Two PhD Candidates: Psychological Functions of Our Sense of Smell

Two PhD Candidates: Psychological Functions of Our Sense of Smell
Two PhD Candidates: Psychological Functions of Our Sense of Smell

Published	Deadline	Location
today	1 Mar	Nijmegen

Job description

How can we explain the chemistry between us? Our sense of smell is a mysterious and delicate sense. Can you play a part in solving the mystery? We are offering two PhD candidate positions (i.e. 2.0 FTE), one devoted to understanding the fundamental basis of chemically communicating emotions (project A) and the other to understanding how smells contribute to romantic relationships (project B).
Communication is crucial to humans. Most of our everyday social interaction and communication is nonverbal. Among the senses we recruit to engage in nonverbal communication, the sense of smell (olfaction) has remained mysterious. For millennia, we have underestimated the role of olfaction. Only recently, the widespread belief that humans are poor smellers has been debunked by experiments revealing excellent human smell skills. With COVID-19, hundreds of millions worldwide have experienced first-hand how smell contributes to our lives, by enabling us to determine whether a food is edible or not, by enabling us to avoid environmental hazards, and by contributing to social communication.
Finding an answer to the big question: 'How do smells affect our social lives?' is a compelling multidisciplinary puzzle. Having acquired a VIDI grant from the Dutch Research Council, Radboud University Assistant Professor Jasper de Groot is now looking for PhD candidates who would like to take on the challenge of unravelling the chemical basis of social smells using a multidisciplinary approach, assessing their importance in ecologically valid domains like romantic relationships, and examining how smell dysfunction targets well-being at a personal and relational level.
In brief, project A focuses more deeply on the chemical signature of fear and its ecological value. This requires an iterative multidisciplinary approach and intensive collaborations with chemical analysts (based in Germany). Project B focuses more broadly on the importance of social smell in romantic relationships. Although smells arguably have most impact when people are as physically close as in romantic relationships, remarkably little empirical evidence exists in this domain. 
The position will involve spending 10% of your working time on teaching.

Specifications

• €2541—€3247 per month
• Nijmegen View on Google Maps

Radboud University

Requirements

• You have a Master's degree in a discipline related to social sciences, or in another relevant field, and demonstrable experience with social science research methods and statistics.
• You are keen to work with an interdisciplinary research team.
• You have proven experience with qualitative research techniques; experience with psychophysiology is a plus.
• You have proven project management skills (scheduling and time management) and enjoy engaging proactively in a highly complex scientific project.
• You have good cooperation skills in interdisciplinary settings.
• You have good communication skills (written and verbal).
• You have good programming skills; experience with Matlab is a plus.
• You are fluent in English and have demonstrable academic writing skills; fluency in Dutch could be advantageous in possible contacts with patient organisations.

Conditions of employment

Fixed-term contract: of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4 year contract).

• It concerns an employment for 1.0 FTE. 
• The gross starting salary amounts to €2,541 per month based on a 38-hour working week, and will increase to €3,247 in the fourth year (salary scale P ).
• You will receive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• It concerns a temporary employment for of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4 year contract).
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Care Services . Our Dual Career and Family Care Officer can assist you with family-related support, help your partner or spouse prepare for the local labour market, provide customized support in their search for employment and help your family settle in Nijmegen.
• Working for us means getting extra days off. In case of full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the legally allotted 20.

Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions . You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.
Employer

The Behavioural Science Institute (BSI)  is a multidisciplinary research institute and one of three research institutes in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Radboud University.

Our researchers collaborate across the boundaries of psychology, educational science, and communication science. Our mission is to strengthen people through understanding the foundations of human behaviour, by creating synergy between different paradigms, and by facilitating craftsmanship, curiosity and connection in academic research.

BSI has seven research programmes covering three major research themes, namely human development, connection, and health. BSI conducts fundamental as well as applied/translational research and has excellent facilities and support for lab and field research. Moreover, BSI is known for its successful graduate school and strong commitment to open science.

You will become part of the Behaviour Change and Well-Being (BCW) research group at BSI, for which the role of sensory input (e.g. smell) in human interaction is a core theme. BCW is led by Prof. Johan  Karremans, an expert on romantic relationships. In the other project, Prof. Rob Holland brings in fundamental knowledge on how smells subtly influence our behaviour. Dr Jasper de Groot, who has a long-standing fascination for human olfaction, is the daily supervisor on both projects. Aside from his eagerness to conduct high-quality research on the basis of open-science principles, he is a dedicated and supportive mentor and teacher, proving that getting the best out of people and science can go hand in hand.

Radboud University
We want to get the best out of science, others and ourselves. Why? Because this is what the world around us desperately needs. Leading research and education make an indispensable contribution to a healthy, free world with equal opportunities for all. This is what unites the more than 24,000 students and 5,600 employees at Radboud University. And this requires even more talent, collaboration and lifelong learning. You have a part to play!
Additional information
For questions about the position, please contact Jasper de Groot, Assistant Professor at [email protected] .
Radboud University

We want to get the best out of science, others and ourselves. Why? Because this is what the world around us desperately needs. Leading research and education make an indispensable contribution to a healthy, free world with equal opportunities for all.

You have a part to play!

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Application procedure
You can apply until 1 March 2023, exclusively using the button below. Kindly address your application to Jasper de Groot. Please fill in the application form and attach the following documents:

• A letter of motivation.
• Your CV.

Please state clearly in your application letter whether you would like to be considered for project A, B, or both. If both, please indicate what project has your preference.
There will be two rounds of interviews. The interviews will take place by mutual agreement, but at least in week 15 (first round) and week 19 (second round). For the second round, you are asked to do a writing assignment and short presentation.
You would preferably begin employment on 1 August 2023.

We can imagine you're curious about our application procedure . It offers a rough outline of what you can expect during the application process, how we handle your personal data and how we deal with internal and external candidates.