Phd Project empowering Adolescents: Building - Amsterdam, Nederland - Universiteit van Amsterdam

Universiteit van Amsterdam

Geverifieerd bedrijf

Amsterdam, Nederland

2 weken geleden

Geplaatst door:

Daan Van den Berg

werver van beBee

Beschrijving

PhD Project "Empowering Adolescents:
Building Resilience Against Planetary Health Misinformation"

Faculteit/Dienst:
Faculteit der Maatschappij

- & Gedragswetenschappen
Opleidingsniveau:Master
Functie type:Promotieplaats
Sluitingsdatum:5 June 2024
Vacaturenummer:13010-
What are you going to do?

Misinformation and disinformation are widely seen as big societal threats, both in the Netherlands and beyond. These threats call for more research and for new solutions to make citizens and societal groups more resilient against mis

- and disinformation. This is why the Department of Communication Science at the University of Amsterdam has launched a new initiative focusing on the causes, content, consequences, and counterstrategies against mis
- and disinformation in our digital society.

This PhD project is part of this initiative and will specifically address how to build misinformation resilience amongst adolescents.
Since misinformation poses significant challenges, enhancing resilience against it is crucial. While interventions to increase resilience exist, their effectiveness varies, prompting the need for improvement.
Given the urgency of environmental issues (e.g., climate change, biodiversity loss, plastic pollution, and other environmental problems affecting the health of our planet), this project focuses on building adolescents' resilience against planetary health misinformation. Adolescents' unique vulnerability in this regard is addressed through a targeted approach aimed at combating misinformation related to planetary health.

To achieve this, the PhD project has four objectives:

Understanding the factors driving adolescents' susceptibility (or resilience) to planetary health related misinformation.
Identifying subgroups of adolescents according to (the mechanisms underlying) their susceptibility to misinformation.
Developing interventions in cocreation with adolescents themselves, as involving adolescents in intervention design, ensures relevance and effectiveness.
Testing the effectiveness and longevity of the interventions. This involves assessing whether targeted interventions are more effective in increasing resilience against misinformation compared to nontargeted interventions, including an examination of longterm impact and potential side effects.
By addressing these objectives, the project aims to develop more effective strategies to combat misinformation and empower adolescents in navigating complex societal challenges, particularly in the realm of planetary health.
The supervision team consists of supervisors from Persuasive Communication (Dr. Eline Smit supervisor; Dr. Marijn Meijers daily supervisor) and Entertainment Communication (Dr. Jeroen Lemmens).
Tasks include:
completing an English
language PhD dissertation consisting of research articles within the appointment period;

- gaining knowledge of the field through literature research, discussion with team members, and internal research meetings;
- designing empirical studies (focus groups, surveys, and an experimental intervention study);
- planning, organizing, and conducting data-collection;
- analysing and interpreting results of the different studies;
- presenting results at local, national and international conferences;
- submitting research articles to esteemed international peer-reviewed journals;
- engaging in valorisation activities;
- contributing to the vibrant academic life in Amsterdam in terms of events, workshops, meetings, activities, and lectures;
- spending around 10% of your time on teaching-related tasks.

What do you have to offer?

You have:
(research) master's degree in Communication Science, Pedagogics, Psychology, or a related field or will obtain this degree before the start of the project;

- experience with quantitative research methods and data analyses (e.g., in SPSS or R);
- experience with (or are eager to learn) qualitative research methods and data analyses;
- an excellent spoken and written command of English (as you will write an English-language dissertation and present at international conferences)
- an excellent spoken and written command of Dutch (as this project will comprise conducting Dutch-language research among adolescents and keeping in touch with Dutch-speaking stakeholders)
- good analytical, writing, and presenting skills;
- good project and time management skills enabling you to meet the projects' deadlines for finishing analyses, reports and other deliverables;

You are:
passionate about research, particularly related to misinformation, adolescents, and planetary health

- interested in working in an interdisciplinary team
- open to feedback
- able to work independently
- eager to learn and to develop new skills
- organized, flexible and have attention to detail
- strongly committed to methodological rigor and scientific integrity;
- motivated to share exchange knowledge with academic and non-academic audiences.

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