PhD Position: Health Demography at NIDI-KNAW

PhD Position:
Health Demography at NIDI‑KNAW

Over the past century, people around the world have experienced momentous improvements in health and in life expectancy. Whether improvements in health will continue is unclear, however, as several countries have seen plateauing or even declining life expectancy in recent decades. The overarching research program (SEHealth) develops new directions to improving population health by elucidating the origins and accumulation of chronic diseases;

this PhD project will focus on living environments. Indeed, much of the variation in health is attributable to living environments. The exposome is expected to be important in cardiometabolic health trajectories include climate risks such as pollutants, extreme temperatures, and access to green spaces. Emerging factors related to climate change and environmental degradation, such as microplastics and organic pollutants, have plausible causal pathways to cardiometabolic diseases and require study.

Health‑related behaviours connected to climate‑related issues may also be important. Adding further complexity, social inequalities in climate‑ and pollution‑related exposures likely contribute to inequalities in health.

The focus of the PhD project will be to establish, using population‑based data and novel methodology, how climate change relates to disease onset and whether green transitions can improve health. The PhD scholar will use a newly developed data infrastructure from the SoGreen Project, with population‑representative major European datasets (eg. GGP, SHARE, ESS, Lifelines). The project will leverage health indicators across the lifespan, geo‑spatial data on climate, and individual engagement with green transitions behaviours.

• Carry out cutting‑edge academic research within an international team of researchers.
• Publish national and international journal articles, resulting in a PhD thesis.
• Participate in and present at (inter) national scientific meetings.
• Contribute to the project, including dissemination and communication activities aimed at policymakers, stakeholders, and the general public.

We are looking for a PhD candidate with strong quantitative research skills, experience working with large datasets, and a passion for demography. The candidate should have received a Research Masters degree in demography, sociology, economics, geography, epidemiology and should have very strong written and oral scientific English proficiency. Intellectual curiosity, engagement with research questions, creativity, and analytical rigor are central. Candidates with skills in advanced statistical methods and programming (e.g., Stata or R), experience working with longitudinal and survey data are preferred.

We offer a 1‑year contract which will be extended by 3 additional years after a positive evaluation. The PhD position offers close supervision, excellent training opportunities, and a solid foundation for an academic or research‑oriented career.

The KNAW considers a working environment in which everyone feels welcome and appreciated of great importance. A working environment in which attention is paid to individual quality and where development opportunities are paramount. Together we strive for an inclusive culture in which we embrace differences. We would therefore like to invite candidates who want to contribute to this through their background and experience.

In the event of equal suitability, preference will be given to the candidate who thus enhances diversity within the Academy.

Minimum salary: €3,059.03 per month; maximum: €3,881.20 per month (full‑time).
Additional allowances: vacation allowance 8 %, year‑end bonus 8.3 %, travel allowance, internet allowance, home working allowance and pension accrual with ABP.
Secondary benefits package: flexible leave, pension, etc.

The Hague, NL

Duration:
Four years (evaluation after one year)

9 June 2026

38 hours per week

3,881.20