4 YEARS PHD POSITION IN OCCUPATIONAL & ORGANISATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

(ref. BAP-2020-467)

You will be included in a dynamic and international team consisting of PhD students, postdocs, and professors in the research unit Occupational & Organisational Psychology and Professional Learning (O2L). The research performed in this group aims to gain insight into the optimal functioning of people in a work context. Central research themes include among others, employability, job insecurity, employee wellbeing, leadership, organisational change, lifelong learning, and teamwork. This PhD project fits within the ongoing research lines of O2L and focuses on the topic of team learning. With regard to research, you will closely collaborate with prof. dr. Katrien Vangrieken and other colleagues in O2L.

Project

"New Ways of Working (NWW)" is a topic that has received substantial attention for quite some time. NWW refer to the fact that our work is increasingly flexible in both time and space: 9-to-5 workdays spent with colleagues in a shared office space are no longer the (only) norm. This flexibility is stimulated in the current societal context, for examble in a strong (compulsary) increase in telework. This does not only have implications for how individual employees work, but also has substantial consequencs for how we work in a team and collaborate with colleagues. Distance and virtual communication have consequences for our way of collaborating, communicating, sharing knowledge, social/interpersonal processes, effectiveness of teams,...

The present PhD project aims to investigate the impact of telework on teamwork in organisations. In particular, we want to look at the implications for and the role of team learning herein. Within this broadly-defined topic, we will joinly decide on the specific focus of your research project. Your own interests and input are very imporant herein.

For a period of four years you will be performing research on this topic, aiming to obtain a doctoral degree. Within a PhD trajectory, you are expected to develop and execute your own research project, in cooperation with you supervisor. You are responsible for developing and executing the different studies, data collection, processing and analysing the data and reporting your findings at scientific conferences and in scientific articles. You will have the opportunity to attend seminars and/or training in order to further develop your competences.

About 10% of your time, you will spend on providing teaching assistance for courses that are taught by members of O2L (in Psychology and Educational Sciences). These tasks are yearly determined in mutual agreement.

Profile

• You hold (or are about to receive) a Master's degree, preferably in Educational Sciences, Psychology, or a related discipline within the domain of Humanities and Social Sciences
• You are strongly interested in research, and have an expressed interest in teams and group dynamics in an organisational context
• You are interested in and are good at methodology and statistics. You have knowledge of quantitative research methods and are motivated to further devleop this in the short term
• You are fluent in English and you have a fluent writing style
• You have a high degree of self-management and sense of initiative
• You are a team player and you have good communication skills to be able to collaborate with colleagues in the research unit and practitioners in the field

Offer

We offer a full-time appointment as a PhD sutdent for a period of one year, to be extended with an additional three years (i.e., 4 years in total) contingent on a positive evaluation after the first year.

As a PhD student, you will be included in a stimulating and international work environment with a large amount of autonomy and flexibility, combined with the necessary support to fully develop your own talents.

Interested?

Interested candidates are asked to upload the following documents in their application:

• CV
• Letter of motivation in which you convince us why you are the ideal candidate for this position
• The grade list of your past and current study program (only for candidates who graduated less than three years ago)

Following a positive evaluation of your application, the next step of the selection procedure includes an interview that will take place in the second half of August. The invitation will include an assignment in preparation of the interview.

For more information please contact Prof. dr. Katrien Vangrieken (supervisor), tel.: +32 16 32 09 67, mail: katrien.vangrieken@kuleuven.be or Prof. dr. Martin Euwema (head research unit O2L), tel.: +32 16 32 60 56, mail: martin.euwema@kuleuven.be.

You can apply for this job no later than August 12, 2020 via the online application tool

KU Leuven seeks to foster an environment where all talents can flourish, regardless of gender, age, cultural background, nationality or impairments. If you have any questions relating to accessibility or support, please contact us at diversiteit.HR@kuleuven.be.