Student-Assistent Communicatie Nederlands Tweelingen Register

Als student-assistent ga jij met het NTR social media en outreach team van het Nederlands Tweelingen Register (NTR) aan de slag met onze outreach, van social media tot events. Je krijgt de kans om wetenschap op een originele en toegankelijke manier onder de aandacht te brengen van deelnemers en het brede publiek.

In deze rol draait het om creativiteit, communicatie en impact. Jij:

• beheert samen ons team onze social media kanalen(o.a. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok en YouTube)
• vertaalt onderzoeksresultaten naar begrijpelijke, leuke en visueel aantrekkelijke content
• bedenkt en maakt creatieve content: van visuals en video's tot blogs en reels
• helpt bij events en campagnes om nieuwe deelnemers te trekken en bestaande deelnemers betrokken te houden
• komt zelf met ideeen en denkt actief mee over manieren om onze onderzoeken te delen

Postdoctoral position in Ancient Philosophy

You will be a postdoctoral researcher within the NWO-funded LALA project. You will conduct research on philosophical activities in late ancient Alexandria, specifically after the death of Hypatia and within the school of Ammonius. The thematic focus of your research may be in (philosophy of) logic, (philosophy of) mathematics or astronomy, metaphysics, religion, and/or history.

Your duties

• conducting research and publishing academic papers relevant to the overall aims of the LALA project
• taking part in research activities of the team
• organizing a workshop on the project's themes
• contributing to outreach activities

Junior adviseur public affairs

Als junior adviseur public affairs draag je bij aan de uitvoering en het bijsturen van de Public Affairs strategie van de VU. Je legt de verbinding tussen interne belangen en strategische ambities van de VU en relevante externe politieke en maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen en partners. De focus ligt daarbij op de nationale en regionale politiek, bijvoorbeeld via Universiteiten van Nederland (UNL). Je helpt bij het opstellen van beïnvloedingsstrategieën met interne en externe partners en draagt zorg voor de uitvoering daarvan. Op deze manier help je invulling te geven aan de strategische doelen van de VU.

Je gaat actief aan de slag om het netwerk en het profiel van de universiteit te verstevigen en bent een aanspreekpunt voor de VU relevante externe stakeholders, zoals UNL. Daarbij speel je een belangrijke rol in de praktische en inhoudelijke voorbereiding van de bestuursleden voor vergaderingen, bijeenkomsten en inkomende en uitgaande (werk)bezoeken. Ook help je in deze functie de Amsterdam Young Academy (AYA) bij de verdere ontwikkeling en het behalen van de strategische doelen van het platform.

Je werkt vooral samen met de senior adviseur public affairs, het VU-woordvoeringsteam en de collega’s van het AYA supportteam. Daarnaast stem je af en werk je samen met collega’s binnen de faculteiten en andere centrale diensten, en met collega’s van universiteiten in het land.

Jouw taken

• Eerste aanspreekpunt en contactpersoon van de VU voor UNL. Je houdt daarbij contact met en haalt informatie op bij de collega’s die namens de VU in de ambtelijke werkgroepen van UNL zitting nemen
• Bijdrage leveren aan de uitvoering en bijsturing van de Public Affairs-strategie van de VU. Dit houdt onder meer in het monitoren van politieke debatten, zowel regionaal als landelijk, en het nieuws dat van belang is voor de VU
• Bestuurders praktisch en inhoudelijk voorbereiden op en ondersteunen bij externe (politieke en maatschappelijke) contacten en bezoeken
• Intern en extern informatie ophalen, verwerken, analyseren en omzetten tot adviezen, annotaties, brieven en verslagen
• Lid support team Amsterdam Young Academy
• Je verzorgt de mededelingen voor de vergaderingen van de Raad van Toezicht en VUvereniging

EU Liaison Officer

Background:
The European Union is entering a new policy period: the new European Commission is working on a new Multiannual Financial Framework, which will include the successor to Horizon Europe and a new Competitiveness Fund. This creates opportunities for VU Amsterdam, particularly in light of decreasing budgets in the Netherlands.

