problems that retirement migrants may experience. Specifically, the focus is on two types of ‘risk’: problems with family ties, social networks and community involvement, and problems with health, wellbeing and lifestyles. Using a well-defined nationally representative sample frame, a large-scale survey among retirement migrants and their spouses will be conducted. Using theories from (social) gerontology, social network research, and migration studies, new hypotheses will be developed about why and under what conditions retirement migrants are successful while others are not. These hypotheses will be tested with the newly collected survey data.

The PhD positions are part of a research team that currently consists of the prof. dr. Matthijs Kalmijn (PI), prof. dr. Kène Henkens, and prof. dr. Harry van Dalen. At this stage we are recruiting two PhD candidates who will focus on their own subthemes within the program. The choice of the subtheme will be decided based on the profiles of the candidates. The two PhD projects will make use of the new survey that is to be collected, as well as on existing survey data and register data. The PhDs will also play a role in the data collection.

Function description

• Carry out cutting edge academic research within an international team of engaged researchers.
• Publish international journal articles within the described project resulting in a PhD thesis defended at Groningen University.
• Contributions to the collection, processing, and documentation of the new survey.
• Participate in and present at (inter-)national scientific meetings (in so far as possible) and contribute to dissemination activities of the project.

• A (research) master degree in sociology, demography, economics, social geography, social psychology, or migration studies.
• A solid background in quantitative data analyses and strong skills in advanced statistical methods.
• Excellent knowledge of English.
• Excellent writing skills.

The candidate is expected to start by February 1, 2021. The initial appointment will be for a period of 1 year. After positive evaluation, the appointment will be extended for another 3 years. A psychological assessment can be part of the selection procedure. 

The gross monthly salary will be in line with the Dutch regulations for academic staff at the PhD level. Benefits include pension contribution, annual holiday premium of 8% and an end-of-year premium of 8.3%.

Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)

The Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI-KNAW) is an Academy research institute. NIDI conducts research on population issues and informs policymakers and society about the results of demographic research. By concentrating researchers from different disciplines in a single institute, NIDI has become one of the most important demographic research centres in Europe.