PhD position: Adolescents' Susceptibility to Misinformation

PhD position: Adolescents' Susceptibility to Misinformation (1.0 fte, 4 years)

PhD position: Adolescents’ Susceptibility to Misinformation (1.0 fte, 4 years)

Teenagers grow up deeply immersed in the online world and use social media as a main source of information. This is concerning given the widespread problem of misinformation on social media. Exposure to misinformation can affect teenagers’ beliefs, social norms, and (political) identity formation. We seek a PhD candidate who is highly motivated and enthusiastic about conducting research on adolescents’ social media data, as well as developing innovative behavioural experiments to understand their susceptibility to misinformation.

What you will do

You will do fundamental research that carries practical implications for enhancing youth’s resilience to misinformation. It is considered an asset if you have a passion for doing research with societal impact and for engaging youth in research. Join our team in unravelling the intricacies of online behaviour and contributing to a smarter, safer digital experience for today's youth. The project involves cognitive computational modelling such as reinforcement learning of veracity judgements, as well as language analyses. Advanced knowledge of data analyses, including language analyses and computational modelling is required for this project.

Your responsibilities involve:

• Designing and carrying out new experiments to test adolescents’ misinformation susceptibility
• Recruiting participants and collecting data, including social media data (participant age range 11-24 years old)
• Performing advanced data analyses on social media and experiment data, such as language analyses and computational modelling of behavioural data
• Report results in scientific articles in international journals, culminating in a dissertation
• Presenting at national and international scientific conferences
• Supervise BSc and MSC thesis projects

This is a four-year position with a preferred starting date of July 1st 2025, and is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) grant awarded to Dr. Ili Ma (Leiden University). The supervisory team consists of Dr. Ili Ma (Leiden University), Dr. Anna van Duijvenvoorde (Leiden University), and Dr. Wouter van den Bos (University of Amsterdam).

Where you will work

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences consists of five institutes: Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Political Science, and Psychology. The faculty has approximately 7000 students and 1000 staff members. Within the institutes, not only education is provided but also groundbreaking research is conducted that pushes the boundaries of our understanding of human behaviour and societal structures. What makes our faculty unique is the diversity of research topics, the various styles of teaching, and the way professional support is organized; this provides you with the opportunity to explore and develop your interests and expertise.

Institute of Psychology

The Institute of Psychology educates new generations to contribute to the challenges of our society, now and in the future, based on leading behavioral scientific research and education. This is achieved through collaboration both within and outside our institute in the field of Psychology and related research areas, both fundamental and applied. The broad bachelor's program and a wide variety of master's specializations also contribute to this goal. Within the institute and the academic community, there is a committed and passionate atmosphere. The themes of Health and Well-being, Social-Cognitive-Affective Decision Making, Development and Learning, and Advanced Behavioral Research Methods guide research and education. The institute values conducting these activities in a safe and inclusive environment and provides space for new developments such as open science, recognition and appreciation, and interdisciplinarity, which are anchored in its strategy. With approximately 5,000 students and 600 staff members, the institute includes the Institute Office, the Department of Bachelor Education, and 6 units for education and research: Health, Medical and Neuropsychology, Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Social, Economic and Organisational Psychology, and Methodology and Statistics. The PhD position is embedded in the Unit of Developmental and Educational Psychology.

What you bring

• A completed or upcoming (research) master's degree in Developmental Psychology, Data Science, Methods & Statistics, Cognitive Science, or related field
• Strong analytic, research, and organisational skills
• Experience with R and/or Python and experiment programming
• Experience with computational modelling and/or language analyses
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English
• Proficiency in Dutch is highly preferred, as you will be frequently interacting with youth
• Affinity for working with adolescents and young adults, and affinity with the topic
• Collaborative mindset, openness to learning new skills and willingness to share knowledge
• Enthusiastic about translating scientific findings to practical implications

If you immediately recognise yourself in this profile, or if do you not quite meet all the requirements, but you believe that this is the right job for you, we look forward to your application!

What we offer

Our goal is to work together to create a transparent and inclusive work environment in which everyone feels welcome and appreciated. Our organisation is always evolving and we need your ideas for improvement and innovation to take us further. We want to devote attention to your personal development.

You can expect an enjoyable job within the socially relevant world of education and research. The University's challenging and international work environment is located just steps away from Leiden’s lively city centre or the bustling city centre of The Hague. We also want to work with you to devote attention to your health and vitality, for example with the fun activities we organise through Healthy University.

We also offer:

• An employment contract for (38 hours per week) as a PhD candidate, initially for a period of 1 year, with the possibility of extension for 3 years after a positive evaluation. This contract falls under the CLA of Dutch Universities;
• A salary of a minimum of €2.901 gross per month in the 1st year up to € 3.707 gross per month in the 4th year, based on a full-time appointment (38 hours) (scale P);
• A holiday allowance (8%), an end-of-year bonus (8,3%), and an attractive pension scheme at ABP;
• Flexible working hours: as a standard, you are entitled to a minimum of 29 leave days on the basis of a full-time working week of 38 hours; you can also save for extra leave, for example by working 40 hours a week, and in this way accrue an extra 96 leave hours, or exchange 96 leave hours for a 36-hour week.
• Lots of options when it comes to secondary employment conditions; we can, for example, discuss options for a sabbatical or paid parental leave. Within our terms of employment individual choices model, you can exchange leave days and/or salary for benefits such as an advantageous sports subscription or bicycle scheme, and we also offer child-care options;
• If your work allows it, hybrid working is possible within the Netherlands;
• A home-working allowance (day and internet allowance) and attention for good workplaces. The University will also provide you with a laptop and a mobile telephone (if applicable for the position).

What we find important

Promoting an inclusive community is central to Leiden University’s values and vision. Leiden University aims to be an inclusive community in which all students and staff members feel valued and respected, and are able to develop to their full potential. Diversity in experiences and perspectives enriches our teaching and strengthens our research. High-quality education and research means inclusive education and research.