vrije university amsterdam phd vacancies

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• Summer / Fall 2024

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Netherlands

• POSTED ON November 30, 2023
• PRIORITY DATE January 17, 2024
• FINAL DATE --
• ORIGINAL LISTING ELMAR
• APPLICATION LINK View
• JOB AD PDF Open

Job Description

POSTDOC POSITION IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

A Postdoctoral Fellow position is available at the marketing department of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam starting from Spring or Summer 2024. Are you interesed? Please apply at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Location:  AMSTERDAM FTE:  1

JOB DESCRIPTION

The postdoctoral researcher will primarily work together with Prof. Femke van Horen on a grant-funded project focused on the adoption of innovations in general, and the development of a method to assess the relation between visual similarity and liking of (food) innovations (e.g., plant-based meat, lab grown meat), more specifically. 

Your duties

• Conduct experimental research on the themes outlined above;
• Write high quality research papers;
• Present research-in-progress at e.g. workshops/conferences;
• Initiate meetings and share results with the involved researchers;

REQUIREMENTS

The potential candidate should

• have a Ph.D. in social or cognitive psychology, consumer behavior, behavioral economics, or a related discipline must be completed prior to starting this position.
• have strong knowledge of research methods and experimental design
• have advanced data analysis and programming skills
• have affinity with the topic of sustainability, food, and health
• have high academic writing skills and ability to publish in the leading academic journals
• be able to collaborate in groups as well as work individually;
• demonstrable flexibility and strong communication skills required to collaborate with international and local researchers and societal partner(s);
• be proficient in written and spoken English;
• be willing to work in-office (this is an in-person job)

WHAT ARE WE OFFERING?

The initial employment contract will affect a period of 1 year. After a satisfactory evaluation of the initial appointment, the contract will be extended for a total duration of two years.

On full-time basis (40 hours/week) the salary amounts to a minimum gross monthly salary of €3,226 (scale 10) and a maximum €4.332 (scale 10), depending on your education and experience.

Additionally, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam offers excellent fringe benefits and various schemes and regulations to promote a good work/life balance, such as:

• a maximum of 41 days of annual leave based on full-time employment,
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus,
• solid pension scheme (ABP),
• contribution to commuting expenses,
• optional model for designing a personalized benefits package.

ABOUT VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

The ambition of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is clear: to contribute to a better world through outstanding education and ground-breaking research. We strive to be a university where personal development and commitment to society play a leading role. A university where people from different disciplines and backgrounds collaborate to achieve innovations and to generate new knowledge. Our teaching and research encompass the entire spectrum of academic endeavor – from the humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences through to the life sciences and the medical sciences.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is home to more than 31,000 students. We employ over 5,000 individuals. The VU campus is easily accessible and located in the heart of Amsterdam’s Zuidas district, a truly inspiring environment for teaching and research.

Diversity We are an inclusive university community. Diversity is one of our most important values. We believe that engaging in international activities and welcoming students and staff from a wide variety of backgrounds enhances the quality of our education and research. We are always looking for people who can enrich our world with their own unique perspectives and experiences.

School of Business and Economics The School of Business and Economics (SBE) provides high-quality education and excellent research in business administration and economics with a focus on contributing to the social, economic and ecological challenges of our time. Whether it is the use of robots in society or big data, labour market participation or flexibility in the labour market, traffic jams or the housing market, flash crashes in the stock market or choice behaviour in gambling, leadership or change management: we believe in goal-oriented scientific research and understand that progress in academics, the business community and society is achieved through cooperation, openness and social responsibility.

At SBE, all of our highly-motivated colleagues work together closely in a stimulating, dynamic and international environment to achieve our collective goal of encouraging society to make informed choices. Approximately 7,000 Bachelor’s and Master’s students and 1,700 executive students are enrolled at the School, and employs roughly 600 people.

Marketing Department We are a research oriented group that offers a stimulating environment and a dynamic international culture. Our faculty publishes in the major marketing journals, as well as several top-notch outlets in economics, psychology, decision making, and interdisciplinary journals. We have a strong international network with many collaborations and visits across Europe and the US, and were home to the European Association of Consumer Research conference in 2023. The department offers courses at all levels from Bachelor to MSc and MBA, and participates in the school’s PhD program. Our MSc in Marketing (in English, 150-200 students) has been rated best in The Netherlands. The department’s language of communication is English, teaching is either in English or in Dutch.

