Phd Candidate 'the Role of Physical Closeness in Parent-infant Well-being and Development'

4 years **_Prof.dr. Carolina de Weerth (Developmental Psychobiology Lab; Radboud University Medical Center) is looking for a PhD within the project Nurturing Connections: The Role of Physical Closeness in Parent-Infant Well-being and Development. This 4-year project (1.0FTE) is financed by NWO and focused on early parenthood and infancy. Do you want to take on this challenging project with us?_**

The transition to parenthood can be challenging and is often related to mental and physical problems in parents. Parent-infant physical closeness (PIPC) sharply decreases over the first months in Western families, while studies show that PIPC is important for healthy child development and potentially also for maternal wellbeing. PIPC may hence offer unique opportunities to support both child development and new parents’ wellbeing. However, large gaps in knowledge on fathers, causal associations, underlying mechanisms, and long-term relations preclude further developments. Our multidisciplinary team will fill these gaps with sophisticated intervention, experimental, and longitudinal studies on daily life PIPC: baby carrying, skin-to-skin contact, and room sharing. Mechanisms that we will focus on include the HPA axis, behavior, health, and psychological wellbeing.

In sum, we will determine whether, to what extent, and through what mechanisms easily accessible avenues for increasing PIPC can lead to improved maternal, paternal, and child mental and physical health, both concurrently as well as later in childhood and adolescence. Hence, the PhD will contribute to finding practical solutions to improve parents’ lives. The project includes collaborators from Erasmus University Rotterdam, Utrecht University, and University of Trento. The PhD will be part of a team consisting of senior researchers, a Postdoc, a student assistant, as well as perinatal professionals and parents. The PhD will be affiliated to the Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behaviour and the Baby & Child Research Center.

**We offer**
- A challenging position in an innovative project within a team of dedicated colleagues. Our collaboration is characterized by creativity, collegiality, teamwork, and responsibility.
- Being part of a dynamic, enthusiastic, collaborative, and ambitious research group specialized in early life, the developmental psychobiology lab.
- A fulltime function with a duration of four years at Radboudumc.

**Tasks and responsibilities**
- Developing and pre-registering research protocols.
- Recruitment and data collection.
- Data analysis and statistical analyses.
- Writing and dissemination of results for peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals.
- Writing and dissemination of results for the public, professionals, internal reports, etc.
- Presentation of findings at conferences and symposia.
- Training and supervision of (Research) Master students, as well as research assistants.

**Starting date is Spring / Summer 2025.** At Radboud university medical center, you build on your future. We are committed to providing the best care, education, and research. And we are true to our word, because we help you develop and seize opportunities and give you the room to grow. As an employer, we believe that employees should feel vital and happy at work in all stages of life. We are also committed to creating a healthy and safe working environment. Our employment conditions contribute to that. What we offer:

- Upon commencement of employment, you will start at scale 10A, step 0 (€ 3.017 based on a full-time appointment). Over a maximum period of 4 years, you will progress to scale 10A, step 3 (€3.824 based on a full-time appointment). You will also receive an 8% holiday allowance, an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a 47% to 72% bonus for working unsocial hours.
- 176 vacation hours per year based on a 36-hour working week.

For this position you will be part of the Developmental Psychobiology Lab (DPB lab). Our research focuses on the influence of pregnancy and the early years on parental wellbeing and child development. The DPB lab is embedded in the Department Cognitive Neuroscience of Radboud university medical center (Radboudumc).

The Cognitive Neuroscience department is part of the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior ('the Donders'). The Donders is a world-class research network with over 1,000 scientists dedicated to advancing brain, cognitive, and behavioral sciences. The institute enables access to the most advanced research facilities, fosters interdisciplinary collaborations, and trains new generations of researchers. Research into stress and stress-related disorders is an important area of attention.

**Radboudumc**
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