RPA Conflict & Society
9 July 2025
All fellowship projects are open to bachelor’s students at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG) – regardless of discipline. Students should be in their second year or above. Fellowships are a maximum of 53 hours of work in total, for €19 per hour, on a freelance basis.
This project addresses the prevention of violence against children by diving into the specific effects of parenting interventions. As of 2023, the World Health Organization recommends these interventions globally as a public health strategy to reduce violent parenting. Evidence shows that such programmes significantly reduce physical and emotional violence, with effects that persist over time and across diverse parent populations. However, we still lack clarity on what kinds of violence these interventions actually prevent. Do they stop parents from slapping, or also from more severe acts like burning or choking?
To answer this question, the research assistant will support the expansion of our aggregate and individual participant data meta-analysis by harmonizing violence outcomes across randomised studies. This work will generate critical insights into the specific behaviors that parenting programmes reduce, informing policy and future intervention design.
We are looking for a research assistant who (i) is interested in, and potentially already familiar with, literature on interventions to reduce violence against children and (ii) has an interest in, and potentially already experience with, aggregate and individual participant data meta-analysis methodology.
Deadline to apply: August 22nd 2025 (an interview may be part of the application procedure in the case of many applicants).
We are conducting a meta-analytic structural equation model (MASEM) to investigate the intergenerational transmission of psychopathological symptoms. Specifically, we examine how parental (maternal and paternal) depression and anxiety relate to child internalizing and externalizing behavior, with parenting behavior as a potential mediator. This project pays particular attention to conflict and violence as key mechanisms: (a) harsh or coercive parenting and child maltreatment as manifestations of conflict and violence in parent-child relationships, and (b) aggressive or violent behaviors as part of children's externalizing problems. We include studies on postnatal parental mental health and child outcomes from birth to age 18, and also assess bidirectional effects of conflict and violence (i.e., child effects on parental mental health).
A student research assistant would provide valuable support in organizing and coding studies for the meta-analysis, extracting relevant data, and assisting with literature review and data management. This project offers an excellent learning opportunity for students interested in mental health, family dynamics, and the role of conflict and violence in development. They will gain hands-on experience with systematic reviews, exposure to advanced quantitative methods like MASEM, and insight into how psychological conflict and behavioral violence are studied in intergenerational research.
Students who wish to apply for this fellowship should be conscientious and decisive, possess excellent research skills for assessing the quality of quantitative research using questionnaires and observations, have strong English reading abilities, and communicate effectively in either English or Dutch.
Deadline to apply: August 26th 2025 (an interview may be part of the application procedure in the case of many applicants).
We will be building a dataset of "invisible conflicts" - the idea is to have a stronger focus on global/regional conflicts where the conflicts' presence in media narratives (using data from newsapi) is much less pronounced than the ground level losses to human life (using cleaned ACLED data). The long-term goal is to systematically assess the visibility of each conflict in the news media landscape and suggest ways to improve visibility where possible.
The student research assistant would help with:
simple exploratory data analysis once the two datasets have been connected
Deadline to apply: August 29th 2025 (an interview may be part of the application procedure in the case of many applicants).
This multi-experiment project examines how dominant-groups members (e.g., White Dutch/American Citizens) perceive microaggressions and the people who experience them. Within the Conflict & Society’s research priority area the focus is on non-violent, relational conflict and seeks to inform inclusion practices beyond institutional procedures. We will design three experiments: In the first experiment, participants will assess vignettes of microaggressions targeting individuals from marginalised groups, rating subtlety, harm, intent, and acceptability. The second experiment shifts focus to perceptions of individuals who experience microaggressions. It aims to examine whether victimhood is seen as legitimate or exaggerated depending on specific identity markers. The third experiment investigates reactions to those who report microaggressions, probing whether whistleblowing is perceived as disruptive or justified. Together, these studies aim to understand the normative assumptions within dominant cultural frameworks that shape responses to everyday bias.
Outline of the Research Assistant’s tasks:
Ethics & risks statement: Risks are minimal. While some participants may feel discomfort when reading about microaggressions, they will not actually experience them. To mitigate this, we will: (1) provide clear informed consent, (2) offer debriefing and information about psychological support resources, and (3) ensure confidentiality and voluntary withdrawal. All procedures will follow UvA ERB guidelines.
