2-3 PhD Candidates

Developmental Psychology: Infancy and Childhood at the Department of Psychology and the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development at the University of Zurich (UZH)
2-3 PhD Candidates
60 %
The research unit “Developmental Psychology: Infancy and Childhood” at the Department of Psychology and the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development at the University of Zurich (UZH) seeks to fill the positions of 2-3 PhD candidates for its interdisciplinary longitudinal study of children's development assessed by a smartphone-based developmental diary app. Using the kleineWeltentdecker App, parents can track the development of their children's competencies. This data is the basis for a population-based prospective and longitudinal study on children's development from 0 to 6 years. The project is led by Prof. Moritz Daum, Dr. Lisa Wagner, Dr. Anja Gampe, Sabrina Beck, and Marco Bleiker, and received funding by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) for two projects on (1) the effects of the App use on parents and children and (2) the development of pre-term compared to full-term children.
Your responsibilities

• Conceptualising, planning, managing, and analysing data on the development of cognitive, motor and linguistic performance and/or of socio-emotional experiences in daily life by means of the kleineWeltentdecker App.
• Conducting studies within the SNSF-project with a focus on either (1) effects of using the App on parents and children or (2) comparing the development of pre-term and full-term children.
• Project management and continuing development of the kleineWeltentdecker App.
• International promotion of the app through public relations and targeted advertising.
• Coordination of collaborations with other researchers employing the kleineWeltentdecker App.
• Support for questions of the kleineWeltentdecker App users.
• Preparation of scientific publications and conference contributions.
• Student supervision at the undergraduate (BSc and MSc) level and teaching.

Your profile

• An above-average degree in psychology, cognitive sciences, education sciences, data sciences, digital humanities.
• Experience in conducting studies with children of different age groups is an advantage.
• Excellent knowledge of methods and statistics.
• Strong interest in the variability and early ontogeny of children's skills.

Further Qualifications for both positions:

• An above-average Master's degree in psychology, cognitive sciences, education sciences, data sciences, digital humanities
• Excellent knowledge of methods and statistics
• Strong interest in the variability and early ontogeny of children's skills
• Interest in basic research in Developmental Psychology
• Excellent project management and communication skills
• Solid understanding of all aspects of the research process
• Very good English language skills and basic German language skills respectively the willingness to acquire German language skills
• Superb organisational and people skills; good self-presentation skills
• Ability to work in teams and independently

What we offer
We offer an excellent research infrastructure, a broad network in research and practice, opportunities to engage in lectures and progress toward PhD, a modern workplace and a pleasant work atmosphere in a scientific environment together with salary and employment conditions according to cantonal (Zurich) regulations.
Place of work
Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, Andreasstrasse 15, 8050 Zürich, Switzerland
Start of employment
Earliest starting date of the positions is September 2022.
If this position caught your interest, like challenging tasks, and are passionate about research, then we would love to hear from you. Please send your application documents (letter of motivation, curriculum vitae, certificates, contact details of two reference persons) electronically summarised in one single PDF document until 31st July 2022 to Marco Bleiker via "APPLY NOW" button below.
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