Vacancy for assistant professor

Are you passionate about data quality? Are you an expert on survey methods, data collection and analysis? We have an opening for assistant professor! Please see the official vacancy below. Interested, but have questions?feel free to contact me informally. Deadline for applications 3 December 2023.

• Peter

Job description

The department of Methodology and Statistics has a job opening for one assistant professor (tenured, 0.8-1 FTE) requiring you to contribute to our educational and research programmes. You will be employed at the Department of Methodology and Statistics of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Utrecht University. We provide teaching in methods and statistics within all Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and University College Utrecht. We offer the only two-year master’s degree programme exclusively focused on methodology and statistics in the social, biomedical, and behavioural sciences in the Netherlands (in cooperation with Twente University and the Biostatistics group of Utrecht University Medical Centre).

In collaboration with Statistics Netherlands, within our Master programme we offer a track labelled European Master of Official Statistics (EMOS) awarded by Eurostat. In addition, we participate in the one-year interdisciplinary master Applied Data Science and in the interdisciplinary minor in Applied Data Science. We also teach courses for researchers and other professionals as part of the Summer School Utrecht, and we give advice to staff and students with respect to their research activities.

The research of the Department of Methodology and Statistics focuses on methods and techniques for the social and behavioural sciences in a broad sense and comprises topics such as: research synthesis techniques, longitudinal studies, SEM and multilevel analyses, survey research, Bayesian statistics, Applied Data Science, and qualitative research. Our department plays an active role in the Utrecht University focus area Applied Data Science and collaborates with the strategic themes Dynamics of Youth and Institutions for Open Societies.

The data quality research group within the department conducts research into methods for data collection in a broad sense and surveys in particular. Together with Statistics Netherlands, the group investigates the integration of new data collection methods (using registers, smartphone apps, sensors and wearables) in combination with more traditional forms of data collection to improve social statistics. We also investigate broader issues such as nonresponse, missing data, cross-national surveys, and web surveys.

The position involves 60% teaching activities and 40% research time. The core tasks include:

• Contributing to the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes within the curriculum of Methodology and Statistics and/or the Applied Data Science programmes;
• Carrying out and supervising research within the scope of the research executed by the department of Methodology and Statistics, often in collaboration with other research institutes or societal partners;
• Contributing to the acquisition of substantial external research funding for the benefit of the research programme of the department of Methodology and Statistics.

Requirements

Teaching:

You have experience with developing and coordinating academic courses in a team setting. Experience with teaching courses on research designs for the social and behavioural sciences and survey methods in a broad sense is desired.
You are able to provide inspiring lectures and have an eye for the improvement of teaching methods, as evidenced by positive teaching assessments.
You hold a University Teaching Qualification (BKO, Basiskwalificatie Onderwijs), or are willing to acquire this qualification in the near future.

Research:

You hold a PhD degree in the field of research methods, statistics, data science, computational social sciences or an adjacent field.
You have experience in conducting scientific research in the field of survey methodology or data collection methodologies more generally.
You have ideas about their own research line and how this could fit within the Department of Methodology and Statistics.
You are able to contribute to the (collective) acquiring of external research funding for the benefit of the research programme of the department of Methodology and Statistics.

General:

You have good communication skills, a proactive work attitude, and are able to work within a team.
You speak Dutch or are willing to learn Dutch. We expect a passive understanding of Dutch within two years of taking up the appointment.

Conditions of employment

We offer:

a fulltime permanent position (i.e., tenured) 0.8-1 FTE position upon a positive evaluation after one year;
a full-time gross salary between €4,332 and €6,737 in scale 11/12 of the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities (CAO);
8% holiday bonus and 8.3% end-of-year bonus;
a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave, and flexible employment conditions based on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities.

In addition to the employment conditions from the CAO for Dutch Universities, Utrecht University has a number of its own arrangements. These include agreements on professional development, leave arrangements, sports and cultural schemes and you get discounts on software and other IT products. We also give you the opportunity to expand your terms of employment through the Employment Conditions Selection Model. This is how we encourage you to grow.

For more information, please visit working at Utrecht University.

To apply to the position, please click on this link . Links works only until December 3, 2023