PhD Position: Constructing Social Safety in Written Digital Communication in the Workplace: A study on requests and refusals

We offer you the opportunity to develop and carry out your own PhD project within the areas of expertise of your supervisors (Prof. Wyke Stommel, Dr Rebecca Van Herck, and Dr Sara Bögels). The project will be funded by a Starters Grant from the Faculty of Arts awarded to Dr Rebecca Van Herck.

The research project is organised around the concept of social safety (also known as psychological safety in the academic literature), which is an important current topic across society, especially in the workplace. Psychological safety refers to an environment where individuals feel comfortable expressing themselves without fear, judgement or repercussion, which includes the freedom to voice concerns and admit mistakes without facing embarrassment or blame. Studies have shown that psychological safety leads to a better collaboration among colleagues and higher productivity within teams. Therefore, prioritising a socially safe environment is essential for organisations and will benefit all parties involved.

Most social safety workshops prioritise face-to-face communication to address issues like bullying. Social misconduct on written communication platforms such as email, Slack, and Teams, is typically not addressed in such workshops. Digital communication presents challenges as it may lack the nuance of face-to-face interaction, potentially leading to messages being perceived as overly harsh or impolite. Particularly requests and refusals are challenging to express in written communication as these linguistic actions imply power dynamics (e.g. between colleagues or in a hierarchical relationship) and potential conflicts.

As a PhD candidate, you will investigate the complexities surrounding requests and refusals in digital written workplace communication. Specifically, you will explore how workplace relationships relate to the construction of requests and refusals, aiming to uncover strategies for managing and mitigating such interactions while preserving mutual respect and professionalism. Your research will address questions such as how to make requests to superiors without appearing dependent, and how to refuse tasks without undermining authority. You will use mixed methods, including qualitative research methods (such as interaction analysis) and quantitative research methods (such as experimental design). By examining the prevalent strategies in the context of requests and refusals and their impact on perceived social safety, this study aims to contribute valuable insights into the development of effective organisational practices and policies that foster a socially safe environment in written digital interactions. In the research proposal that you are requested to submit with your application, you can develop your own perspective on this research project, detailing how you would approach this topic. In this proposal, you may formulate your own research questions and choose your own theoretical lens, methodology, and/or empirical material.

Up to 75% of your time will be devoted to the research for and writing of your PhD thesis. The remaining 25% will be spent on training and academic service to the Faculty of Arts, including teaching.

As a PhD candidate at the Centre for Language Studies (CLS), you will be part of the Graduate School for the Humanities (GSH). Up to 75% of your time will be devoted to the research for and writing of your PhD thesis. The remaining 25% will be spent on training and academic service to the Faculty of Arts, including teaching.

Would you like to learn more about what it is like to pursue a PhD at Radboud University? Visit the page about working as a PhD candidate.

PhD Position: Constructing Social Safety in Written Digital Communication in the Workplace: A study on requests and refusals

We offer you the opportunity to develop and carry out your own PhD project within the areas of expertise of your supervisors (Prof. Wyke Stommel, Dr Rebecca Van Herck, and Dr Sara Bögels). The project will be funded by a Starters Grant from the Faculty of Arts awarded to Dr Rebecca Van Herck.

The research project is organised around the concept of social safety (also known as psychological safety in the academic literature), which is an important current topic across society, especially in the workplace. Psychological safety refers to an environment where individuals feel comfortable expressing themselves without fear, judgement or repercussion, which includes the freedom to voice concerns and admit mistakes without facing embarrassment or blame. Studies have shown that psychological safety leads to a better collaboration among colleagues and higher productivity within teams. Therefore, prioritising a socially safe environment is essential for organisations and will benefit all parties involved.

Most social safety workshops prioritise face-to-face communication to address issues like bullying. Social misconduct on written communication platforms such as email, Slack, and Teams, is typically not addressed in such workshops. Digital communication presents challenges as it may lack the nuance of face-to-face interaction, potentially leading to messages being perceived as overly harsh or impolite. Particularly requests and refusals are challenging to express in written communication as these linguistic actions imply power dynamics (e.g. between colleagues or in a hierarchical relationship) and potential conflicts.

As a PhD candidate, you will investigate the complexities surrounding requests and refusals in digital written workplace communication. Specifically, you will explore how workplace relationships relate to the construction of requests and refusals, aiming to uncover strategies for managing and mitigating such interactions while preserving mutual respect and professionalism. Your research will address questions such as how to make requests to superiors without appearing dependent, and how to refuse tasks without undermining authority. You will use mixed methods, including qualitative research methods (such as interaction analysis) and quantitative research methods (such as experimental design). By examining the prevalent strategies in the context of requests and refusals and their impact on perceived social safety, this study aims to contribute valuable insights into the development of effective organisational practices and policies that foster a socially safe environment in written digital interactions. In the research proposal that you are requested to submit with your application, you can develop your own perspective on this research project, detailing how you would approach this topic. In this proposal, you may formulate your own research questions and choose your own theoretical lens, methodology, and/or empirical material.

