Job description

The University of Groningen is recruiting three postdocs to join a team led by Boudewijn de Bruin. The postdocs will contribute to an interdisciplinary research project on motivated cognition and non-evidential belief formation. The project involves normative (ethics, law) and empirical (economics, psychology) research, and designing and testing policy instruments.

Successful candidates should have an interest in the ethical, legal, and social science aspects of “non-evidential beliefs,” or “motivated cognition,” such as racist and sexist stereotypes, climate change denial, belief in fake news, conspiracy theories, etc. They should be excited to work in an interdisciplinary environment in which normative (ethical, legal) and empirical (economic, psychological) issues are constantly integrated. Topics that they should be interested in include such things as legal solutions to misinformation, psychological tools to combat motivated cognition, organizational remedies against group stereotypes, as well as philosophical and ethical approaches to intellectual or epistemic virtues.

Qualifications

• candidates should have a PhD in philosophy, ethics, law, economics, or psychology
• since part of the project is to work with external parties in business and government, they should have excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to reach out to non-academic stakeholders.

The appointee will be based in the Faculty of Economics & Business and the Centre for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, of the University of Groningen.

Organisation

Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has enjoyed an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative center of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Belonging to the best research universities of Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is truly an international place of knowledge.

The Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) has an inspiring study and working environment for students and employees. International accreditation enables the Faculty to assess performance against the highest international standards. It also creates an exciting environment of continuous improvement. FEB’s programmes, academic staff and research do well on various excellence ranking lists.

Conditions of employment

In accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, we offer you:

• a starting salary, depending on qualifications and work experience, between € 2,960 (salary scale 10) and € 5,439 gross per month (salary scale 11) based on a full time position (38 hours per week)
• a holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income and an 8.3% end-of-the-year allowance
• a temporary full time (1.0 FTE) appointment for a maximum term of two years.

Application

Candidates are invited to send:

• a covering letter in which the applicant develops some research ideas contributing to the project and explains how their background in philosophy, ethics, law, economics, or psychology helps them to realize these ideas
• a curriculum vitae
• a sample paper that they have written.

You may apply until 15 January 11:59pm / before 16 January 2022 Dutch local time (CET), using the application form (click on « Apply » below on the advertisement on the university website).

The University of Groningen strives to be a university in which students and staff are respected and feel at home, regardless of differences in background, experiences, perspectives, and identities. We believe that working on our core values of inclusion and equality are a joint responsibility and we are constructively working on creating a socially safe environment. Diversity among students and staff members enriches academic debate and contributes to the quality of our teaching and research. We therefore invite applicants from underrepresented groups in particular to apply. For more information, see also our diversity policy webpage: https://www.rug.nl/(…)rsity-and-inclusion/

Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP): https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/nl/sollicitatiecode and European Commission’s European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code

We provide career services for partners of new faculty members moving to Groningen.

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.

Information

For information you can contact:

• Prof. Boudewijn de Bruin, Applicants are strongly encouraged to make informal enquiries, b.p.de.bruin@rug.nl

Please do not use the e-mail address(es) above for applications.