PhD position "Cross-national perspectives on part-time work"

This PhD-project is part of the "Meer Uren Werkt!" project, an initiative by the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment and Utrecht University, funded by the National Growth Fund. The project's goal is to remove visible and invisible barriers preventing employees from working more hours, enabling those who want to work more to do so. This initiative focuses on tackling various obstacles in how work is organized, aiming to help address labor market shortages. The program is a unique collaboration between the government and academic partners, including Utrecht University, Radboud University, and the NIDI.

In the scientific part of the project, one PhD position is now available at the NIDI, addressing demographic aspects of part-time work in a comparative perspective. It offers the possibility to delve into questions about the large cross-national differences in part-time work, such as: How can we explain national differences in the prevalence of part-time work? What is the role of policies and value climates in understand cross-national differences? And why is the Netherlands such a unique case? Moreover, this PhD-project offers the possibility to examine differences between groups and over the life-course by studying questions such as:  How can we understand educational and gender differences in part-time work across countries? How does part-time work change across the life course, for example, dependent on partnering, parenthood, and having an empty nest? And how do life course dynamics differ across countries?

Questions like these will be answered with quantitative analyses of a variety of multi-country data sources: (a) prospective panel data from multiple countries (the Comparative Panel File), (b) stacked cross-national survey data in Europe (ESS, LFS), and (c) cross-national surveys with retrospective information on work histories (GGP). The project will be supervised by Matthijs Kalmijn and Lonneke van den Berg.

Function description

• Carry out cutting-edge academic research within an international team of engaged researchers.
•      Publish international journal articles within the described project, resulting in a PhD thesis.
•      Participate in the Growth Fund project and collaborate with colleagues from Utrecht University and Radboud University.
•      Participate in and present at (inter-)national scientific meetings and contribute to project dissemination activities.

Qualifications

• A research master's degree in sociology, demography, labor-market economics, social geography, epidemiology, public health, or social psychology.
• A solid background in quantitative data analyses of micro-level data and skills in advanced statistical methods and programming.
• Good writing and presentation skills.

Planning

The deadline for applying is June 22; interviews will be held from June 27. The second round will take place the week of 30 June.

About NIDI
The Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) is a leading European demographic research institute. NIDI is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and affiliated with the University of Groningen. It is located in the center of The Hague providing a unique and stimulating research environment in the broad field of population studies. Currently the staff of the institute consists of about 65 employees of different levels of seniority and organized in a rather horizontal structure within four thematic research groups. The working environment is highly international and NIDI provides ample opportunities for training and development.

Terms of employment
Depending on education and experience the minimum salary is € 2,901 and the maximum salary is € 3,707 gross per month for a full-time appointment (scale P cao Nederlandse Universiteiten/KNAW). This is exclusive of 8% vacation allowance, 8.3% year-end bonus, travel allowance, internet allowance, home working allowance and pension accrual with ABP.

The KNAW offers its staff an excellent package of secondary benefits. A package that meets the different needs of employees depending on their stage of life, lifestyle or career ambitions. For example, by working an extra two hours a week, it is possible to increase the number of days off from 29 to 41 days a year (with full-time employment). 

For a complete overview of the terms of employment, please refer to the web page: werken bij de KNAW.

Applying for a Certificate of Good Conduct can be part of the employment procedure.

Diversity & Inclusion
The KNAW considers a working environment in which everyone feels welcome and appreciated of great importance. A working environment in which attention is paid to individual quality and where development opportunities are paramount. Together we strive for an inclusive culture in which we embrace differences. We would therefore like to invite candidates who want to contribute to this through their background and experience. In the event of equal suitability, preference will be given to the candidate who thus enhances diversity within the Academy.

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