Up to 75% of your time will be devoted to the research for and writing of your PhD thesis. The remaining 25% will be spent on training and academic service to the Faculty of Arts, including teaching.

As a PhD candidate at the Centre for Language Studies (CLS), you will be part of the Graduate School for the Humanities (GSH). Up to 75% of your time will be devoted to the research for and writing of your PhD thesis. The remaining 25% will be spent on training and academic service to the Faculty of Arts, including teaching.

Would you like to learn more about what it is like to pursue a PhD at Radboud University? Visit the page about working as a PhD candidate.

PhD Position: EVOLF Towards an AI Model of Cell-free Gene Expression in Synthetic Cells

Future synthetic cells will require an optimised gene expression system, capable of reliable, well-controlled expression of hundreds of genes on a synthetic genome. However, we cannot predict how much and how fast proteins are produced in vitro, as we need to learn the so-called cis-regulatory code: the relationship between DNA sequence and protein levels.

The ambition of this project is to train an AI model that predicts the cis-regulatory code for synthetic genomes (i.e. for cell-free gene expression systems) and correlates the experimental conditions within the synthetic cell (crowding, concentration of nutrients, size of liposome, etc.) with gene expression levels across a synthetic genome.

To achieve this aim, you will use VASA-seq and Ribo-Seq to generate large data sets that can be used for training machine learning and deep learning models. You will work in tight collaboration with other researchers in Nijmegen, Delft and at the Hubrecht Institute (van Oudenaarden group).

Would you like to learn more about what it is like to pursue a PhD at Radboud University? Visit the page about working as a PhD candidate.

PhD Position: EVOLF Towards an AI Model of Cell-free Gene Expression in Synthetic Cells

Future synthetic cells will require an optimised gene expression system, capable of reliable, well-controlled expression of hundreds of genes on a synthetic genome. However, we cannot predict how much and how fast proteins are produced in vitro, as we need to learn the so-called cis-regulatory code: the relationship between DNA sequence and protein levels.

The ambition of this project is to train an AI model that predicts the cis-regulatory code for synthetic genomes (i.e. for cell-free gene expression systems) and correlates the experimental conditions within the synthetic cell (crowding, concentration of nutrients, size of liposome, etc.) with gene expression levels across a synthetic genome.

To achieve this aim, you will use VASA-seq and Ribo-Seq to generate large data sets that can be used for training machine learning and deep learning models. You will work in tight collaboration with other researchers in Nijmegen, Delft and at the Hubrecht Institute (van Oudenaarden group).

Would you like to learn more about what it is like to pursue a PhD at Radboud University? Visit the page about working as a PhD candidate.

Medewerker Tentamenteam

Viermaal per jaar is er een tentamenperiode. Ruim voor zo’n tentamenperiode beginnen de voorbereidingen en na de tentamenperiode is een moment van nazorg en evaluatie. Het tentamenteam bestaat uit drie facultair coördinatoren digitaal toetsen, een coördinator papieren toetsen en een toetsdeskundige. Als medewerker tentamenteam ondersteun je de coördinatoren en verzorg je samen de gehele tentamenorganisatie.

In de afgelopen jaren is het aantal digitale toetsen op de Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen enorm gegroeid. Daarbij is het proces rondom digitaal toetsen geprofessionaliseerd. Deze professionalisering zal in de komende jaren verder voortgezet worden. Het is daarom cruciaal dat het huidige tentamenteam wordt uitgebreid. We ondersteunen de docenten, faciliteren de tentamens en daarmee het onderwijs. Een belangrijke taak die je als teamlid krijgt is het bouwen van digitale tentamens, waarbij affiniteit met het toets systeem (ANS) zeer belangrijk is. Tijdens het bouwen en verder klaarzetten van de toets, is goede afstemming met de docenten en andere partijen cruciaal.

Naast de digitale tentamens worden er ook tentamens op papier afgenomen. Je zorgt er onder andere voor dat papieren tentamens klaarliggen door ze tijdig naar de drukker te sturen voor vermenigvuldiging en passende zalen te reserveren. Ook onderhoud je contact met het uitzendbureau voor surveillanten. Je ontvangt surveillanten voor een tentamen en zorgt dat het helder is wat er van ze verwacht wordt. Tijdens een tentamen ben je bereikbaar om eventuele ad hoc problemen op te lossen. Je maakt surveillantenroosters en stelt deelnemerslijsten op.