PhD position on 'food parenting practices' in low income families at Radboud University NL

PhD position on 'food parenting practices' in low income families (1,0 fte)
Faculty of Social Sciences
Vacancy number: 24.01.16
Application deadline: 14 February 2016

Responsibilities
Childhood obesity is a rising and alarming epidemic, particularly among children with a lower socioeconomic background. Despite the clear need for effective prevention approaches, existing programmes have often failed to work among, or are not able to reach, those with a lower socioeconomic status. We need a radically new prevention approach, one that is both theory and evidence based and applies to low-income families. This project aims to do so by intervening at the right moment (when children start to eat the normal family meal and snacks), with the right people (low-income and overweight mothers), and with the right risk behaviours (consumption of sugar sweetened beverages and snacks) and underlying determinants (automatic parenting processes). It specifically focuses on food parenting practices and will examine whether mothers who receive (feeding) parenting support through mobile applications and/or group meetings at paediatric clinics will have children who eat more healthily and have a lower weight. As a PhD you will be part of a larger project team in which people from the creative industry (app developers) and clinical practice (group leaders at paediatric clinics) are employed. In this project qualitative research techniques (i.e. focus groups at the start of the project) will be combined with a further quantitative research approach.

Work environment
The research project will be conducted within the Developmental Psychopathology research programme of the Behavioural Science Institute. The BSI is a research institute of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Radboud University. The BSI Graduate School is recognized by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and provides a two-year Research Master’s programme and a PhD training programme. The Behavioural Science Institute is very well-funded and has over 200 researchers conducting research in three areas: (1) development and learning, (2) psychopathology, health, and well-being, and (3) social processes and communication. The BSI has state-of-the-art research facilities for observational studies, experiments, eye-tracking studies, EEG measurements and GSR recording, psychobiological research, and behavioural measurements in real and 3D virtual environments. The Faculty of Social Sciences is one of the largest faculties at Radboud University. The faculty’s ambition is to become one of the top social science institutes in Europe, providing high-quality research and study programmes that rank among the best in the Netherlands.

What we expect from you
preferably a Research Master’s degree in psychology, pedagogics, communication or health sciences. However, candidates who completed a regular Master’s degree in one of the mentioned disciplines and have relevant research experience are also invited to apply;
experience in behavioural research, who can easily build a bridge between practice and science;
good communication skills, has affinity with the target audience of low-income mothers, is creative and has experience with statistical analyses (i.e. SPSS, R or STATA) and scientific writing;
some experience with app development would be a plus (to liaise more easily with our creative industry partner that will build the app).

What we have to offer
employment: 1,0 fte;
in addition to the salary: an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus;
the starting salary is €2,125 per month on a full-time basis, the salary will increase to €2,779 per month in the fourth year (P-scale);
you will be appointed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years;
as part of the contract, you will participate in teaching for approximately 10% of your work time;
you will be classified as a PhD candidate (promovendus) in the Dutch university job-ranking system (UFO).
Are you interested in our excellent employment conditions?

Would you like to know more?
Further information on: Faculty of Social Sciences

For more information about this vacancy, please contact:
Dr. J. Larsen, assistant professor of child and family psychopathology
Telephone: +31 24 3612370
E-mail: j.larsen@bsi.ru.nl