PhD Cross-sector collaboration for older people care

VU Hoofdgebouw

Amsterdam

School of Business and Economics

PhD

MSc

Closes on

15-07-2026

Publishing date

01-07-2026

Apply

Would you like to conduct research that directly improves support for older adults? And pursue a PhD in a data‑driven project that predicts care use, evaluates collaboration, and strengthens policy decisions? Then we invite you to apply.

Your function

Population ageing is rapidly increasing the demand for long-term care (LTC) while labor supply is shrinking, and public expenditure is under growing pressure from pay-as-you-go pension payments. This applies across most high- and middle-income countries over the next two decades, and possibly beyond, given declining birth rates and societal reluctance to increase immigration from low-income countries.

In response, OECD countries have introduced a range of governance and financing arrangements to address barriers such as the wrong-pocket problem. These arrangements rely on horizontal coordination, meaning collaboration across sectors and stakeholders, and vertical coordination, meaning alignment across levels of government and financing arrangements. Together, these policy options aim to reduce barriers to collaboration across organizational and financial boundaries.

In the Netherlands, cross-domain collaboration in LTC was structurally embedded in legislation in 2026, opening up new opportunities to refine existing approaches and address long-standing barriers around governance complexity and cost-shifting. Building on this, more than 50 neighborhood initiatives have been launched, in which municipalities, health insurers, and care providers jointly organize and finance support for frail older adults.

The DOS PROJECT examines these initiatives along two lines. First, it develops a set of time-series models that provide timely insight into neighborhood-level future trends in care use and costs, enabling earlier responses to emerging developments. Second, it evaluates the impact of the DOS initiatives at both the neighborhood and aggregate level. The PhD candidate will dive into rich, nationwide administrative data and run advanced level causal analyses to find out how DOS initiatives actually shape people's care behavior and health outcomes. To identify broader trends and patterns at higher levels of aggregation, the project will apply hierarchical regression models with shrinkage.

Your duties

The DOS research project is conducted by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) and is funded by Zorgverzekeraars Nederland. The PhD candidate will be employed at the department of Ethics, Governance & Society of the School of Business and Economics and supervised by prof. dr. X. Koolman in collaboration with dr. F. R. Portrait, dr. N. Stadhouders and dr. Y. Krabbe, the project leader.

Your duties include:

Conduct high-quality doctoral research leading to scientific journal articles and a PhD dissertation.
Develop nowcasting models, matching models, hierarchical regression models to evaluate the DOS initiatives.
Present your work at scientific conferences and workshops with academic partners and stakeholders such as Zorgverzekeraars Nederland, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, care offices, municipalities and care providers.
Contribute to the teaching activities of the department, including lectures, tutorials, exams and grading.

Your profile

A research master’s degree in Economics, Health Sciences, PPE or a closely related field
Interest in health care and health care-related policy subjects
Programming skills in R.
Strong analytical writing skills and the ability to present research results to policymakers.
Excellent command of English in both speaking and writing.
Dutch language skills (spoken and written) are an advantage.

What do we offer?

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world. And that is valuable. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:

a salary of € 3.059,00 (PhD) and maximum € 3.881,00 (PhD) gross per month in the fourth year, for a full-time employment
an employment contract of initially 1 year. If there is sufficient perspective, this will be extended to a total of 3 years.

We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and arrangements. Some examples:

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
solid pension scheme (ABP)
contribution to commuting expenses
a wide range of sports facilities which staff may use at a modest charge

About us

The health care economics group of the Department Ethics, Governance and Society focuses on analyzing the efficiency, accessibility, and sustainability of the Dutch health care system. Key topics include the impact of competition among health insurers on care quality and costs, the role of government regulation in balancing market incentives with public interests, and the economic challenges of long-term care financing. Research is conducted in close collaboration with policymakers, regulatory agencies, and health care professionals to ensure social relevance. The cluster aims to generate evidence-based insights that inform policy decisions, contribute to academic discourse, and support education at various levels, from undergraduate teaching to professional training and executive education.

School of Business and Economics
We at the School of Business and Economics (SBE) at VU Amsterdam bring together socially relevant teaching and research in the areas of business administration and economics. We focus on real-life issues that have a huge impact on society, economics and ecology: from robotics to big data, and from job market participation to change management.

Collaboration and cooperation, transparency and social responsibility are four keywords that embody our approach. Students, researchers and staff at SBE share real-world knowledge in order to devise solutions together to global economic and social challenges. In order to make a positive impact on the world, society and the lives of others.

Are you interested in joining SBE? You will work in a stimulating, dynamic and international environment with motivated colleagues dedicated to helping society make informed choices. SBE employs roughly 600 staff, with 7,250 students enrolled in the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes and 1,700 executive students.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam stands for values-driven education and research. We are open-minded experts with the ability to think freely - a broader mind. Maintaining an entrepreneurial perspective and concentrating on diversity, significance and humanity, we work on sustainable solutions with social impact. By joining forces, across the boundaries of disciplines, we work towards a better world for people and planet. Together we create a safe and respectful working and study climate, and an inspiring environment for education and research. Learn more about our codes of conduct

We are located on one physical campus, in the heart of Amsterdam's Zuidas business district, with excellent location and accessibility. Over 6,150 staff work at the VU and over 31,000 students attend academic education.

Diversity
Diversity is the driving force of VU Amsterdam. VU wants to be accessible and receptive to diversity in disciplines, cultures, ideas, nationalities, beliefs, preferences and worldviews. We believe that trust, respect, interest and differences lead to new insights and innovation, to sharpness and clarity, to excellence and a broader understanding.

We stand for an inclusive community and believe that diversity and internationalisation contribute to the quality of education, research and our services.

Therefore, we are always searching for people whose backgrounds and experience contribute to the diversity of the VU community.

Interested

Are you interested in this position and do you believe that your experience will contribute to the further development of our university? In that case, we encourage you to submit your application. Applications should include a CV and a motivation letter explaining your interest in the position and relevant qualifications.

Submitting a diploma and a reference check are part of the application process in a later stage.

Applications received by e-mail will not be considered.

Acquisition in response to this advertisement is not appreciated.