Differences in trainability of Wellbeing

Are you interested in wellbeing and want to understand the mechanisms behind wellbeing? Are you excited about working with extensive data and developing a personalized wellbeing training? Join our team as a PhD candidate in wellbeing.

Your function

This project is part of an NWO VICI project, The Power of Wellbeing: A multi-omics approach to build an integrative wellbeing framework. In this project, you will play an important role in developing and testing a personalized wellbeing intervention.

The intervention will be evaluated using data from the Netherlands Twin Register, allowing the use of a unique genetically informative design. By comparing identical twins, the project aims to gain deeper insight into individual differences in responsiveness to wellbeing training.

In addition, the project offers opportunities to integrate other biological and environmental data, such as genetics, epigenetics, and lifestyle factors, to further understand mechanisms underlying individual differences in intervention outcomes.

You will join a postdoc and another PhD student working on this project, and you will work in a team of wellbeing researchers and international collaborators.

Your profile

Job Requirements

• A (research) master in biological psychology, positive psychology, genetics, psychometrics, artificial intelligence, epidemiology or a related field
• Experience with or interest in interventions
• Knowledge of statistical methods and statistical programming (R or Python)
• Experience in working with large datasets
• Experience with or interest in behaviour genetics
• Interest in wellbeing and research
• Excellent English writing and speaking skills
• Preferably Dutch speaking or motivation to learn Dutch

What do we offer?

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation.

• The employment contract is first for a period of 12 months and is extended to a total of 3 years if there is sufficient perspective
• The employment contract is concluded with a dissertation at the end of the third year
• Attractive fringe benefits and regulations
• Contribution to commuting expenses
• Group insured for partial disability with employer contribution of 50% of the premium
• Optional model for designing a personalized benefits package

About us

Project description

Building and maintaining health and wellbeing amongst citizens is one of the most important societal challenges. People who feel well function better, are less susceptible to mental illness, have stronger social relationships, and are more successful in functioning at work and in daily life.

Knowledge on the intervenability of wellbeing is important to facilitate and build wellbeing. While previous research shows that wellbeing training can be effective, relatively little is still known about for whom and under which conditions these interventions work best.

About the department

You will be working at the department of Biological Psychology of the Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

At the department of Biological Psychology, research and education focus on the causes of individual differences in health behaviours and disease outcomes. It is a department with a long tradition in behavioural genetics research where enthusiastic and ambitious academics work on generating knowledge and translating this to improvements in health, health behaviours, and wellbeing.

The department maintains the Netherlands Twin Register and its biobank to enable genetically informative studies using both genomic and pedigree-based approaches.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam stands for values-driven education and research. By joining forces across the boundaries of disciplines, the university works towards sustainable solutions with social impact and aims to create a safe and respectful working and study climate, and an inspiring environment for education and research.