Postdoc VU Sociology: De-Escalating Aggressive Encounters

Join this position to research when and why aggression and violence against frontline workers occur, working with societal partners to improve understanding and prevention of violence in frontline professions.

Your function

Your project will be supervised by prof. Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard at the Department of Sociology. It is one of twelve work packages in the ORC-NWA consortium project “De-escalating Aggressive Encounters between Frontline Workers and Citizens.” The aim is to understand the mechanisms that drive escalation and de-escalation of aggressive encounters between frontline workers and citizens. The project involves academic and societal partners working together. We are looking for a postdoc that will carry out the work of a sub-project focusing on the micro-level environment in which conflict encounters occur, identifying situational hotspots across work routines in different worker contexts.

The postdoc will work closely together with four other PhD’s that will analyze video recorded encounters between citizens and frontline workers in law enforcement, public transport, service work, and health care.

We are seeking a candidate who is interested in learning or already has experience with video analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, has an affiliation with observational and statistical methods, and is passionate about working in an interdisciplinary team.

Your duties

• Stay in close contact with societal partners and exchange experiences and insights with the project communication officer (preferably in Dutch).
• Support four PhD’s in data collection and collaboration with societal partners.
• Develop a video observational measurement instrument together with the PhD’s.
• Carry out statistical analyses of situational characteristics of escalatory and de-escalatory incidences.
• Pool data with the rest of the team to work on shared research output.
• Carry out participant observations and walk-along-interviews with frontline workers.
• Publish in academic journals and translate findings into fact sheets for practitioners.
• Present results at academic conferences and workshops, to societal partners and in practitioner-oriented settings.
• Participate in and co-organize data sessions, joint research projects, workshops as well as communication and dissemination activities of the team.
• Carry out administrative tasks for the project.
• Join and actively contribute to the De-Escalation lab and the Social Change and Conflict group at the VU and participate in the intellectual life of the Department of Sociology.

Your profile

This position is a good fit for you if you have:

• A PhD in Criminology, Sociology, Communication Studies/Science, Psychology, Crisis and Security Management, Behavioral Biology or a related social science field;
• Experience of working in interdisciplinary research teams;
• Proven academic excellence and interest in leading research teams;
• Solid knowledge of and experiences with ethnographic research methods and statistical methods; experience with observations and video analysis is a plus;
• Substantive interest in and knowledge of violence and conflict, especially interactional studies of aggression and conflict management;
• Experiences with doing empirical research on projects with societal stakeholders;
• Ability to work independently, willingness to collaborate with other team members;
• Excellent command of Dutch (B2) and English (C1).

What do we offer?

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation.

• A position for 0,8 FTE research and a maximum of 30 months. Your employment contract will initially last 1 year. Upon good performance, the contract can be extended for an additional 18 months.
• A full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata.
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• Optional model for designing a personalized benefits package
• Contribution to commuting expenses
• A wide range of sports facilities which staff may use at a modest charge

About us

You will become a member of the research group “Social Change and Conflict” which is a part of the Department of Sociology within the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the VU. You will also take part in the interdisciplinary “VU De-Escalation lab” involving scholars within the VU community, and international collaborators, working on violence, conflict and emergency related topics, most of them video based.

Department of Sociology

The Department of Sociology is a vibrant and international community of dedicated researchers and teachers. Both research and education are carried out in collaboration with societal partners to maximize impact.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam offers an inspiring environment for education and research, with a safe and respectful working and study climate.