PhDs Data-Driven Insights into Healthcare Quality and Affordability (2.0 FTE)

Department

Faculty of Economics and Business

Organisation

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, University of Groningen, V25.0491

Job description

Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has enjoyed an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative center of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Belonging to the best research universities of Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is truly an international place of knowledge.

Faculty of Economics and Business
The Faculty of Economics and Business offers an inspiring study and working environment for students and employees. International accreditation enables the Faculty to assess performance against the highest international standards. It also creates an exciting environment of continuous improvement. FEB’s programmes, academic staff and research perform well on various excellence ranking lists.
FEBRI, the graduate school and research institute of the Faculty of Economics and Business, has two PhD positions available in the area of Data-Driven Insights into Healthcare Quality and Affordability.

The two PhD projects are part of a larger project financed by the Stichting Kwaliteitsgelden Medisch Specialisten (SKMS, Foundation for Quality Funds for Medical Specialists) with Zorgverzekeraars Nederland (ZN: Health Insurers Netherlands) and Federation of Medical Specialists (FMS) as commissioning organisations.

Project description
Healthcare systems worldwide face the pressing challenge of keeping care both high in quality and financially sustainable. In the Netherlands, national agreements have initiated major transitions in healthcare delivery, aimed at improving quality while controlling costs.

The two PhD projects will contribute to building a scientific foundation for how healthcare claims data can generate meaningful insights into the quality of care. By linking claims data with existing clinical quality registries, the research will investigate how data can be transformed into valuable information for transparency, monitoring, and continuous quality improvement. In addition, the PhD candidates will collect both quantitative and qualitative data within hospitals, providing deeper understanding of quality differences and identifying opportunities to improve care delivery.

The PhD positions are embedded in the research programme OPERA of FEB’s Research Institute. The project will be supervised by a multidisciplinary team of researchers with a background in medicine, healthcare (operations) management, health policy and data analytics.

Requirements

The ideal candidates are ambitious, highly motivated, and wish to make a career in academic research. You have strong analytical skills, excellent research training, and a keen interest in healthcare quality, organisation of care and health policy.

- MSc or Research Master in Economics & Business, Medicine, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Health Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Data Science, or a related field.
- Excellent command of English (written and spoken); proficiency in Dutch is highly recommended given the hospital-based research context.
- Ability to combine qualitative data skills and data-analytical skills.
- Ability to work in an interdisciplinary team and engage with healthcare stakeholders.

Conditions of employment

Contract length: 48 months.

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

- A gross monthly salary of € 3,059 which increases yearly to a maximum of € 3,881 based on a full-time appointment.
- An additional 8% holiday allowance each year in May, and an additional 8.3 % end of year bonus in December.
- A temporary full-time appointment for a period of four years, under the condition of a positive assessment at the end of the first year. PhD candidates contribute 20% of their time to teaching in years 2-4.

Starting date: Preferably per 1 January 2026. An assessment may be part of the procedure, consisting of psychological tests and an interview.

Job Application

The application package consists of the following separate documents: 1. A motivation letter (1A4 max) and a short study proposal for the PhD project (optional, 2 A4 max). 2. Your cv. 3. A scan of your diploma including transcripts. 4. Proof of English proficiency. 5. Other relevant documents. The documents 1-4 are compulsory and please note that incomplete application packages will not be taken into account. If you are interested, you can apply until 19 October 11:59pm / before 20 October 2025 Dutch local time (European Central Time) by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website). 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/about-ug/policy-and-strategy/diversity-and-inclusion/ 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:

For information about the application, please send an email to
[email protected]

Prof. Taco van der Vaart, Head of the Operations Department (for more information about the project)
[email protected]

Prof. Huib Cense, Surgeon (for more information about the project content)
[email protected]

In your application, please always include the job opening ID V25.0491

Digital application form