APPLICATION

Are you interested in this position? Please apply via the application button and upload your curriculum vitae, a personal motivation, research statement and two reference letters until  January 14, 2024.  Rolling submission until position filled. Strong preferences will be given to applications received before January 17, 2024

Submitting a diploma is part of the application process.

Applications received by e-mail will not be processed.

Vacancy questions If you have any questions regarding this vacancy, you may contact:

Name: Prof. dr. F. van Horen Position:professor of consumer behavior; E-mail: [email protected]

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DOCTORAL STUDENTS (PHD STUDENTS)

Doctoral students with a fellowship who are associated with a department and/or research group. They conduct research a PhD, under the supervision of a promotor.

Job application procedure

Your application process will be conducted through the faculty. 

Working at VU

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Vacancies at the UvA

You can find vacancies for PhD positions and positions for academic and support staff in the list of current vacancies at the UvA .

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Two PhD Positions on Human-aligned Video-AI

Job Information

Offer description.

Are you interested in performing high-impact interdisciplinary research in Artificial Intelligence and its alignment with humans and society? The University of Amsterdam has recently started a flagship project on Human-Aligned Video AI (HAVA). The HAVA Lab will address fundamental questions about what defines human alignment with video AI, how to make this computable, and what determines its societal acceptance. Video AI holds the promise to explore what is unreachable, monitor what is imperceivable and to protect what is most valuable. New species have become identifiable in our deep oceans, the visually impaired profit from automated speech transcriptions of visual scenery, and elderly caregivers may be supported with an extra pair of eyes, to name just three of the many, many application examples. This is no longer wishful thinking. Broad uptake of video-AI for science, for business, and for wellbeing awaits at the horizon, thanks to a decade of phenomenal progress in machine deep learning. However, the same video-AI is also accountable for self-driving cars crashing into pedestrians, deep fakes that make us believe misinformation, and mass-surveillance systems that monitor our behaviour. The research community’s over-concentration on recognition accuracy has neglected human-alignment for societal acceptance. The HAVA Lab is an intern-disciplinary lab that will study how to make the much-needed digital transformation towards human-aligned video AI. The HAVA Lab will host 7 PhD positions working together with researchers from all 7 faculties of the university, from video AI and its alignment with human cognition, ethics, and law, to its embedding in medical domains, public safety, and business. The lab has 9 supervisors in total spanning all 7 faculties of the university for maximum interdisciplinarity. Depending on the specific topic, the PhD students also have a strong link to the working environment and faculty of their respective supervisors. The HAVA Lab has been given a unique central location at the library, an ideal hub for interdisciplinary collaborations. The PI of the lab is prof. dr. Cees Snoek. Five of the seven PhD positions have been filled, we are looking to fill two more PhD positions, with the following interdisciplinary focus:

• One PhD Position on human-aligned video-AI for public safety, which will be supervised by prof. dr. Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard and prof. dr. Cees Snoek.
• One PhD Position on human-aligned video-AI for surgical skills, which will be supervised by prof. dr. Marlies Schijven and prof. dr. Cees Snoek.

What are you going to do? Foundational video AI requires self-supervised multimodal learning that models motion dynamics, audio perception and contextual semantics, while reducing the associated computational costs. Furthermore, a good video AI model requires having enhanced generalization capability such that it can be adapted via prompt learning or instruction tuning to various downstream application domains in a parameter-efficient fashion. This is especially important for video understanding applications, where annotating large amounts of data is extremely expensive, error-prone and sensitive to annotator bias, or simply only available in limited amounts due to privacy or societal concerns. However, most current works in video self-supervised learning do not consider these more human-aligned conditions. For both PhD positions, you will research video AI in a human-aligned manner, with one position focusing on public safety and the other one on surgical skills. Public safety. Video AI has the potential to detect unsafe behavior and situations from camera recordings and provide unique insights, for example statistics on crimes that are currently undetected, unregistered and unreported, or on incidences of self-policing and helping. However, specialist knowledge about behavior during subtle incidences of such interactions is needed to deal with human biases present in existing data. This requires new video-AI algorithms recognizing subtle and fine-grained behavior without perpetuating unwanted biases, as well as research into the societal integration of such algorithms. Surgical skills. For this position, you will research how video AI can be developed and safeguarded against annotation biases; and how to align complex annotations with video data when it comes to deployment in settings developed for assessing surgical skills. Moreover, you will investigate how multimodal video-AI algorithms can be developed in an ethically sound manner, and further trained to reliably assess surgical trainees in skills settings. Your tasks will be to:

