PhD position on the project Within-person Emotions Across the Lifespan (1,0 fte, 4 years)

Project description
Today, more and more research on emotions is conducted at the within-person level. Using experience sampling methods (ESM), researchers study how emotions change over time and how these dynamical processes relate to or even predict wellbeing. 

Applying such a within-person paradigm on emotions has lots of potential to advance the field of for instance mental health. Yet, many fundamental questions about within-person emotions remain unanswered. In this project, the PhD student will combine a participant-driven and a data-driven approach to explore which emotions individuals experience in daily life and which emotional experiences are more central to well-being, both in regular, everyday life and during transitional periods in life that require more adaptation. The project adopts a lifespan perspective to studying within-person emotions by including both younger and older participants.

Job description
This is an interdisciplinary project, funded by The Herbert Simon Research Institute at Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The PhD student will be supervised by dr. Yasemin Erbas (Developmental Psychology – co-promotor), dr. Joran Jongerling (Methodology – co-promotor), and by dr. Seger Breugelmans (Social Psychology - promotor). The first two years of the project, the PhD student will join the Department of Developmental Psychology. The final two years will be spent at either the Department of Social Psychology or the Department of Methodology (to be jointly determined by the PhD student and the supervisory team). 

The PhD student will collect new ESM data, analyze this data using advanced statistical techniques (e.g., Ising-models, Bayesian Networks, and Network Psychometrics), and disseminate the findings through peer-reviewed scientific publications, presentations at (inter)national conferences, and workshops for ESM researchers.

The PhD student will be part of the Tilburg Experience Sampling Network (TESC) and the Dutch-Belgian Network for ESM Research and collaborate with researchers from Tranzo Ageing Network and researchers working on student mental health, which will provide ample learning and collaboration opportunities.

Responsibilities are: 

• Writing a PhD thesis
• Planning and executing data collection
• Conducting complex data analyses 
• Active participation in the team involved in this project and in the Departments (e.g., by attending departmental meetings)
• Writing international scientific publications 
• Presenting at national and international scientific conferences 
• Giving workshops, for instance for ESM researchers or for professionals working with ageing populations 
• Teaching and supervision (e.g., supervision of bachelor theses and working groups, max 0.2 FTE)