The upcoming retirement of the current EU Liaison Officer, gives VU Amsterdam the opportunity to reconsider how Brussels representation is organised. The aim is to start from the themes in which VU is already strong, build network and strategy from there, and at the right moment broaden the focus to include, among other things, the alumni network in Brussels.

Context:
The EU Liaison Officer will work at Institutional Affairs/ Impact & Funding, within the dynamic network around impact & funding. In as far as possible, a transitional (overlap) construction will be used to enable a careful handover from the current EU Liaison Officer.

The role follows a phased approach: initially the focus is on strengthening VU's internal foundation (internal prioritisation, network and strategy); from that foundation, the role will then expand towards greater visibility and presence in Brussels (the 'ink blot' strategy).

Key responsibilities:

• Identifying (funding) opportunities in the field of research & innovation funding, through effective horizon scanning at an early stage.
• Building momentum and support within VU (central and at faculty level) for EU-related activities.
• Representing VU in Brussels, both in terms of profile-raising and advocacy.
• Bringing clear focus to VU's EU activities and funding, and building an internal VU network (central and at faculty level) of colleagues who recognise the importance of EU-related work.
• Building and maintaining contacts in Brussels, including with the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European University Association (EUA), Aurora, Neth-ER and UNL.
• In the longer term: ensuring strong VU representation in (Horizon) advisory/sounding-board groups in the Netherlands and Brussels, building coalitions around VU priorities (research and education), achieving policy impact, conducting advocacy, and building and leveraging the VU alumni network.

Where the need comes from:
The need for this role has been articulated from several parts of the organisation:

Profile-raising
VU identifies a need for stronger, more visible positioning of VU in Brussels, aiming to build a clear public face for VU that supports other objectives. Being seen as an interesting, visible partner should lead to VU being approached more quickly for attractive opportunities — for example by getting VU colleagues into prominent positions (such as EIC-related appointments) and deploying VU expertise for policy-level impact.

International relationship management
Building relationships with key partners in Brussels: (a) creating connections for lobbying purposes (European Commission, European Parliament, participation in international networks such as the EUA); (b) representing VU’s views, stakes, and interests through participation in advisory groups and evaluation committees; (c) education partnerships — unlocking opportunities and building the network around VU's alliance and direct relationships (e.g. via the EUA and other alliances); (d) providing input on new policy proposals, directly and via umbrella organisations.

Spotting opportunities
By strengthening VU's profile and relationships, VU can respond faster and more effectively to opportunities in policy development, funding and collaboration. Connecting VU research(ers) to relevant opportunities and networks and liaising with the relevant support teams within VU.

Alumni relations
Brussels is home to a substantial number of VU alumni. This network remains underused and can contribute to realising VU’s vision for education, research, and innovation.

Postdoctoral Researcher Stress in Action

You will be a key part of the project team that will run the Stress in Action cohort enrichment study that starts in 2026. The team will collect active and passive measures, including sensor data from smartphones, wearables, and ecological momentary assessment capturing the affective, cognitive, physiological, and behavioural components of the stress response in people’s natural environments. This work will generate unique large-scale datasets on daily life stress and its health impacts.

Your specific focus will be developing and implementing data processing pipelines for these large-scale multimodal datasets to enable scientific discovery. You will also contribute to team management and further develop standard operating procedures for data governance and data collection, covering topics such as study logistics, data privacy, and cross-cohort data linkage.

Advancing the careers of early-career researchers is one of the missions of the Stress in Action consortium, and this position offers you ample opportunity to engage in scientific endeavours that set you up for an academic career. From the outset, you will be able to run analyses and write papers leveraging the existing lab-based and ambulatory datasets from our Stress in Action wearable validation pipeline. Subsequently, you will be able to use the Stress in Action cohort enrichment study data, strengthening your research profile and building a strong base for future grant applications regarding the consortium’s mission of better understanding stress-related disease.

In terms of teaching, you will support standard departmental activities, including co-teaching the undergraduate course Stress & Health, as well as B-thesis and M-thesis student supervision.