PhD Environmental Psychology and Sustainable Behavior Change in Dutch Healthcare

Are you interested in applying psychology to promote sustainable change? Do you want to be part of transforming healthcare towards a greener, circular future? Join us as a PhD candidate focused on understanding and promoting sustainable behavior among healthcare professionals from an Environmental Psychology perspective.

Project description
The Dutch healthcare sector faces a critical sustainability challenge, responsible for 7% of national CO₂ emissions, 4% of waste, and 13% of raw material use—well above the international average. Much of this impact stems from single-use items designed for hygiene but generating enormous waste.
While technological and policy changes are essential, individual behavior plays a critical role. Without healthcare professionals engaging in sustainable actions and adopting sustainable innovations, the sector’s environmental impact remains high. This project offers you a unique opportunity to study and influence the psychological drivers behind sustainable behavior in the health sector.

The project consists of two main research lines:

1. Behavior change for reducing waste: You will develop and evaluate a questionnaire and an intervention strategy to understand and promote waste-reducing behaviors among healthcare professionals.
2. Adoption of sustainable alternatives to single-use products: You will investigate the factors influencing the acceptance and use of sustainable alternatives, and design and assess an intervention to encourage their adoption.

Your tasks as a PhD candidate are:

• Investigate psychological factors that motivate healthcare professionals to reduce waste and adopt sustainable alternatives, drawing on theories and methods from environmental and social psychology.
• Co-create a behavior change intervention together with healthcare professionals, stakeholders, and interdisciplinary researchers to ensure relevance and impact.
• Evaluate a behavior change intervention through a survey, experiment, or a field study conducted in collaboration with hospitals in the North of the Netherlands.
• Publish and present your work at international conferences and scholarly journals.
• Engage in teaching activities as part of your doctoral training.
• Complete and defend your PhD thesis within four years.

In the context of this project, the theme of sustainable behavior change is central. We are genuinely open and curious to learn how applicants see themselves contributing to this project. We invite you to make a case for how your background, interests, and experience make you a good fit. Whether your strengths lie in environmental or social psychology, communication science or any other discipline related to behavior change—we’re interested in being persuaded by you.

The successful candidate will become part of the Care2Change consortium, work in a transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary team, and collaborate closely with hospitals and stakeholders in the North of the Netherlands. This PhD project offers a unique opportunity to take a creative and innovative approach, if desired, by exploring out-of-the-box behavior change strategies in cooperation with project partners. Thereby, the project aims to contribute to behavior change among healthcare professionals, and the transformation of the Dutch healthcare sector towards a more sustainable future.

Organisation
The University of Groningen has an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative centre of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Balanced study and career paths in a wide variety of disciplines encourage the 33,000 students and researchers to develop their own individual talents. Belonging to the best research universities in Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, we are truly an international place of knowledge.

Campus Fryslân is the ambitious eleventh and newest faculty of the University of Groningen, located in Leeuwarden. Campus Fryslân is an interdisciplinary faculty that works closely together with regional, national and international partners on worldwide (sustainability) challenges and local solutions. The sustainable development goals of the United Nations thus serve as an important guideline.

• A (Research) Master’s degree in Environmental Psychology, Social Psychology, or a closely related field.
• Experience with quantitative research methods.
• A keen interest in psychological mechanisms behind behavior change, motivation, and adoption of sustainable innovation.
• Creativity and openness to exploring innovative, evidence-based behavior change strategies.
• Fluency in English with experience in academic writing, and good proficiency in Dutch or willingness to learn.
• Strong analytical thinking, organizational skills, and a collaborative spirit.

In accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, the University of Groningen offers you:

• A salary of € 3,059 gross per month in the first year, up to a maximum of € 3,881 gross per month in the final year, based on a full-time position
• A holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income.
• An 8.3% end-of-the-year allowance.
• A temporary 1.0 FTE appointment for a specified period of four years. The candidate will first be appointed for twelve months. After nine months, an assessment will take place of the candidate’s results and the progress of the PhD project, in order to decide whether employment will be continued. Prolongation of the contract is contingent on sufficient progress in the first year to indicate that a successful completion of the PhD thesis within the contract period is to be expected.
• A PhD training program is part of the agreement and the successful candidate will be enrolled in the Graduate School of the Faculty. As part of the program, the PhD researcher will take part in the Career Perspectives Series, which provides a thorough preparation on the career after the PhD, inside or outside academia. During the course of the doctorate, the PhD researcher will develop research and teaching competencies as well as leadership skills. For this, the PhD researcher will receive a tailor-made programme from the GSCF.
• The PhD candidate is expected to teach a maximum of 350 hours per year. The fourth year is teaching-free to allow the candidate to focus on finalizing their thesis.
• Excellent work-life balance.
• Willingness to move and reside in The Netherlands.

The appointment will commence as soon as possible. In case of VISA application, we need at least three months to complete the administrative process after the selection phase.

Please submit your application in English, including:

• A recent curriculum vitae.
• A motivation letter of a maximum of two A4 pages.
• A concise research proposal of max 500 on how you would frame the project.
• If available, a copy of an article, book chapter or other academic text that you feel best represents your work.
• A copy of your diplomas with a list of course grades.

Please send in your application as PDF.

You may apply for this position until 28 September 11:59pm / before 29 September 2025 Dutch local time (CEST) by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website).

Interviews with selected candidates are scheduled on 20 October 2025.

The University of Groningen strives to be a university in which students and staff are respected and feel at home, regardless of differences in background, experiences, perspectives, and identities. We believe that working on our core values of inclusion and equality are a joint responsibility and we are constructively working on creating a socially safe environment. Diversity among students and staff members enriches academic debate and contributes to the quality of our teaching and research. We therefore invite applicants from underrepresented groups in particular to apply. For more information, see also our diversity policy webpage: https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/policy-and-strategy/diversity-and-inclusion/

Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP): https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/nl/sollicitatiecode and European Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code

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