A good command of English is essential. Experience with experimental design and analysis (using SPSS, JASP, or R) is preferred, but not mandatory. Additionally, experience with programming in Qualtrics is beneficial.
Effective social skills, and the ability to make contact are necessary to locate and interview participants for cognitive interviews.
Deadline to apply: September 5th 2025 (an interview may be part of the application procedure in the case of many applicants).
This project focuses on micro-transactions in illicit drugs to understand how the uptake of digital technologies in drug dealing transforms uneven urban landscapes of risk. It aims to understand how drug dealers and consumers experience unequal risks – including exposure to criminal or state violence – as mobile, digitally-enabled deliveries replace place-based sales.
We are looking for a student fellow (preferably with a background in human geography and planning) to support this research project on the digitalisation of illicit drugs market. This project focuses on micro-transactions in illicit drugs, and specifically on how mobile, digitally-enabled deliveries replace place-based sales. To understand the logistical geography that enables the ultrafast delivery of illicit drugs, the student fellow would collect and analyze written media that can serve to map the distribution of “stash houses” in Amsterdam. The fellowship would involve (1) analyzing news reports of stash house closures (e.g. in the Parool newspaper) and where available police records to assemble a database that can help understand this spatial distribution, and (2) processing this data in cartographic form. The fellow should be fluent in Dutch and would ideally have at least basic GIS skills.
Deadline to apply: September 1st 2025 (an interview may be part of the application procedure in the case of many applicants).
You will contribute to a project that examines whether cannabis supply modes (e.g., online vs. coffee-shops vs. social contacts) predict health and safety outcomes.
The diversity in supply modes of drugs makes this a relevant clinical- and policy-oriented research question. For example, in the Netherlands—and increasingly in more countries—cannabis use is legal. However, the recreational cannabis trade is illegal unless it occurs via “coffeeshops”, in which adults can physically buy cannabis. Other common forms of cannabis trade occur between social contacts (e.g., between friends). Finally, the COVID-19 lock-down spurred a new illegal supply mode of cannabis in the Netherlands (and elsewhere), namely buying cannabis online via illegal drug shops.
The research assistants will become part of a larger project-team consisting of a master-thesis student, postdoctoral researcher, and me (principal investigator). As a research assistant, you will gain experience in: designing a questionnaire and its codebook, data-management, and in data-collection. The data-collection (via a digital questionnaire) will take place online and in person. Thus we are seeking research assistants with strong interpersonal skills who enjoy making contact with people and who can communicate effectively in English and/or Dutch.
Deadline to apply: September 5th, 2025 (an interview may be part of the application procedure in the case of many applicants).
For the 2025-2026 academic year, the help of a research assistant is needed in area of Black Studies and Black Feminist Theory to work with Assistant Professor Dr. Jan Mendes (Department of Sociology, Gender and Sexuality Studies). The research assistant is required for two main research related tasks.
First, as part of my RPA Conflict and Society seed grant project titled “Investigating Suicide as a Social Outcome of Anti-Black Racist Violence” I will be conducting fieldwork in the form of in-person interviews with medical doctors, health practitioners, and private individuals effected by suicide that live in Canada. Fieldwork will begin November 2025.
Requirements of Research Assistant: The research assistant will help to prepare for fieldwork by finding the contact information and/or websites of applicable medical professionals, mental health organizations or community outreach centres that seek to address suicide and/or mental health among Black Canadians. This task will require that the research assistant spends significant time searching online for contacts (e.g. LinkedIN, online newspaper articles that mention suicide and name healthcare professionals, Black-focused mental health organizations etc). Once contacts are located through online searches, the research assistant will send an organized list (with contact information) to the supervisor.
Secondly, in collaboration with Black feminist scholars in the Nordic regions, I will be organizing a Black Feminist Summer school to take place in Amsterdam in July 2026.
Requirements of Research Assistant: The research assistant will help to advertise the summer school to potential participants by preparing and posting social media posts about the summer school on Instagram and other relevant platforms. Dependant on the time left in the research assistant’s contract, there is the potential for involvement in the Black Feminist summer school to be extended.
The main skills required of the research assistant include:
Deadline to apply: Tuesday September 16th at 16:00 2025 (an interview may be part of the application procedure in the case of many applicants).