Department

Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences

Organisation

University of Groningen

Job description

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/

Environmental Psychology at the University of Groningen has a national and international reputation for excellence. Research within the Environmental Psychology group focuses on a wide range of topics, including understanding which factors influence sustainable behaviours (such as energy use, car use, food consumption); understanding how people cope with environmental and climate risks; understanding the effectiveness of strategies to promote sustainable behaviour; understanding the acceptability of environmental policies; and the effects of sustainable behaviour on wellbeing. The research contributes to theory development and to practice. The Environmental Psychology group collaborates with scholars from different disciplines within and outside the University of Groningen, as well as with governments, NGOs, businesses, and organisations.

The here advertised postdoctoral position will in particular focus on improving the empirical knowledge of public perceptions of climate policies, in particular on determinants of public support and opposition driving the political feasibility of climate policies. In view of the necessity for ever more ambitious policies, it is especially important for policymakers to have an understanding of (1) how the targeted public may respond to policies, (2) the personal, social and contextual factors driving such responses, and (3) the tools to incorporate such aspects into decision-making processes and the design and implementation of policies.

The position is part of the EU-funded CAPABLE (CLIMATE POLICY ACCEPTABILITY ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK) project. The aim of this project is to provide methodological and empirical advances in policy evaluation by integrating economic and social sciences. CAPABLE will leverage the interdisciplinary competences of the consortium in economics, psychology, political science and environmental science. The project will generate original empirical evidence through a variety of methods such as interviews, surveys and experimental approaches applied to various stakeholders (citizens, consumers, firms, policy-makers).

Requirements

We are looking for candidates who meet the following requirements:

• the successful candidate should hold a PhD in Environmental Psychology or a related discipline and be familiar with psychological theories and quantitative empirical methods, including survey and experimental methodologies
• an excellent command of English is essential and experience with large scale data collection will be an asset.

Conditions of employment

Contract length: 24 months.

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

- depending on qualifications and work experience, a salary of € 3,557 (salary scale 10.4) to a maximum of € 4,670 gross per month for a full-time position. The position is classified in accordance with the University Job Classification (UFO) system; the UFO profile is Researcher 4
- a holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income an 8.3% end-of-the-year allowance
- attractive secondary terms of employment
- a temporary contract of 1.0 FTE for a period of 2 years.

The preferred starting date is April 2023

Job Application

Please send your application to us, by submitting the following documents:

• letter of application
• curriculum vitae.

You may apply for this position until 19 February 11:59pm / before 20 February 2023 Dutch local time (CET) by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website). Only submissions via the application form will be considered.

The University of Groningen strives to be a university in which students and staff are respected and feel at home, regardless of differences in background, experiences, perspectives, and identities. We believe that working on our core values of inclusion and equality are a joint responsibility and we are constructively working on creating a socially safe environment. Diversity among students and staff members enriches academic debate and contributes to the quality of our teaching and research. We therefore invite applicants from underrepresented groups in particular to apply. For more information, see also our diversity policy webpage: https://www.rug.nl/[…]/

Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP): https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/nl/sollicitatiecode and European Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.

Additional information

For additional information, please contact:

Dr Goda Perlaviciute, Associate Professor Environmental Psychology
g.perlaviciute@rug.nl

In your application, please always include the job opening ID V23.0062

Extra informatie kan worden verkregen via een van de volgende links:

Environmental Psychology

Digital application form