Postdoctoral Researcher

The Oxford Internet Institute – founded in 2001 - is a multidisciplinary research and teaching department of the University of Oxford, dedicated to the social science of the Internet.

We are looking to recruit a Postdoctoral Researcher to a program of research, funded by the ESRC, that will study how video game engagement is related to the mental health and well-being of players.

This is a full-time post, available immediately for a fixed-term duration to 28 February 2025, based in Oxford.

Reporting to Professor Andrew Przybylski, the post holder will become a member of the research group with the responsibility of conducting transparent, robust, and rigorous research aimed at addressing the most pressing questions of how digital environments influences humans.

The work will be conducted in collaboration with half a dozen major video game publishers including Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. Novel datasets including video game play telemetry and measurements of mental health will be published along with research papers, conference presentations, and reports. Special emphasis will be placed on how learnings from this research can be applied to national and international health policy and be leveraged to improve research practices of both industry and academic researchers.

The post holder will:

-       Provide guidance to junior members of the research group including research assistants, PhD students, and/or project volunteers.

-       Collaborate with Professor Andrew Przybylski to undertake the collection and quantitative analysis of large-scale behavioural data.

-       exploration of how transparent and reproducible science can be brought to bear to study the health and well-being of young people in the digital age. 

-       Help advance the scientific rigour in the research area.

-       Make new discoveries about how player behaviour, health, and motivation are interrelated.

The position is suited to an individual who holds or is near to completion of a PhD/DPhil in cognitive or experimental psychology, computational psychiatry, or a highly relevant discipline.

Excellent writing and presentation abilities and experience in contributing to publications focused on video games and motivation or mental health are required. Demonstrated ability working with the statistical programming language R, R markdown, and R Studio as well as data visualisation is also essential.

Full details of the requirements for this post can be found in the Job Description link below.   

Further queries can be directed to Professor Andrew Przybylski [email protected]. 

You will be required to upload a supporting statement, a CV, and details of two referees as part of your online application. The closing date for applications is 12.00 midday on 19 February 2024.

Interviews for those short-listed are currently planned to take place on week commencing 29 February 2024.

Committed to equality and valuing diversity.