Postdoc Position: Healthy Student Life Project

Radboud International; Nijmegen; On-site; EUR 42,000 - 56,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension plan

Flexible working hours

Home working option

Sports subscription reimbursement

Enhanced leave arrangements

Job summary

Radboud University is seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher for the Healthy Student Life (HSL) project. You will coordinate data collection waves, design studies, recruit participants, and manage data with the Behavioural Science Institute, contributing to policy-relevant insights.

You will also conduct your own research, perform analyses, and aim to publish in international journals. The role blends project coordination with scientific inquiry and offers opportunities for collaboration and societal

Qualifications

• PhD in psychology, behavioural science, pedagogy or related discipline.
• Strong interest in student well-being, mental health and health behaviours with societal impact.
• Experience with quantitative methods, longitudinal research, survey design and data collection.
• Excellent academic writing and intent to publish in international journals.
• Interest in translating findings into initiatives for student well-being.
• Excellent communication and collaboration with researchers and stakeholders.
• Commitment to open science and responsible data sharing.
• Excellent command of English (written and spoken); Dutch proficiency preferred.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and conduct waves of data collection for the HSL project.
• Develop study design, recruit participants and manage data quality.
• Lead statistical analyses and contribute to publications.
• Prepare study documentation, ethics applications and survey programming.
• Publish at least one scientific paper and support team publications.
• Contribute to knowledge transfer to policymakers and stakeholders.

Skills

Statistical analyses

Longitudinal research

Survey design

Academic writing

Open science

Communication skills

English proficiency

Dutch proficiency

Education

PhD in psychology/behavioural science/pedagogy or related discipline

Job description

Job description

Would you like to contribute to a better understanding of student well-being and help shape a healthy student population? Join the longitudinal Healthy Student Life (HSL) project at Radboud University as a Postdoctoral Researcher. This is an exciting opportunity to combine scientific research with project coordination and interdisciplinary collaboration, while contributing to knowledge that can inform policies and initiatives to promote student well-being.

As a Postdoctoral Researcher, you will play a key role in the continuation and further development of the Healthy Student Life (HSL) project at Radboud University. HSL is a longitudinal research project investigating the well-being and health behaviours of university students, including mental health, study-related factors, substance use and lifestyle. The project provides a unique research infrastructure for studying student well‑being over time and contributes to the development of evidence-based policies and prevention initiatives. As the project develops, there may also be opportunities to explore how its research population could be broadened to include students in other types of education.

You will coordinate and conduct the seventh and eighth waves of data collection, from study design and preparation to survey implementation, participant recruitment and data management. In collaboration with the HSL project leaders, team members and researchers across the Behavioural Science Institute (BSI), you will help identify research priorities, coordinate input from collaborating researchers and select appropriate validated measures. Potential topics include mental health, alcohol use, gambling and emerging themes identified through a Delphi study on priorities for youth research. You will also prepare study documentation, coordinate ethics applications and survey programming, and oversee high standards of data quality, documentation and archiving.

Alongside these coordination responsibilities, you will conduct your own scientific research using HSL data. You will develop research questions, carry out statistical analyses and lead the preparation of at least one scientific publication for an international peer‑reviewed journal. You will also have opportunities to contribute to collaborative publications, including team science papers, and to translate research findings into factsheets and short research reports for relevant stakeholders, including university policymakers. This three‑year position combines responsibility for a large‑scale longitudinal research project with opportunities to develop your own research interests, build interdisciplinary collaborations and contribute to the scientific and societal impact of HSL within the BSI theme of ’Empowering the Young’.

As part of your postdoctoral researcher position, you should be willing to take on possible teaching tasks up to a maximum of 20% of your total appointment.

Requirements

• You hold a PhD in psychology, behavioural science, pedagogy or a related discipline.
• You have a strong interest in student well‑being, mental health and health behaviours, and are motivated to contribute to research with both scientific and societal impact.
• You have experience with quantitative research methods and statistical analyses. You have experience with, or a strong interest in, longitudinal research, survey design and data collection, and are able to analyse complex datasets independently.
• You have excellent academic writing skills and are motivated to develop your own research questions and publish your findings in international peer‑reviewed journals.
• You are interested in translating research findings into initiatives that promote student well‑being and strengthen the relevance and impact of the HSL project.
• You have excellent communication skills and enjoy working with a broad range of researchers and stakeholders.
• You are committed to open science, transparent research practices and the responsible management and sharing of research data.
• You have an excellent command of English, both written and spoken.
• You preferably have a strong command of Dutch, both written and spoken.

Conditions of employment

We will give you a temporary employment contract of 3 year(s). You will be employed for an initial period of 12 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended to the ultimate enddate of 31 december 2029.

Your salary within salary scale 11 depends on your previous education and number of years of (relevant) work experience. The amounts in the scale are based on a 38‑hour working week.

You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end‑of‑year bonus.

You will receive extra days off. With full‑time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 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

Radboud Universiteit

Faculty of Social Sciences

At the Faculty of Social Sciences, humanity and society are our focus; we study how people behave, think and feel. Within this context, we look at themes such as human behaviour and the human psyche, education and upbringing, communication, society and culture. The faculty provides education to 6,000 students and employs 700 staff. Education is organised into six programme clusters: Psychology; Artificial Intelligence; Pedagogical Sciences and Educational Sciences; Communication Science; Sociology; and Cultural Anthropology and Developmental Sociology, and the Radboud Centre Social Sciences as an institute for post‑master education have been merged into the Social Sciences Education Institute. Our research is carried out within three research institutes: the Donders Centre for Cognition, the Behavioural Science Institute, and Radboud Social Cultural Research.

Radboud University At Radboud University, we aim to make an impact through our work. We achieve this by conducting groundbreaking research, providing high‑quality education, offering excellent support, and fostering collaborations within and outside the university. In doing so, we contribute indispensably to a healthy, free world with equal opportunities for all. To accomplish this, we need even more colleagues who, based on their expertise, are willing to search for answers. We advocate for an inclusive community and welcome employees with diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives.

If you want to learn more about working at Radboud University, follow our Instagram account and read stories from our colleagues.

Department

The Behavioural Science Institute (BSI) is an interdisciplinary research institute where fundamental, applied and translational research takes place with the aim of understanding important societal issues and contributing to their solutions. BSI is one of the three research institutes of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Radboud University. Our researchers collaborate across the boundaries of psychology, communication science and pedagogical and educational science. Our mission for the coming years is to join forces in interdisciplinary research on the theme of ’Empowering the Young’. We study the challenges that young people face in our current society and contribute to their empowerment.

The Healthy Student Life project (Healthy Student Life | Radboud Universiteit) is led by two research groups: Behavioural Problems (Prof. Jacqueline Vink) and Work, Health and Performance (Prof. Sabine Geurts). The postdoctoral researcher position will be embedded within the former research group.