Do you enjoy working in interdisciplinary research settings and do you want to generate actionable insights on the complex mechanisms that shape well-being and the role of community resilience? The Computational Science Lab at the Informatics Institute is looking for an ambitious postdoctoral researcher. Your research is part of the project titled “Co-producing a social model of health through Welzijn op Recept” led by the Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The consortium partners include the University of Amsterdam, University of Birmingham, Landelijk Kennisnetwerk Welzijn op Recept and LSA bewoners.

The project aims to reveal the complex mechanisms that shape well-being in disadvantaged communities and the buffering role of community resilience herein. It addresses the key research question: How does well-being emerge from the complex interactions between community resilience and individual, community and broader social conditions?

The postdoctoral researcher will develop agent-based models (ABM) that simulate the complex dynamics between community resilience and well-being; identify leverage points for interventions; and create various intervention scenarios out of the models to assess potential impacts on well-being and community resilience. ABM is a powerful approach to modelling complex systems: it models the non-linear and reciprocal relationships between states of (simulated) individual agents at the micro-level (in this case in relation to wellbeing) and their environment, i.e., community resilience at the meso-level and macro-social determinants and captures the complex patterns that emerge from interactions. The postdoctoral researchers will use quantitative and qualitative data as well as participatory modelling to develop the ABM using techniques from Group-Model Building (GMB). GMB is a mature, effective, tested, and well-documented set of procedures to reconstruct complex social systems in a participatory way and to define and try possible interventions.

Tasks and responsibilities:

• Develop an agent-based model (ABM) using quantitative and qualitative data. The ABM is expected to be developed using Python language;
• Conduct research in the field of well-being and community resilience using the model, resulting in academic publications in peer-reviewed international journals;
• Actively contribute to and develop national and international research networks and other forms of cooperation;
• Actively contribute to the research activities of the consortium;
• Supervise Master theses and co-supervise PhD theses.

You are expected to take an active role in the consortium, from organizing seminars with partners to demonstrating the model's outcome. Your ability and willingness to take up substantial administrative tasks are particularly welcome.

Your experience and profile:

• A PhD in either computational science, complex systems, quantitative psychology, behavioural economics, or econophysics;
• A committed researcher, demonstrated by publications in international refereed academic journals and academic publishers;
• Proven track record in developing computational models (e.g. system dynamics, agent-based models);
• Experience in supporting tasks and the willingness to take responsibility for administrative tasks, such as organisation and coordination of university education and research;
• Flexible, ready to participate in interdisciplinary cooperation and multidisciplinary development (verifiably focused on collaboration with other disciplines);
• Professional command of English.

We offer a flexible temporary employment contract for 0,75 FTE (28,5 hours/week) for 24 months or 1 FTE (38 hours/week) for 18 months. The preferred starting date is October 2023.

The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week and dependent on relevant experience, ranges between € 2,960 to € 4,670 (scale 10). UvA additionally offers an extensive package of secondary benefits, including 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.3%. The UFO profile Resea2rcher 4 is applicable. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable.

Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment at Science Park we offer you multiple fringe benefits:

• 232 holiday hours per year (based on fulltime) and extra holidays between Christmas and 1 January;
• Multiple courses to follow from our Teaching and Learning Centre;
• Multiple courses on topics such as leadership for academic staff;
• Multiple courses on topics such as time management, handling stress and an online learning platform with 100+ different courses;
• 7 weeks birth leave (partner leave) with 100% salary;
• Partly paid parental leave;
• The possibility to set up a workplace at home;
• A pension at ABP for which UvA pays two third part of the contribution;
• The possibility to follow courses to learn Dutch;
• Help with housing for a studio or small apartment when you’re moving from abroad.

Are you curious to read more about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits, take a look here.

Faculty of Science

The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is the Netherlands' largest university, offering the widest range of academic programmes. At the UvA, 42,000 students, 6,000 staff members and 3,000 PhD candidates study and work in a diverse range of fields, connected by a culture of curiosity.

The Faculty of Science (FNWI) has a student body of around 8,000, as well as 1,800 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.

The mission of the Informatics Institute (IvI) is to perform curiosity-driven and use-inspired fundamental research in Computer Science. The main research themes are Artificial Intelligence, Computational Science and Systems and Network Engineering. Our research involves complex information systems at large, with a focus on collaborative, data driven, computational and intelligent systems, all with a strong interactive component.

The Computational Science Lab (CSL), where you will be based, is a research group within the Informatics Institute. CSL focuses on the information processing of complex and dynamic natural systems. A complex natural system can be a flock of birds, the traffic in a city or the spreading of a virus in the human body. All these systems consist of individual entities – birds, vehicles, cells - that interact with each other and the environment. They have mechanisms and rules by which they operate, but it is very hard to predict their behaviour. You need computational techniques to simulate the process and understand future behaviour. The predominant question the group tries to answer: How can you use computational techniques to make complex natural systems tractable? Within the CSL group, there are several researchers focusing in Computational Social Complexity involved in projects revolving around Precarity, Inequality, and Mental Health.

Want to know more about our organisation? Read more about working at the University of Amsterdam.