Postdoc in Social Psychology

MF Gebouw

Amsterdam

1 / 1

Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences

Researcher / Postdoc

LL.M

Closes on

31-08-2025

Publishing date

04-06-2025

Apply

Interested in conducting research on the emotional roots of moral condemnation, as informed by an evolutionary psychology perspective?

Your function

As a member of our research team, you will play a key role in a project seeking to better understand the relation between disgust and our moral psychology. You will work with the Josh Tybur, the project’s lead investigator, and other members of the research team, including a PhD student and another postdoctoral researcher. As part of a collective endeavour, you will explore novel ideas related to disgust and morality, conduct research that contributes to new scientific knowledge in this area, and report on findings to your colleagues, at conferences, and in publications. In addition to being part of the wider team, you will be responsible for coordinating multiple large cross-cultural projects with the PI, and you will be expected to take the lead in writing registered reports on those projects. The targeted starting date is 1 January 2026, though starting earlier or later is possible.

Your duties

map out existing literature on disgust and morality and generate new ideas
(co)-coordinate large-scale international data collection
design and implement new experiments
collect, analyze, and curate data
report on the findings in local meetings and (inter)national conferences
assist in (minor) teaching activities within the department
contribute to the team spirit and help others achieve their goals

Your profile

You have completed or will soon complete (before the position’s starting date) a PhD in social psychology, evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, or experimental philosophy
You have expertise in moral psychology, evolutionary psychology, and/or emotion
You have expertise in quantitative research methods
You have experience with cross-cultural data collection
You enjoy quantitative analyses and have a strong background in statistics
You have excellent verbal and written English language skills
You are a team player with good communication abilities

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 minimum € 3.378,00 (Scale 10) and maximum € 5.331,00 (Scale 10) gross per month, on a full-time basis. This is based on UFO profile Researcher 4. The exact salary depends on your education and experience.
a position for 1 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 1 year. Afterwards, the possibility of expansion exists.

We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and regulations. 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
contribution to commuting expenses
optional model for designing a personalized benefits package
a wide range of sports facilities which staff may use at a modest charge

About us

About the team
The MORDISGUST team is led by Prof Josh Tybur and is part of the Social Psychology group in the department of Experimental and Applied Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. This group is world-leading in its work on trust, emotion, cooperation, and morality. The research group also has expertise in evolutionary approaches to psychology, cross-cultural research, political psychology, close relationships, and emotion, among other topics. We value quality research, personal development, and social cohesion within an international atmosphere.

Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences
Developing knowledge for an active, healthy and meaningful life: that is our mission at the Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences at VU Amsterdam. We maintain a broad focus on the fields of behaviour and health. Our teaching and research programmes are devoted to current developments in society. From healthy aging to e-health, and from training top athletes to social media as a teaching tool. We combine three academic disciplines: psychology, movement sciences and education. A multidisciplinary approach allows us to arrive at a better understanding of human behaviour and movement. Our aims are to help people live healthier lives, learn better and function better.

Are you interested in joining Behavioural and Movement Sciences? You are the kind of person who feels at home working in an ambitious faculty, with an informal atmosphere and short lines of communication. We offer you all the space you need for personal development. Together with your 630 colleagues, you will take care of about 4,200 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

Your application should include a personal statement (two or three pages) and a CV. The personal statement should describe your fit with the project. Please highlight your expertise in moral psychology, emotions, and (if applicable) evolutionary perspectives and cross-cultural data collection. Please also highlight your skill with data analysis. Your application need not include letters of recommendation. Promising candidates might be asked for reference contacts.

The position is open until 1 September, 2025, but especially promising applications might be evaluated earlier. Please apply early if you see yourself as a good fit with the project.

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

Applications received by e-mail will not be considered.

Acquisition in response to this advertisement is not appreciated.