• Perform novel research towards video AI and its human-alignment in society.
• Actively collaborate within the interdisciplinary HAVA Lab.
• Present research results at international conferences and journals.
• Be active in sharing your research in the public as well as in the social domain, according to UvA Guidelines.
• Assist in teaching activities such as lab assistance and student supervision.
• Pursue and complete a PhD thesis within the appointed duration of four years.

What do you have to offer?

• A relevant Masters degree to the PhD topic of interest. Our ideal PhD candidate has a background in artificial intelligence and affinity with either the social and behavioural sciences or medical sciences.
• Affinity with interdisciplinary research in Artificial Intelligence.
• Interest in developing skills required in complementary disciplines.
• Experience with programming in Python, computer vision and machine learning.
• You are highly motivated, independent, and creative.
• Strong communication, presentation and writing skills and excellent command of English.

Our offer A temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (the initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years). The preferred starting date is as soon as possible. This should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students. The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week and dependent on relevant experience, ranges between € 2,770 in the first year to € 3,539 in the last year (scale P). UvA additionally offers an extensive package of secondary benefits, including 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.3%. The UFO profile PhD Candidate is applicable. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable. Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment we offer you multiple fringe benefits:

• 232 holiday hours per year (based on fulltime) and extra holidays between Christmas and 1 January;
• Multiple courses to follow from our Teaching and Learning Centre;
• A complete educational program for PhD students;
• Multiple courses on topics such as time management, handling stress and an online learning platform with 100+ different courses;
• 7 weeks birth leave (partner leave) with 100% salary;
• Partly paid parental leave;
• The possibility to set up a workplace at home;
• A pension at ABP for which UvA pays two third part of the contribution;
• The possibility to follow courses to learn Dutch;
• Help with housing for a studio or small apartment when you’re moving from abroad

Are you curious to read more about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits, take a look here . About us The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is the Netherlands' largest university, offering the widest range of academic programmes. At the UvA, 42,000 students, 6,000 staff members and 3,000 PhD candidates study and work in a diverse range of fields, connected by a culture of curiosity. The Faculty of Science (FNWI) has a student body of around 8,000, as well as 1,800 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain. The mission of the Informatics Institute (IvI) is to perform curiosity-driven and use-inspired fundamental research in Computer Science. The main research themes are Artificial Intelligence, Computational Science and Systems and Network Engineering. Our research involves complex information systems at large, with a focus on collaborative, data driven, computational and intelligent systems, all with a strong interactive component. The HAVA Lab is part of the Data Science Centre , the coordinating hub and facilitator for data-driven research within the University of Amsterdam. The supervisors span all 7 faculties of the university. Want to know more about our organisation? Read more about

Requirements

Additional information, work location(s), where to apply.

Recap: Police break up demonstration at UChicago; protest outside Columbia trustees' homes

Editor's Note: This is a summary of news about campus protests from Tuesday, May 7. Read our latest coverage .

NEW YORK – Demonstrators picketed outside the homes of Columbia University trustees as police cracked down on an encampment in Chicago Tuesday in the latest wave of demonstrations to sweep the nation amid Israel’s intensifying offensive in Gaza.

Police raided an encampment around 4:40 a.m. Tuesday that had been set up on the main quad of the University of Chicago for eight days, according to school officials. Video of the police response shows officers in riot gear tearing down posters and disassembling tents.

University President Paul Alivisatos said in a statement that no arrests have been made but added that "where appropriate, disciplinary action will proceed." He cited mounting safety concerns for the decision to break up the encampment.

Encampments at universities in Europe increasingly became the site of police action while protesters at the Rhode Island School of Design continuing to occupy a building they took over on Monday. At MIT, demonstrators remained at an encampment on Tuesday after it was mostly emptied out following an ultimatum from the university.

