About this position
In this project, we investigate how healthy lifestyle behaviour can be stimulated, especial-ly for people who are undergoing treatment for cancer. After a cancer diagnosis, typically a range of therapies is started, including, for example, chemo- or radiation therapy, com-bined with therapy for positive lifestyle changes, such as more healthy eating or stopping with smoking. While patients generally adhere to the first, medical part of treatment, ad-hering to lifestyle changes is more difficult. Moreover, for some people this is much hard-er than for others. In this project, we aim to find out for which groups of patients lifestyle changes are particularly difficult, and how we can support them in moving towards more healthy behaviours. The starting point of the PhD project will be interviews and focus groups with Dutch patients who struggle with adherence, asking them which support they would need.

About the project
The PhD position is part of the BEAMER project, a five-year European research project on adherence to treatment in six thematic areas: cardiovascular disease, oncology, immu-nology, neurology, endocrinology, and rare disease. BEAMER (short for “BEhavioral and Adherence Model for improving quality, health outcomes and cost-Effectiveness of healthcaRe”) is a five-year project, funded by IMI H2020, which brings together 28 Euro-pean partners (from 13 countries), from academia, civil society and industry. The project tackles an important health challenge: patient non-adherence to prescribed treatment. It affects patient health outcomes significantly, contributing to 200,000 premature deaths in the EU annually, and places a heavy economic burden on the healthcare system, lead-ing to an estimated 125B euros in avoidable hospitalizations, emergency care, and adult outpatient visits each year. Despite existing research on disease-specific medication ad-herence, there are few broad insights regarding how to improve adherence across healthcare. To address this, BEAMER aims to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence patient adherence, irrespective of the therapeutic area, and en-able stakeholders to design effective solutions that could promote broad and consistent impact within a real-world context. At Tilburg University, a team of two PhD researchers and three senior researchers will work on this topic.

Profile of the candidate
Candidates for this position should have a (research) master’s degree in (health) com-munication, communication science, linguistics, cognitive science, behavioural science, or a related field. In addition, the successful candidate:

• has solid methodological and statistical skills;
• has affinity with health communication;
• has excellent organizational and social skills;
• is willing to learn and think across disciplines;
• had good communication skills and is well able to communicate with fellow peers, the research population, stakeholders, and societal partners;
• is a team player and likes collaborating in (large) teams; 
• preferably is fluent in Dutch (for data-collection purposes); 
• has excellent English writing and presentation skills.

What we offer
Tilburg University is rated among the top of Dutch employers and has excellent terms of employment, such as a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% (an-nually), an options model and reimbursement of moving expenses. Candidates from out-side the Netherlands may qualify for a tax-free allowance equal to 30% of their taxable salary. The university will apply for such an allowance on their behalf. The Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences will provide assistance in finding suitable accommo-dation. The collective labor agreement of the Dutch Universities applies. 

The PhD candidate will be ranked in the Dutch university job ranking system (UFO) as a PhD-student (“promovendus”) with a starting salary of €2.443,- gross per month in the first year, up to €3.122,- in the fourth year (amounts fulltime). The selected candidate will start with a contract for one year, concluded by an evaluation. Upon a positive outcome of the first-year evaluation, the candidate will be offered an employment contract for the remain-ing three years. It is also possible to work 80% instead of fulltime. The selected candidate is expected to have written a PhD thesis by the end of the contract (which may be based on articles).

Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences

Research and education at the Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences (TSHD) has a unique focus on humans in the context of the globalizing digital society, on the development of artificial intelligence and interactive technologies, on their impact on communication, culture and society, and on moral and existential challenges that arise. The School of Humanities and Digital Sciences consists of four departments: Communication and Cognition, Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Culture Studies and Philosophy; several research institutes and a faculty office. Also the University College Tilburg is part of the School. Each year around 275 students commence a Bachelor or (Pre) Master Program. The School has approximately 2000 students and 250 employees.
Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences