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Introduction

Are you interested in understanding how social policies can contribute to improving health and social outcomes across the life course? Do you want to inform policy making for health equity? Join us as PhD candidate or postdoc and advance knowledge in social policy and public health.

Job description

Social policy decisions are often informed by short-term outcomes. This results in ‘firefighting’, i.e. policies that deal with problems after they occur, rather than long-term prevention. By developing innovative simulation models that incorporate the life-course consequences of policy options, your work will support policy makers to make better-informed decisions. Using large administrative datasets, you will develop models and provide estimates for two policy cases: (i) free-of-charge contraceptives for all age groups; (ii) subsidized childcare for all families. Your work is part of the NWO-funded project "Looking beyond the horizon: life-course modelling for improved policy making" (). This is a collaborative project between the Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, and the Erasmus School of Health Policy and Management (ESHPM). Within this project, there are two vacancies: the vacancy advertised here, a vacancy for a PhD student at ESHPM and a PhD student or Postdoc at the Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, which is advertised separately. The two researchers to be appointed on the project will be provided with a work space at both departments to foster intensive collaboration.

Job requirements

We are looking for a highly motivated candidate with:

- with an MSc degree in epidemiology, health sciences, public health, (health) economics, econometrics, mathematics, quantitative sociology, (developmental) psychology or a related field;

- who enjoys working collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team while managing independent research tasks;

- who is able to read policy documents in Dutch and work with Dutch (meta-)data;

- is proficient in English, both written and spoken, with the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly;

- who has experience with statistical programming (e.g., Stata, R);

- who is motivated to study policy-relevant questions;

- who has a basic conceptual understanding of the potential life course consequences of social policies;

- who has some familiarity with, or are motivated to build up familiarity with, the Dutch policy context and the two policy cases under study.

Key skills that the candidate will be developing and working with are:

- advanced quantitative data analyses;

- simulation modelling;

- management of Statistics Netherlands data;

- scientific writing skills.

What we offer:

· a 4-year fully funded PhD position at Erasmus School of Health Policy & management with a competitive salary;

· opportunities for professional development, including courses, conference participation, an international research visit of up to 2 months, and publishing in high-impact journals;

· a supportive and stimulating research environment with access to state-of-the-art resources;

· a work space at both Erasmus School of Health Policy and Management (Erasmus University) and the Department of Public Health (Erasmus MC) giving you the opportunity to broaden your professional network.

Employment conditions and benefits

We offer you an internationally oriented and varied job in an enthusiastic team, with excellent working conditions in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU).

The start date of this position is 01-SEP-2025 and you will be based at [class.26087] in Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM). This position is for 0.9 fte - 1 fte. The salary ranges from a minimum of € 2.901 to a maximum of € 3.707 gross per month Scale PhD on a fulltime basis (38 hours), in accordance with the CAO-NU. The contract is entered into for the duration of (contractduur).

Everything else we offer you, you can find below!

-        Everything you need for a good work-life balance: the option to work from home in consultation with your manager, 41 days of paid leave with a 40 hour contract, 8% holiday pay and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a significant discount on a subscription for our !

-        Sustainable, inclusive and diverse work environment with an open culture, where you can be yourself and we pay attention to each other and to the world around us. Make the most of our bicycle budget, or join networks such as , FAME or QuEUR.

-        Time and space for your development in the broadest sense: development days and a personal career budget and free access to our university library.

-        Good pension with ABP that EUR contributes 2/3rds towards, discounts on various collective insurances with Zilveren Kruis Achmea, Loyalis, and Allianz, and compensation for travel, working from home and home internet use.

-        Are you currently combining your job with parenthood, or do you want to do so in the future? EUR offers partially paid parental leave and fully paid additional birth leave for partners, and our campus features a daycare (daycare not paid for by EUR).

-        Moving to the Netherlands for your job with EUR? Then you may be eligible for the 30%-ruling if you meet the requirements of the Belastingdienst (Dutch tax agency), and with our Dual Career Programme we will also help your partner find the right job for them.

Employer

ÌÇÐÄÖ±²¥ (EUR) is an internationally oriented university with a strong social orientation in its education and research, as expressed in our mission ‘Creating positive societal impact’. EUR is home to 4.100 academics and professionals and almost 33.000 students from more than 140 countries. Everything we do, we do under the credo The Erasmian Way – Making Minds Matter. We’re global citizens, connecting, entrepreneurial, open-minded, and socially involved. These Erasmian Values function as our internal compass and create EUR’s distinctive and recognizable profile. From these values, with a broad perspective and with an eye for diversity, different backgrounds and opinions, our employees work closely together to solve societal challenges from the dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Rotterdam. Thanks to the high quality and positive societal impact of our research and education, EUR can compete with the top European universities. .

Faculty / Institute / Central service

Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM)

ESHPM is leading within the Netherlands with its teaching and research activities, focusing on economics, policy and management topics in healthcare. ESHPM offers a bachelor programme, five master programmes, a transition programme for lateral entrants and postgraduate education.

Since its foundation in 1982, ESHPM has closely linked research and education. Knowledge and experience from various scientific disciplines such as economics, law, socio-medical sciences, organizational studies and public administration are brought together and applied to healthcare. This multidisciplinary approach to education and research is unique.

ESHPM is housed in the Bayle (J) Building on EUR's Woudestein campus in Rotterdam. More than 1500 students study and 160 employees work at ESHPM. Internationalization is highly valued at ESHPM. The number of students, faculty and researchers from abroad has increased significantly over the past years and have enriched our programmes.

Department

You will join the department of Health Economics at Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM). ESHPM is renowned for interdisciplinary research and education in healthcare. Its interdisciplinary focus facilitates collaborations across disciplines and allows researchers to present their work in journals and conferences in various fields, including economics and medical sciences. ESHPM is also known for creating societal impact through its strong ties with healthcare practitioners, policymakers, and media presence. The Health Economics research group is dynamic and active, with a variety of research interests, including public health economics and labour economics. The research group is part of EsCHER, one of Europe’s largest health economics centres. In this project we will work closely with the Department of Public Health located at Erasmus Medical Center. Throughout the PhD trajectory, you will be supervised by Prof. Dr. Pieter van Baal and Dr. Tanja Houweling. We give guidance on publishing in scientific journals, presenting at conferences, finding relevant courses, arranging a research visit abroad, liaising with other researchers and policymakers, and preparing for your future career.

Applying

If you are passionate about advancing research in public health economics, we encourage you to apply

Please submit your application, consisting of a motivation letter and CV, before 22-6-2025 via AcademicTransfer citing Social Policies.The selection procedure consists of 1 or 2 interviews. Interviews are expected to be held in the first weeks of July 2025.

You can find more information about the EUR and ESHPM at our website . Additional information about the vacancy can be obtained by contacting Pieter van Baal ()

Persons of all gender identities or expressions, sexual orientations, religions, ethnicities, ages, neurodiversities, functional impairments, citizenships, or any other aspect are welcome to apply and join the EUR community.