PhD position: "The rise in singlehood and the social embeddedness of singles" at NIDI-KNAW

The rise in singlehood is one of the major demographic trends of the last few decades. The question is how to maintain social cohesion in this context of increasing individualization. This PhD project examines whether and under which circumstances singlehood has integrative or isolating effects for singles aged 20 to 50. It explores what it means to be single, as well as singles’ social relations and well-being. It does so by collecting and examining new qualitative and quantitative data among singles and by using large-scale register data on networks. The focus of the project is on diversity within the singles’ population.

Key research questions include:

•    What does it mean to be single? 
•    How do the social networks of singles differ from those of partnered individuals? Does this change over the life-course?  
•    Under which individual and contextual conditions does singlehood foster integrative versus isolating patterns of social relations and solidarity behavior? 
•    To what extent do perceived singlehood norms within family, workplace, and neighborhood contexts moderate the relationship between singlehood and well-being, and are these effects gendered? 

This PhD project is part of the SOCION consortium. SOCION addresses a pressing challenge of our time: fragmentation in societies. Social cohesion is society’s fabric and is key to sustainable societies and citizens’ well-being. However, it is increasingly undermined by erosion and polarization between communities, factions, and groups. In this project, psychologists, social historians, demographers, philosophers, and sociologists collaborate with civic organizations to generate and integrate insights into how connections between individuals, groups, and institutions contribute to new pathways to and forms of social cohesion.

This PhD-project will be supervised by Lonneke van den Berg (daily supervisor), Matthijs Kalmijn (promotor), and Charlotte Knowles (RUG-philosophy)

Interview dates: April 14 (online) and April 17 (on-site: the Hague). 

What you will be doing

In this four-year project, you will:
•    Carry out cutting-edge academic research within an international team of engaged researchers.
•    Publish national and international journal articles, resulting in a PhD thesis.
•    Participate in, and present at (inter-)national scientific meetings.
•    Participate in the national SOCION project
•    Contribute to project dissemination activities and communications with the cultural music sector.
•    Collect new survey data on norms about singlehood, and the well-being and experiences of singles

What you will be contributing

•    (Research) MA/MSc degree in demography, sociology, social psychology, or epidemiology.
•    Interest in, and ideally some familiarity with philosophy.
•    Interest in the topic of social cohesion and in collaborating in a broad research consortium with academic and non-academic stakeholders
•    Interest in interdisciplinary research, including analytical and theoretical dimensions
•    Professional competence in English 
•    Intellectual curiosity, engagement with social questions, creativity, and analytical rigor
•    A background in quantitative data analyses and skills in advanced statistical methods and programming (e.g., Stata or R)
•    Interest in doing mixed methods research/qualitative research
•    We look for team players who want to play an active role in an inter- and transdisciplinary research community and training programme

What do we offer?

We offer a 1-year contract which will be extended by 3 additional years after a positive evaluation. The PhD position offers close supervision, excellent training opportunities, and a solid foundation for an academic or research-oriented career.

Your workplace 

The work climate is based on mutual respect, openness, and collaboration. The institute consists of about 80 employees of different levels of seniority.
NIDI comprises five thematic groups: (1) Families & gender, (2) Migrants & migration, (3) Demographic change and the labour market, (4) Health, ageing and mortality, (5) Data infrastructure and open science. Each group has approximately 10-15 members. 

Application procedure

Candidates are invited to submit their application in English. Applications must include, in a single PDF file:

•    A motivation letter.
•    A full curriculum vitae, including list of publications.
•    Full grade list of the (research) Master and Bachelor programs of graduation.
•    One or more samples of written work (e.g., master thesis, course paper)

The deadline for submitting your application is April 1, 2026. 

More information

For additional information you may contact Dr. Lonneke van den Berg (berg@nidi.nl).

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 five 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 3.059 and the maximum salary is 3.881 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.

We will not respond to any supplier enquiries based on this job advertisement.