Post-doc “The roles of siblings and school peers in young adults’ life events”

Job description
The Postdoc researcher will work in the project ‘The roles of siblings and school peers in young adults’ life-course events’, led by Principal Investigator Clara H. Mulder and funded by an Open Competition Large grant from the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO).
What are you going to do?
The Postdoc researcher will work in the project ‘The roles of siblings and school peers in young adults’ life-course events’, led by Principal Investigator Clara H. Mulder and funded by an Open Competition Large grant from the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO). The research team further includes a PhD researcher, an assistant professor who co-supervises the PhD project, and collaborators from the University of Groningen and Statistics Netherlands (CBS). In the project, we aim to identify the roles of siblings and school peers in the occurrence, timing, and outcomes of important life-course events in young adulthood. The events are leaving the parental home and returning home, residential relocations, entry into and exit from post-secondary education, and entry to the labour market. We investigate differentiation in sibling and school-peer roles with regard to advantage versus disadvantage, gender, migrant background, age, and time period. We use register data covering the entire population of young adults in the Netherlands, including family and school-peer network data, and analyse these data with advanced statistical methods.
The envisaged role of the Postdoc researcher will be to work on life-course transitions with regard to education and the labour market, to collaborate with the other team members on these and other topics, and co-supervise the PhD student. The Postdoc researcher will prepare and analyse the register data, write and co-author scientific journal articles and outreach articles, and will take the lead in the organisation of stakeholder workshops. A more detailed description of the project can be found in the project proposal. In addition, the postdoctoral researcher may contribute to teaching activities at bachelor or master level within the Faculty of Spatial Sciences (to a maximum of 10% of the appointment).

Requirements
We are looking for candidates with
A PhD in sociology, education science, population studies, demography, human geography, economics, or another relevant social science, completed recently (e.g. less than about a year ago) or to be completed before the starting date (around January 2026).
Publications in international peer-reviewed academic journals in the field of quantitative research on themes related to the project.
Excellent skills in quantitative research using register data or large survey databases.
Strong conceptual thinking.
Strong motivation, good communicative skills, proactive and independent work attitude.
Strong planning skills, ability to organize own work and related activities, ability to meet deadlines.
Proven ability to collaborate in a research team and to take the lead in organizing collaborative work.
A great curiosity and enthusiasm for scientific research.
Fluency in English; preferably mastering some Dutch or willing to learn Dutch.
Preferably experience in supervising junior researchers, (PhD) students or assistants.
Willingness to attend conferences abroad.
We warmly invite you to apply for this vacancy, if you are interested and will have completed your PhD degree before the starting date (around January 2026). We ask you to write your motivation letter without the help of artificial intelligence other than for a grammar or spelling check.

Conditions of employment
Fixed-term
contract
: This full-time appointment as Postdoc researcher is temporary for 2 years. You will first be appointed for a period of 12 months. After a positive evaluation, the contract will be extended for the remaining part of the project.
What can you expect from us?
232 vacation hours per year, based on a 38-hour workweek (1.0 FTE). You can also work more or fewer hours in exchange for more or fewer free hours. For example, with a 40-hour workweek, you save 96 extra free hours, and with a 36-hour workweek, you lose 96 hours.
End-of-year bonus of 8.3% and 8% holiday allowance.
Extensive opportunities for personal and professional development.

Employer
University of Groningen
At the University of Groningen (UG), researchers from all fields of academia and technology are working on academic challenges and societal questions. Lecturers prepare their students for meaningful careers within or outside the academic world. Interdisciplinary research and teaching, sharing of knowledge, collaboration with businesses, government institutions, and societal organizations are aspects that are of the utmost importance to this European top university. The UG aims to be an open academic community with an inclusive and safe working climate that invites you to add your value.

Department
Faculty of Spatial Sciences
The Faculty of Spatial Sciences (FRW) is an interdisciplinary faculty that makes a significant impact on societal issues such as climate, broad prosperity, population decline, healthy ageing, and sustainable energy. With approximately 100 staff and over 100 PhD students, we engage daily in up-to-date and relevant teaching and research in the fields of planning, demography, and geography. Through our research programme TRACE (Transformations, Communities, and Environments), we are committed to internationally oriented, interdisciplinary research. With two Bachelor's and seven Master's programmes, the Faculty offers broad educational opportunities to about 1,100 students from around the world. The Faculty of Spatial Sciences plays a crucial role in understanding and shaping the living environment of the future. We work for and with society. Our motto is:
we are making places better together
. If you would like to learn more, visit
rug.nl/frw
.
The Postdoc researcher will be hosted by the Population Research Centre, Faculty of Spatial Sciences (FSS), of the University of Groningen. FSS is a dynamic faculty with an open character. With approximately 120 employees and 150 PhD researchers, we focus on highly qualified education and research in the field of planning, demography and human geography. With two bachelors degrees and seven masters programmes, the faculty offers broad training opportunities to around 1,100 students all over the world.