Coördinator onderzoeksschool voor cultuurgeschiedenis

Het Huizinga Instituut is de Nederlandse onderzoekschool voor cultuurgeschiedenis. De faculteit Geesteswetenschappen van de Universiteit Utrecht is penvoerder van de school. Het Huizinga Instituut organiseert op landelijk niveau onderwijs voor (circa 120) promovendi en (circa 100) onderzoeksmasterstudenten. Verder functioneert het instituut als landelijk platform voor een brede en diverse community van cultuurhistorici.

Als coördinator:

• onderhoud je contacten met leden van het instituut;
• verzorg je alle interne en externe communicatie;
• organiseer en coördineer je cursussen, workshops en masterclasses;
• bereid je als secretaris vergaderingen met het bestuur voor;
• bewaak je de financiën;
• participeer je in het landelijk overlegorgaan van onderzoeksscholen;
• maak je deel uit van het facultaire team van coördinatoren van andere landelijke onderzoeksscholen.

Postdoctoral Researcher in Structural Virology

Despite their relatively simple makeup, small RNA viruses can completely rewire our cells during infection, transforming them into viral replication factories. Within these replication sites, viral proteins and hijacked cellular proteins form replication complexes that serve as platforms for the assembly of new virus particles. However, a detailed understanding of what these replication complexes look like is lacking, in part due to the difficulty of purifying these complexes. An alternative possibility is to study these complexes inside the infected cell, but the small size of these complexes makes this a challenging prospect.

You will study critical components of the viral replication machinery, with a particular focus on Noroviruses. This ERC project will allow us to journey inside infected cells, and catch a glimpse at how viruses are built. Together with the other team members, you will develop ways to assemble components of the replication machinery, and also develop new methods to locate these virus assembly sites within the context of infected cells. Finally, you will play a role in the development of molecules that interfere with components of the Norovirus replication machinery.

Your key responsibilities include:

• conducting cryo-EM experiments to visualise the structure of viral AAA+ ATPases at high resolution;
• performing in situ tomography to study viral replication processes within infected cells;
• analysing and interpreting data generated from cryo-EM and tomography studies;
• collaborating with a multidisciplinary team of molecular virologists and other scientists to integrate findings into broader research projects;
• publishing research results in peer-reviewed journals and present findings at national and international conferences;
• mentoring Master's students and contributing to the academic community within the institution.

Postdoc on E-Intervention Enhancing Mental Health in Adolescents

In the position of postdoc, you are responsible for aligning research activities within the project and sharing insights. You will carry out activities like writing scientific articles, supporting the screening and coding of studies for meta-analyses and systematic reviews, and present results at conferences, workshops, and to stakeholders or policymakers. Your main tasks concern:

• analysing large-scale quantitative datasets from internationally comparative studies, particularly the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) Study, by means of sophisticated (multilevel) analyses;
• generating research ideas that contribute to the development of IMPROVA, preferably based on HBSC data and analyses, writing scientific papers based on them, and supporting the ongoing work for meta-analyses and systematic reviews;
• working closely with interdisciplinary teams in IMPROVA, maintaining open communication and fostering a collaborative environment;
• monitoring, coordinating, and evaluating the responsibilities of Work Package 1 towards the IMPROVA consotrium and the European Union;
• engaging with stakeholders to ensure the research is aligned with the needs of adolescents, schools, and policymakers.

Postdoc on Educational Sciences and Educational / Cognitive Psychology

A major goal of higher education is to improve students’ critical thinking skills. This is crucial because, in complex and high-stakes professional environments, biased reasoning can lead to errors with severe consequences. Research shows that students need training to recognize and avoid biases in reasoning and decision-making. However, before implementing such training widely across higher education, several key challenges must be addressed. These include understanding individual differences that influence (un)biased reasoning and determining how to make training more adaptive based on this knowledge. This project aims to tackle these challenges, focusing specifically on improving probabilistic and statistical reasoning—a critical competency for both higher education and society.

In this postdoctoral project, you will explore the practical significance of ‘conflict detection’ measures in learning contexts. Research indicates that when students provide biased answers, many display an awareness—consciously or subconsciously—that their intuitive response is incorrect. This awareness appears to influence their openness to feedback. Using a large, pre-existing dataset, this project will examine how conflict detection relates to other individual differences and whether it impacts students’ responsiveness to training.

Building on these insights, you will design and conduct experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of tailoring training based on students’ conflict detection abilities. Since the training materials are in Dutch, fluency in Dutch is advantageous. However, international candidates with relevant expertise in this field are also welcome to apply.

Your tasks are:

• conducting the research (literature research, designing the studies, recruiting participants, pre-registering studies, collecting and analysing data, preparing and storing data packages for sharing);
• writing international scientific publications;
• giving presentations at (inter)national scientific conferences;
• actively engaging in outreach activities and disseminating findings to educational professionals and the general public;
• active participation in the local and (inter)national research team involved in this project and in the research team of the UU Department of Education;
• teaching courses or supervising Bachelor's/Master's theses for 10% of your hours.

The team consists of Professor Tamara van Gog and Dr Eva Janssen at Utrecht University, Dr Peter Verkoeijen at Avans University of Applied Sciences, and the PhD candidate on this project, Rowan Haen, MSc.

PhD: Contribution of Real-World Data Studies for Approval of Oncology Medicines

The position offers a diverse and interesting mix of responsibilities, including:

• conducting research into the role of data from clinical practice regulatory decision-making about new oncology medicines and their subsequent availability for patients;
• teaching (10%) in related courses in the Bachelor's and Master's programmes Pharmacy, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, or Drug Innovation.

The project aims to assess how real-world data, specifically from clinical practice, can contribute to approval of new oncology medicines in Europe. The findings will contribute to (future) drug development of oncology medicines and their subsequent availability for patients. In the project, you will learn to apply qualitative as well as quantitative research methods and collaborate with experts in the field of pharmacoepidemiology, drug regulation, (trial) statistics and oncology in order to learn and apply these methods. The vacancy is a collaboration between the Centres for Clinical Therapeutics and Pharmacoepidemiology of the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology and part of the National Growth Fund Oncode Accelerator.