PhD in Sociology – Ageing and Migration (1.0 FTE)

Aging and international migration pose enormous challenges to Europe. The international project “Do migrants in Europe age well? A mixed methods and intervention study in four countries (MIG-AGE)” addresses the question of what it means for different groups of migrants in Europe to be old and age well. It applies a mixed methods approach and focuses specifically on first-generation retired labor migrants from Italy and Turkey living in Germany and the Netherlands and retirement migrants from Germany and the Netherlands living in Italy and Turkey. Project partners are the University of Bamberg (Germany), the Università degli Studi di Genova (Italy), and the Koç University (Turkey). The PhD candidate is expected to conduct qualitative interviews with Turkish first-generation migrants in the Netherlands, and Dutch retirement migrants in Italy and in Turkey. The PhD candidate will be actively involved in design and implementation of a culturally sensitive health intervention for Turkish first-generation migrants in Germany.

The tasks of the PhD candidate are:

• conduct research that results in a dissertation and is in line with the objectives and requirements of the project
• organize and execute the data collection for the different studies
• publish the results of the research in international scientific journals
• present the research findings to fellow scientists and developers in the larger project, and collaborate with them
• provide a limited number of educational activities at the Sociology department, such as small-scale tutorials and guest lectures, in collaboration with the supervisors.

Organisation

The University of Groningen is a research university with a global outlook, deeply rooted in Groningen, City of Talent. Quality has had top priority for four hundred years, and with success: the University is currently in or around the top 100 on several influential ranking lists.

The Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences excels in teaching and research in the fields of human behaviour, thinking, learning, and how people live together. We work on societal issues and problems that people experience in daily life. Central to this is individual and societal resilience and how to increase this. To this end, we focus on the topics of migration, the environment and climate, health, upbringing and education, the protection of vulnerable minorities, and sustainable partnerships. The Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences employs over 800 staff members. For more information about the Faculty please check the link https://www.rug.nl/gmw/ .

The selected PhD student will be a part of ICS (Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology) Graduate School. For further information, please refer to: https://ics-graduateschool.nl/

For this position, you are expected to:

• have a (Research) Master's degree in sociology (or a related discipline)
• have a good academic track record
• be enthusiastic about writing international publications and a dissertation
• have good academic English writing skills
• have advanced language skills in Turkish and Dutch
• have good qualitative research skills
• be enthusiastic about travelling for research purposes
• have good social and communication skills and are willing to work with other team members
• be enthusiastic about translating scientific insights into practical guidelines and advice
• have good organizational skills and the motivation to organize and realize data collection
• have demonstrable competences as conceptual capacity, presenting, planning and organizing and monitoring.

We offer you in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:

• a salary of € 2,541 gross per month in the first year of the appointment, rising to € 3,247 gross per month in the fourth year for a full-time position;
• a holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income an 8.3% end-of-the-year allowance;
• attractive secondary terms of employment;
• the position is classified in accordance with the University Job Classification (UFO) system; the UFO profile is PhD candidate;
• a temporary position of 1.0 FTE for a period of four years. You will first be appointed for a period of 12 months. After a positive evaluation, the contract will be extended for the remaining period.

Intended starting date: 1 May 2023