Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
The ambition of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is clear: to contribute to a better world through outstanding education and ground-breaking research. We strive to be a university where personal development and commitment to society play a leading role. A university where people from different disciplines and backgrounds collaborate to achieve innovations and to generate new knowledge. Our teaching and research encompass the entire spectrum of academic endeavor - from the humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences through to the life sciences and the medical sciences.
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is home to more than 30,000 students. We employ over 5,500 individuals. The VU campus is easily accessible and located in the heart of Amsterdam's Zuidas district, a truly inspiring environment for teaching and research.
DiversityWe are an inclusive university community. Diversity is one of our most important values. We believe that engaging in international activities and welcoming students and staff from a wide variety of backgrounds enhances the quality of our education and research. We are always looking for people who can enrich our world with their own unique perspectives and experiences.
Faculty of Behavioural and Movement SciencesThe Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences focuses on the broad domain of behaviour and health. Our teaching and research programmes are devoted to current developments in society, from healthy aging to e-health, from juvenile crime to dealing with depression, from training for top athletes to social media as a teaching tool. We are unique in that we combine three academic disciplines: psychology, movement sciences and education.
Working at Behavioural and Movement Sciences means working in an ambitious organization that is characterized by an informal atmosphere and short lines of communication. Our faculty offers tremendous scope for personal development. We employ more than 600 staff members, and we are home to around 3,400 students.
About the departmentThe department of Biological Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is a world-renowned research and education centre focused on understanding the genetic and biological underpinnings of individual differences in cognition, behaviour, and health. We maintain the Netherlands Twin Register, a unique resource for research on the interplay of genes and environment on brain development, cognitive abilities, personality, behavioural problems, psychiatric disorders, and health and well-being. Our researchers have established a large national and international network of collaborators from various disciplines. As a PhD student in our department, you will have access to training and professional development opportunities, as well as the chance to work with leading experts in the field of cognitive and educational research.
About the projectParental involvement in a child's education, including talking and reading to them, has been linked to better academic performance. However, it is unclear whether this association is causal or due to other factors such as genetics. To identify the causal effects of the home learning environment, we need to control for genetics. The InterGen project aims to discover which aspects of the home learning environment causally impact children's language, reading, and math development. In the InterGen project, we will use a variety of innovative observational and experimental designs to study gene-environment interplay in children's educational development, like the children-of-twin design and a randomized controlled study. The
InterGen project is funded by an ERC Starting Grant.