PhD candidate within the Academic Collaborative Center on Sustainable Care Limburg – Maastricht University (UM) – Maastricht

Maastricht University (UM)

PhD candidate within the Academic Collaborative Center on Sustainable Care Limburg at Maastricht UMC+/University Maastricht at the Department of Health Services Research.

Would you like to do your PhD in a project together with partners from various disciplines and in close collaboration with the hospital? Are you interested in the digital care transformation and in being part of a co-creation process in the area of respiratory diseases? For the project ‘DACIL’ we are looking for a PhD candidate (4 years, 1 fte) who will be closely involved in the development and evaluation of a digital companion that guides COPD patients to diagnose disease deterioration themselves using AI-supported non-invasive and continuous voice monitoring in their home environment.

Job Description
The DACIL project is set up by an interdisciplinary consortium. The project aims to promote the autonomy, independence and self-reliance of people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This is done by providing COPD patients with an artificial intelligence (AI) supported, personalised digital companion used at home that detects disease deterioration by voice and wearables and stimulates and supports a sustainable, positive, and healthy lifestyle to prevent disease deterioration. In DACIL, researchers from different backgrounds (law, medicine, sociology, data science, psychology) join hands together with patients and other relevant parties involved in COPD care. The work of the PhD candidate focuses on the requirements, wishes and expectations of COPD patients (taken into account inclusivity, digital literacy) for the design, usability and feasibility of this personalised digital voice companion. The voice companion includes (1) a function to detect COPD disease deteriorations through voice recognition (and devices) and (2) lifestyle modules to support COPD patients to adapt a healthy lifestyle by personalised support. Within the project, we work closely with data scientists, other research departments within the university and other parties in the Netherlands. The PhD candidate will be supervised by people from the department of Health Promotion at Maastricht University, the Athena institute in Amsterdam and the department of Respiratory Medicine at Maastricht UMC+. The PhD candidate will also be involved in teaching activities within the Digital Technology and Care track within the Bachelor of Health Sciences and the Master of Health and Digital Transformation.

The tasks of the PhD candidate will include supporting the development of the voice companion through Design Thinking and co-creation methodologies, embedding the companion in practice, and conducting usability and feasibility studies. This is close collaboration with a patient advisory group. Qualitative and quantitative research methods will both be used. The research should result in a dissertation. The researcher will be appointed to the Department of Health Services Research at Maastricht University.

Requirements
We are looking for an enthusiastic researcher with excellent Dutch and English written and oral communication skills, a flexible attitude, perseverance, and resilience. Being able to plan and organize well is a requirement. The researcher should have an affinity for health innovations, find it easy to connect with patients and health professionals and see it as a challenge to develop and evaluate care innovations in an interdisciplinary context. A completed degree in health sciences, medicine, behavioral science, psychology, social sciences or related field, affinity with the topic of the digital transformation of care and experience with qualitative research methods, and especially with co-creation and design thinking, would fit the profile well.

What we offer
As a PhD at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences , you will be employed by the most international university in the Netherlands, located in the beautiful city of Maastricht. In addition, we offer you:

  • Good employment conditions. The position is graded in scale PhD according to UFO profile PhD, with corresponding salary based on experience ranging from €2770,00 in the first year and €3539,00 gross per month in the fourth year (based on a full-time employment of 38 hours per week). In addition to the monthly salary, an 8.0% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus apply.
  • An employment contract for a period of 12 months with a scope of 1.0 FTE. Upon a positive evaluation, an extension of 3 years will follow.
  • At Maastricht University, the well-being of our employees is of utmost importance, we offer flexible working hours and the possibility to work partly from home if the nature of your position allows it. You will receive a monthly commuting and internet allowance for this. If you work full-time, you will be entitled to 29 vacation days and 4 additional public holidays per year, namely carnival Monday, carnival Tuesday, Good Friday, and Liberation Day. If you choose to accumulate compensation hours, an additional 12 days will be added. Furthermore, you can personalize your employment conditions through a collective labor agreement (CAO) choice model.
  • As Maastricht University, we offer various other excellent secondary employment conditions. These include a good pension scheme with the ABP and the opportunity for UM employees to participate in company fitness and make use of the extensive sports facilities that we also offer to our students.
  • Last but certainly not least, we provide the space and facilities for your personal and professional development. We facilitate this by offering a wide range of training programs and supporting various well-established initiatives such as ‘acknowledge and appreciate’.
  • The terms of employment at Maastricht University are largely set out in the collective labor agreement of Dutch Universities. In addition, local provisions specific to UM apply.

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