PhD Candidate: Reflexive Regulation Using Narrative Methods of Service Provision for Vulnerable People (RUN study)

In our welfare state, the government is responsible for protecting and helping vulnerable people, such as children and young adults with mental problems and learning disabilities. But how responsive is the government towards the voices of these young people and their parents, and the experiential expertise they have regarding the services on which they depend so much? Could their experiences make a difference in the supervisory practices of regulatory agencies and, ultimately, in the quality of the services? In this project, which is a multi-centred research programme covering multiple universities and societal partners, we aim to develop narrative-based and responsive regulatory tools and theoretical insights to enhance client-centred regulation.

This PhD position will be part of a RUN study consortium consisting of Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), Radboud University Nijmegen (RU), the University of Groningen (RUG), and a wide range of societal partners, financed by the NWA (Dutch Research Agenda). Each of the participating universities focuses on developing reflexive regulatory arrangements for a specific group: persons with dementia in the community and their family carers (EUR); low‐educated people who are unemployed (RUG); and children with mental disorders and behavioural problems and their parents (RU). This vacancy is available in the latter project. You will be embedded within the department of Public Administration of the Nijmegen School of Management (NSM).

NSM is an academic centre of research and higher education, focusing on institutional and managerial issues within complex organisations. There are seven disciplines within NSM: Business Administration, Public Administration, Political Science, Economics and Business Economics, Social and Political Sciences of the Environment, Human Geography, and Spatial Planning. NSM strives for a multidisciplinary approach. NSM employs 330 FTEs, 75% of whom are academics. Currently, NSM has approximately 5,000 students. Research activities fall under the responsibility of the interdisciplinary Institute for Management Research (IMR). Under the motto 'Responsible Governance for Sustainable Societies', IMR focuses on academic research into the development, design and effectiveness of the public and private structures that regulate, govern or manage human interactions. You will also be embedded in the multidisciplinary Governance and Innovations in Social Services (GAINS) research group, which unites researchers working on matters concerning social policy, social services and transformative welfare governance. You will work closely with the consortium partners in the RUN study, for example Erasmus University and the University of Groningen, and with the societal consortium partners.

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