Research assistant for a project on early parenting

 

The Interacting Minds Centre, Department of Clinical Medicine at Faculty of Health at Aarhus University invites applications for a position as a research assistant for a research project, ‘The New Parent Sleep Experience’. The project is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation: http://bit.ly/Carlsberg_project, with a start date 1st Sept 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter. The position is a fixed-term 18-month full-time position.


The Interacting Minds Center (IMC)

The project will be hosted at IMC, a center which provides a transdisciplinary platform to study human interaction. The candidate will have the opportunity to interact and collaborate with researchers from the humanities, social sciences, cognitive science, biology and medicine, among other fields. The IMC hosts weekly guest lectures and regular intensive workshops, with both international and national speakers. The Center has affiliated researchers across numerous faculties and departments at Aarhus University, with access to excellent research facilities and infrastructure at the Cognition and Behaviour Lab, and the Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience.
You can read more about the center here and about the faculty here.


Your job responsibilities

As a research assistant, your primary tasks are related to data analysis, data interpretation and dissemination. The successful candidate is expected to contribute to the overall objectives of the project. The position will require a candidate who is enthusiastic about complex data analysis.Data analysis and interpretation will be supported by student assistants, so there will be an opportunity to supervise the work of junior team members. The successful candidate will be supported in planning future career activities.

The research project 
Our knowledge of early parenting comes largely from studies of mothers, with fathers either overlooked or under-emphasized. As fathers constitute 50% of parents, and have become increasingly involved in childcare, this project will explore similarities and differences between men and women’s experiences in early parenthood. The project uses legislative changes to parental leave (Barsel) in August 2022 as a natural experiment. We compare the behaviour of couples with babies born before and after the increase in earmarked paternity leave from 2 weeks to 11 weeks. Data collected to date includes surveys, to large scale app-based assessments of real-world parenting behaviour, and experimental tasks.
In your daily work, you will have close interaction and collaboration with senior colleagues at the Department of Culture, Cognition and Computation. As a research group, we schedule weekly lab meetings to discuss progress and provide ongoing support.

Your main tasks will consist of:

• Data analysis, including all stages from data cleaning, analysis to interpretation
• Report writing and dissemination tasks
• Literature reviewing

You will report to Christine Parsons (Project Lead).


Your competences

You have a background within the research area of psychology, medicine, Cognitive Science, Data Science or a related field. You will have experience with analysis of human participant data and documented experience with data analysis in R or Python. Finally, the candidate should have completed their Master’s degree by the position start date.
Experience or the following skills will be considered an advantage:

• Data management
• Good data analysis skills, including advanced statistical and methodological knowledge (such as multilevel modelling, Structural Equation modelling etc.)
• Basic technical skills and knowledge (e.g., general programming skills in R, Python or equivalent)

As a person, you have good interpersonal skills, are friendly and helpful and able to contribute to a good work environment. We expect you to be fluent in oral and written English.
 

Questions about the position

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Associate Professor Christine Parsons:  tel.: +4587162127. Applicants are encouraged to write with any informal enquiries.
Your place of work will be the Interacting Minds Centre, Department of Clinical Medicine, Nobelparken, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 7, 3. Etage. DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
We expect to conduct interviews at the end of June 2024. Shortlisting is used.
 



Terms of employment

• Appointment as a research assistant requires academic qualifications at master's degree level.
• Further information on the appointment procedure can be found in the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.
• The appointment is in accordance with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikerne).
• Remuneration is in accordance with the above, and the Salary agreement catalogue for staff at Health.
• Further information on qualification requirements and job description can be found in the Ministerial Order on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities.

Application

Your application must include the following:

• Motivated application
• Curriculum Vitae
• Diploma
• Template for applicant - other academic positions
• A list of publications can be uploaded if relevant for the position
• A teaching portfolio can be uploaded if relevant for the position. We refer to Guideline on the use of teaching portfolios
• References/recommendations can be uploaded separately in the recruitment system

We refer to the faculty’s Guidelines for applicants.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.


Aarhus University

Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,300 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 935 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/