PhD positions for highly qualified graduates

The Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS offers fully funded PhD positions in the Netherlands for a variety of innovative and fascinating research projects. The PhD candidates will be appointed at one of the four ICS institutes for a four-year period (in Amsterdam, Groningen, Nijmegen or Utrecht). In this period the candidates will work on their individual project, leading to a doctoral dissertation.

Your job
The program (fully taught in English) will start 1 September 2026.

The PhDs starting together in September 2026 will form the new ICS PhD cohort, following together the graduate school’s educational track. Please check this link for further information on the ICS and the available PhD positions.

Highly qualified candidates who graduated or will graduate shortly in Sociology are invited to apply. Graduates in the broader Social Sciences, such as Psychology, Political Science, Educational Sciences and Economics or related disciplines are also encouraged to apply, just as graduates in Mathematics or Statistics (or related disciplines).

• a job for a total of four years. Towards the end of or shortly after the first year of the project, a formal evaluation of the PhD candidate’s progress takes place. Given a positive outcome, the project will be continued for the full four years;
• a working week of 36 - 40 hours and a gross monthly salary between €3.059 in the first year and €3.881 in the fourth year in the case of full-time employment (salary scale P under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU);
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, the universities offer a range of its own schemes for employees.

The Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS) is an internationally renowned Research Center and Graduate School in the field of Sociology, located in The Netherlands at the Universities of Amsterdam (UvA), Groningen, Nijmegen and Utrecht.

For more information, if necessary please contact ICSaplications.fsw@uu.nl. Please do not use the e-mail address for applications.