Protesters demonstrate outside homes of Columbia trustees

Exactly a week after New York City police raided Columbia University campus at the school administration’s request, students began demonstrating off campus on a sunny Tuesday morning at the homes and offices of the board of trustees.

Less than three dozen demonstrators peacefully picketed outside the posh Upper West Side apartment building of university board of trustees co-chair David Greenwald. Demonstrators accused Greenwald – who joined University President Minouche Shafik in testifying before Congress in April – for his role in the university’s continued support of Israel through investments, as well as the decision to call in the NYPD to dismantle an encampment and clear a building that had been occupied by protesters.“Greenwald, Greenwald, you can’t hide,” the group chanted from across the street, on a tree-lined sidewalk next to the American Museum of Natural History. “You’re supporting genocide.”

The small group of students had several hecklers flip them off or yell at them. At one point, a USA TODAY reporter witnessed the aftermath of an incident in which a woman punched a demonstrator in the face, seemingly at random, near the American Museum of Natural History. The demonstrator nursed her injury on a park bench. NYPD told USA TODAY they hadn't received a call for the incident. A nearby NYPD squad car had been following the marchers, though it's unclear if officers saw the woman punch the demonstrator. 

Columbia kicked off the wave of student protests across the country and overseas last month. On Monday, the university announced that it canceled its main commencement and will instead focus on smaller graduation ceremonies.

Police crack down on pro-Palestinian protests in Europe

At universities in Berlin and Amsterdam, police arrested dozens of protesters who, like their American counterparts, were galvanized in opposition of Israel's seven-month offensive in Gaza. Similar protests have broken out at universities across Europe in recent days.

At Free University in Berlin, police arrested more than 100 protesters who had set up an encampment on a campus courtyard, multiple outlets reported .

A statement from the university said a group of 60-80 people, including students from Free University and other institutions, set up an encampment on Tuesday and encouraged others to join. The university said the group refused to negotiate with campus leadership and that property damage had occurred. Additionally, the university called off classes in several campus buildings and closed a cafeteria and a library.

“This kind of protest is not dialogue oriented. An occupation of university property is not acceptable. We welcome academic debate and dialogue – but not in this form,” said Günter M. Ziegler, the president of Free University in a statement.

In the Netherlands, police clashed with protesters for a second day after law enforcement broke up a demonstration at the University of Amsterdam on Monday, Reuters reported .

Columbia alumni boycott class reunions

A group of Columbia University and Barnard College alumni announced it will boycott school reunions later this month as a way to withdraw support for the university and push the institution to meet protesters' demands to divest from Israel.

"I'm proud of these students for sparking one of the most important protest movements in recent times, and that's who I feel proud of – not the university and administration," said Michael Carter, a member of the Columbia Alternative Reunion Committee.

The boycotting group, whose members now number in the hundreds, formed before student protesters occupied Hamilton Hall, Carter said. The group stands with students and faculty who were expressing their voice to call on the university to disclose and divest endowment money from companies supporting Israel’s government.

Each year, thousands of alumni and their families descend on Columbia’s Manhattan campus after the spring semester to celebrate and reunite with their college community as part of official class reunion events, which come at a fee. Parties, dinners and receptions planned by alumni and university staff will be held the last weekend in May, which helps alumni – and their wallets – stay connected to the university, Carter said.

"This entire thing hinges around the endowment of Columbia University and the biggest single source of that endowment are the alumni," said Carter, who graduated from the university in 2014, one of the biggest class years represented in the boycotting group.

Columbia Alternative Reunion Committee said it will be hosting its own events in New York on May 31 and June 1, and alumni donations will go toward Palestinian aid organizations, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and World Central Kitchen.

The alternative events will be held at bars and local businesses in Uptown Manhattan, Carter said, and alumni can expect to celebrate and socialize as they would at traditional reunion events.

“This alternative reunion is welcome to all who feel similarly or wish to learn more in good faith,” the committee said.

– Claire Thornton

Protesters occupy building at Rhode Island School of Design

Students from the Rhode Island School of Design and others occupied a school administration building on campus, forcing the university to relocate some of its classes.

A group called RISD students for Justice in Palestine is leading the occupation of Providence Washington Hall and says it has renamed the building Fathi Ghaben Place, after a Palestinian painter who died earlier this year.

