PhD Candidate Educational Sciences/Educational Psychology (1.0 FTE, 4 years)

PhD Candidate Educational Sciences/Educational Psychology (1.0 FTE, 4 years)

Functie

The Department of Education at Utrecht University offers a PhD position and a Postdoc position in Educational Sciences/Educational Psychology on the NWO Vici project of prof. dr. Tamara van Gog. The project seeks to improve adolescents’ self-regulated learning, which is a crucial skill for students to develop, and important for their current academic achievement and future educational and professional success. We focus specifically on improving self-regulated learning of problem-solving tasks (which forms an important part of the STEM curricula), by training adolescents’ self-assessment and task-selection skills.
Effective self-regulated learning requires students to be ‘calibrated and in control’: able to accurately assess their performance, and decide on an appropriate next task (control/regulate studying). However, this is notoriously difficult, so they need instructional guidance to acquire those skills. We have developed a highly promising ‘social learning’ approach to train self-assessment and task-selection skills and showed it improved adolescents’ self-regulated learning of problem-solving tasks. In this Vici-project, we seek to further improve this training approach and –importantly- test its transferability and sustainability. As the transfer is necessary for successful practical implementation, but also notoriously difficult to establish, this project will yield important insights for both theory and practice. The PhD project is focused on the conditions for transfer to other types of tasks, and the Postdoc project is focused on the conditions for transfer over time and to other contexts (e.g., self-study at home). This project will be conducted in close collaboration with schools; so being able to communicate fluently in Dutch is required.
Your responsibilities are: 

• conducting the research (literature research, designing the experiments, recruiting participants, pre-registering studies, collecting and analysing data, preparing and storing data packages for sharing);
• writing international scientific publications and a dissertation;
• giving presentations at (inter)national scientific conferences;
• actively engaging in outreach activities and disseminating findings to educational professionals and the general public;
• active participation in the local and (inter)national research team involved in this project and in the research team of the UU Department of Education;
• following courses/training (a.o. in the context of Research School ICO, the Interuniversity Centre for Educational Sciences and the local graduate school);
• teaching courses or supervising bachelor/master thesis projects (max. 0.1 FTE) can be part of the PhD position.

Profiel

• A (Research) Master in Educational Sciences, Educational / (applied) Cognitive/Social Psychology (completed or nearly completed).
• Experience with experimental research and (advanced) statistical methods.
• Ambition to become a high-potential researcher and conduct excellent scientific research.
• Social, organisational, and self-regulatory competencies.
• Good communication skills (written and oral).
• Proficiency in Dutch and English.
• Ambition to collaborate with schools and teachers.
• Ambition to collaborate with (inter)national partners and pay research visits to these partners.

Aanbod

The PhD position will be for 4 years (1.0 FTE). The initial appointment will be for one year, starting September 1, 2022, with an extension of three years after a positive evaluation of capabilities and compatibility. Full-time salary ranges from €2,443 to €3,122 gross per month (pay scale P, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities).

In addition, we offer attractive and flexible secondary terms of employment such as an annual holiday pay of 8%, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% per year and partially paid parental leave. Finally, we also provide an attractive working environment and a vibrant research climate. More information about working at Utrecht University .

Over de organisatie

A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University , the various disciplines collaborate intensively on major societal themes. Our focus is on the Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Sustainability.

The city of Utrecht is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, with a charming old center and an internationally oriented culture that is strongly influenced by its century-old university. Utrecht city has been consistently ranked as one of the most liveable cities in the Netherlands.
The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences is one of the leading faculties in Europe providing research and academic teaching in cultural anthropology, educational sciences, interdisciplinary social science, pedagogical sciences, psychology, and sociology. Almost 6.000 students are enrolled in a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programmes. The Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences has around 850 faculty and staff members, all providing their individual contributions to the training and education of young talent and to the research into and finding solutions for scientific and societal issues.

Aanvullende informatie

For questions or further information about the position or the project, please contact prof. dr. Tamara van Gog  via [email protected] .

Solliciteren

Everyone deserves to feel at home at our university. We welcome employees with a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives.

To apply, please send your curriculum vitae, including a letter of motivation, via the ‘apply’ button below. Interviews will take place on June 20 and 24.
Acquisition in response to this vacancy is not appreciated.

Reageren uiterlijk 11/06/2022