Postdoc researcher ERC project CAGED: Ageing in the Carceral Environment: The Existential Dimensions
1 - Working at the VUB
For more than 50 years, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has stood for freedom, equality and solidarity, and this is very much alive on our campuses among students and staff alike.
At the VUB, you will find a diverse collection of personalities: innovators pur sang, but above all people who are 100% their authentic selves. With some 4,000 employees, we are the largest Dutch-speaking employer, in the private sector, in Brussels; an international city with which we are only too happy to connect and where (around) our 4 campuses are located.
Add to this our principle of free research - in which self-reflection, a critical attitude and an open, creative mind around scientific and social issues are central - and you have a university that is fundamentally groundbreaking and pioneering in education and research. In short: the VUB all over again.
Moreover, the VUB is a member of EUTOPIA, an alliance of like-minded European universities, all ready to reinvent themselves.
2 - Position description
The Faculteit Recht en Criminologie, Department Criminologie, research group Crime & Society, is looking for a postdoctoral researcher in the context of the ERC project ‘CAGED: Ageing in the Carceral Environment: The Existential Dimensions’
More concretely your work package contains:
CAGED addresses a rapidly growing global challenge: how ageing individuals experience and construct existential meaning while incarcerated. Despite demographic shifts leading to an increasing proportion of older people in carceral settings, scholarly work on carceral ageing remains underdeveloped in Europe. CAGED brings together insights from gerontology, penology, psychology, and the broader social and behavioural sciences to build a groundbreaking interdisciplinary framework that advances both theory and method in understanding carceral ageing.
This position offers a unique opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research at the intersection of ageing studies, prison studies, and the science of meaning. You will contribute to both theoretical and methodological innovation, work in an interdisciplinary and supportive research team, and play a central role in advancing a new research agenda with scientific, societal, and policy relevance.
In your role, you will:
- Take the lead in designing, developing, and validating a novel research instrument with a strong quantitative focus, to assess existential meaning-making among ageing incarcerated individuals
- Conduct and oversee rigorous quantitative empirical research across all Belgian prisons and a specialised age-segregated facility in Germany
- Drive the project’s high-impact scientific output and enhance its international visibility by contributing to publications, dissemination, outreach, and valorisation activities
- Collaborate closely with the project team to develop an interdisciplinary theoretical and conceptual framework that meaningfully combines quantitative rigor with qualitative depth
- Mentor and inspire junior researchers and graduate students, fostering a research culture that values excellence, creativity, and innovation
- Have the freedom to develop your own research ideas and complementary projects within the broader research program
For this function, our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will serve as your home base.
3 - Profile
What do we expect from you?
You have a PhD in a relevant discipline, such as psychology, criminology, gerontology, sociology, behavioural sciences, medical sciences, health sciences, or any other field with a strong empirical and quantitative research foundation
-
- Advanced quantitative research and statistical skills, with proven experience in designing, conducting, and interpreting rigorous analyses
- Strong knowledge of psychometrics, particularly in designing, validating, or testing measurement instruments
- Exceptional conceptual and analytical thinking skills, able to translate complex datasets into meaningful insights
- Demonstrated ability to work independently, take ownership of projects, and contribute to high-impact scientific output
- Ability to collaborate effectively in an interdisciplinary team, including mentoring junior researchers
- Excellent English proficiency, both written and spoken
- Desirable, but not required:
- Experience in research on later life, prisons, developmental processes, meaning in life, or related psychological and social constructs
- Familiarity with mixed-methods research or integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches
- Working knowledge of, or willingness to learn, Dutch, French, and/or German
- Evidence of peer-reviewed publications or international research impact. Please note: we place greater emphasis on your motivation, vision, and potential than on the number of previous publications or journal impact factors
- Experience in research on later life, prisons, developmental processes, meaning in life, or related psychological and social constructs
- Advanced quantitative research and statistical skills, with proven experience in designing, conducting, and interpreting rigorous analyses
- As a (non-)EEA national, meet the conditions for obtaining a valid permit for VUB and comply with the VUB residence requirements. More info here.
The VUB wants to be a reflection of the society where everyone's talent is valued, regardless of gender, age, religion, skin color, migration background, disability and neurodiversity.
4 - Offer
Are you going to be our new colleague?
You’ll be offered a contract, for an assignment of 1 FTE, for 12 months (extendable, on condition of the positive evaluation of the research activities), with planned starting date 01/03/2026.
You’ll receive a salary linked to one of the scales set by the government.
At the VUB, you’re guaranteed an open, involved and diverse workplace where you are offered opportunities to (further) build on your career.
As well as this, you will also enjoy various other benefits:
- Extensive homeworking options, a telework allowance of 50 euros per month OR an internet fee of 20 euros per month;
- An open and informal working environment where attention is paid to work-life balance, and exceptional holiday arrangements with 35 days of leave (based on a fulltime contract), closure between Christmas and New Year and 3 extra leave days;
- Cost-free hospitalisation insurance;
- Full reimbursement of your home-to-work commute with public transport according to VUB-policy, and/or compensation if you come by bike;
- A wide selection of meals in our campus restaurants at attractive prices;
- Excellent and affordable facilities for sport and exercise, a range of discounts via Benefits@Work (in all kinds of shops, on flights, in petrol stations, amusement parks...) and Ecocheques;
- Nursery near campus, discount on holiday camps;
- The space to form your job content and to continuously learn through our VUB learning platforms and training courses;
- And finally: great colleagues with a healthy drive.
5 - Interested?
Is this the job you’ve been dreaming of?
Then apply, at the latest on 01/02/2026, via jobs.vub.be, and upload the following documents:
- your CV; including a complete list of publications;
- your motivation letter (max. 2 pages), highlighting how your research interests, expertise, and profile align with the project goals and selection criteria, and how you envision contributing to the project’s impact;
- up to three pieces of work (e.g., publications, preprints, research proposals, or study protocols) that you consider your strongest or most relevant to the position;
- your diploma (not applicable for VUB alumni).
Our application process is as follows (subject to change):
- step 1: an initial selection based on your application file;
- step 2: a job interview.
Do you have questions about the job content? Contact Diete Humblet at diete.humblet@vub.be or on +32494237635.
Would you like to know what it’s like to work at the VUB? Go to jobs.vub.be, and find all there is to know about our campuses, benefits, strategic goals and your future colleagues.
Would you like more information about EUTOPIA? Go to eutopia-university.eu, and read more about the role of the VUB in the development of the EUTOPIA alliance.