RISD has asked the students to relocate "out of respect for their peers academic' experience," RISD spokeswoman Jaime Marland told the Providence Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network . In the meantime, the school is relocating classes that were scheduled for the building Tuesday.

"While we have and continue to affirm our students’ right to freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and peaceful assembly, we also respect the rights of the many students who want to attend their classes," Marland said via email.

– Jack Perry, Providence Journal

NYPD investigates driver who hit pro-Palestinian protester with car

Police said a driver hit a 55-year-old woman with his car on New York City’s Upper East Side Tuesday morning during a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the home of a university trustee.

The New York City Police Department told USA TODAY an argument broke out between protesters and a driver around 9 a.m. Tuesday. As the group of roughly 25 demonstrators walked away, a driver hit a 55-year-old woman with his Volvo, the NYPD said. The driver and two demonstrators have been taken into custody, including the woman who was treated at the hospital for minor injuries. The NYPD declined to release their names since they hadn’t been charged as of 3:30 p.m.

Student organizers disputed the NYPD's account. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the group that organized the picket, said in a statement that demonstrators were on the crosswalk when the driver ran his car into a person identified as a “de-escalation team” member.

The student group said the driver pulled up in his car, asked for a flier then grabbed a protester’s arm. The driver then parked in front of picketers until they were leaving before circling the block to drive into the demonstration, the statement said. Organizers said the injured person has been handcuffed to a bed in the hospital.

– Eduardo Cuevas

FBI, LAPD asked to assist in probe of violent UCLA counter-protest

The University of California, Los Angeles has solicited the LAPD and FBI to help investigate an incident in which counter-protesters tried to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment, leading to hours of violent clashes .

The incident, which occurred on April 30, has not led to any arrests but caused an uproar of backlash against the campus administration and police force. Along with an investigation into the violent episode, the university's newly created Office of Campus Safety, will review the campus police department’s response to the attack as well as an analysis of UCLA’s safety protocols.

Officials have not identified those involved in the violent counter-protest. Some wore sweatshirts with pro-Israel messages, waved Israeli flags and chanted pro-Israel slogans.

“Holding the instigators of this attack accountable and enhancing our campus safety operations are both critical,” a statement from UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said. “Our community members can only learn, work and thrive in an environment where they feel secure.”

Columbia students continue to protest in NYC

As the sun beamed down Tuesday morning, Sueda Polat, a Columbia graduate student and one of the former campus protest negotiators, chanted outside a Manhattan skyscraper, home to the law offices of Jeh Johnson, a Columbia University trustee.

She was one of dozens participating in protests outside the homes and offices of members of Columbia's Board of Trustees, demonstrations planned by student groups. Polat said many of her fellow classmates will continue to protest outside the Columbia campus walls, as the NYPD has agreed to maintain a presence there until after next week's graduation ceremonies.

“We're still going strong,” she told USA TODAY. “I mean, campus being closed doesn't mean that we don't have anything to do.”

Protesters demonstrate outside home of Harvard president

In Massachusetts, more than 400 people protested Monday night outside the home of Alan M. Garber, the president of Harvard University, according to the Harvard Crimson . The rally was organized in reaction to the president refusing to negotiate with protesters at an encampment on Harvard Yard.

Garber in a public statement had earlier demanded that students break up the encampment or face a potential ban from campus.

Protesters reoccupy MIT encampment

Pro-Palestinian protesters at MIT, including students, remained in an encampment a day after they were issued an ultimatum to leave or face disciplinary action.

MIT Chancellor Melissa Nobles said dozens of "interim suspensions and referrals to the Committee on Discipline" are underway after the university on Monday ordered student protesters to end the encampment.

University President Sally Kornbluth set a 2:30 p.m. deadline on Monday for students to clear the camp or said they would be prohibited from classes, exams and commencement. By the deadline, most students left, though there was a large demonstration held just outside the encampment by students and outside protesters, the university said .

Around 6:30 p.m. Monday, a person hopped a barricade and entered the encampment, “causing a surge, and soon the area was breached,” according to the university. Soon, more than 150 people were inside the encampment area.

“We have much work still to do to resolve this situation, and will continue to communicate as needed,” Kornbluth said in a statement Monday night.