Are you accepting PhD students?
Yes, but you need grant or fellowship funding and there needs to be a close fit with our research (e.g., conservation focus). Sometimes excellent students write me but they are trained in architecture or mental health, and that is not a fit without explaining to me why. In 2023 in Amsterdam, a 4-year PhD project costs €440.000. If you’d like to work with me and there is no job posting, please find a source of funding such as a fellowship. The next step would be to write up a draft research proposal and share it with me. If it is a good fit, I will collaborate on your research plan and write a letter of support.
Should I get a PhD?
There are good reasons to do a PhD, and it can be a rewarding and fruitful experience. However, I caution you not to do a PhD if the main reason is to get a stable research professor job. Instead, you should get a PhD because it aligns with your values and goals and can provide useful training. The academic market is competitive and getting worse. The outlook for faculty in higher education is not promising (e.g., increased reliance on adjunct instructors with PhDs). You can get a job afterward, probably even in academia, but note that a vanishingly small amount of graduating PhDs will go on to tenured research professorships at top schools like where they trained at: perhaps 1% (this excludes other types of schools and contracts, like 100% teaching). Even that usually includes moving around the world for modestly paid post-docs, breaking relationships and being away from family. These have been harder on me than I expected. Being smart and capable and hard-working are not sufficient to succeed: you also have to be very lucky. So, research professor jobs are a difficult career plan, but it could work if you are geographically flexible and passion, purpose, skill, and enthusiasm compel you to try. That’s bleak, but you should know what it looks like on the other end. Many tenured faculty may not recognize or don’t want to have the uncomfortable conversation about your chances. Consider other types of jobs in academia, and other types of schools.
That said, higher education in psychology remains a great plan. The subject matter is intrinsically fascinating, because everyone wants to understand, predict, and influence others whether they realize it or not. A psychology MSc or PhD can offer a mix of data science and behavioral insights that are very employable, especially if you build strong quantitative skills with data and code. There are lots of opportunities in industry and government to do meaningful good with interesting work, e.g., helping develop interventions, policy, communication, and other people-focused projects. In selecting a graduate degree and a program, take time to evaluation how much the curriculum will provide the skills to be employable rather than just pump out research papers. You will encounter aspects of contemporary science that are broken and frustrating: the noisy way scientist quality is assessed, the premium-access publishing model whereby scientists produce the content and then have to buy it back, and the outmoded incentives leading to distortion, opacity, and fraud in results. Some students find they can’t support a system with such problems. If so, I recommend taking your skills somewhere you can serve with pride and purpose. There’s a lot to enjoy in academia, but most PhDs will later work in industry, and many of those careers will be satisfying and helpful to society, and some are stable and better paid. If you have feedback about this rant, please let me know at c.brick@uva.nl. I want to improve it for better accuracy and helpfulness.
What are the chances of making assistant professor in the Netherlands?
Not great: the majority of PhDs get jobs outside of universities during or after the PhD, or after a postdoc or lecturer position (see below). Another notable fact is that 1.7x more assistant professors leave academia or retire than get promoted. However, keep in mind that some of these candidates never intended to stay in academia.
There is a lot of missing data in both these graphs. Next, see this next chart from the Donders Institute (NL):
Academic Career Advice
After PhD
The Professor is In — book with advice
There are scant academic jobs in environmental psychology each year. I tweet everything I see. Your chances are better if you are able to move countries.
To get a research postdoc, it is ideal but rare to get your own funding, and then you can pick where to work. Otherwise, I'd recommend making a list of scholars of interest (feel free to use my list and add to it) and write them personal emails to ask about opportunities or solicit grant co-investigators. I was unable to secure a postdoc after my PhD and went into a teaching-heavy job. In general, read disciplinary mailing lists and considering tweeting or posting on facebook to relevant communities. In environmental psychology:
IAAP Division 4
National EnvPsych Association mailing lists (DGPs Fachgruppe Umwelt & IPU in Germany/Austria/(Switzerland?), PsicAmb: (Spanish-speaking), Norsk milioepsykologisk nettverk (Norway), more?
To get a faculty job, consider teaching-heavy roles and related disciplines. Don't hesitate to apply for teaching jobs in departments of social psychology or environmental science or interdisciplinary groups (e.g., schools of public policy). All might be interested in your training and skills, even if their call doesn't mention it. You can also write brief inquiries to job openings to talk about those kinds of fit issues (include your CV). Also, write a killer teaching statement (e.g., with concrete examples rather than broad statements of values) and revise it a lot.
Grants and Fellowships
https://www.researchprofessional.com
https://www.academictransfer.com
Seriously consider non-academic positions in behavioral change and environment, such as government and NGO. Most people dismiss these paths too quickly, in part because they haven’t met people doing those jobs. I am not sure I would choose the same career again if I'd known how narrow the opportunities are in academia. Develop a LinkedIn profile and start asking people adjacent to your training for advice. Look for people you trained with that are no longer in academia. CVs should turn into much briefer resumes focused around specific skills. When I was considering this more heavily, I easily found people on Twitter who were happy to talk about it.
Outside Academia
Vacatures - Werken voor Nederland (RIVM)
Behavioural Insights Network Netherlands
unjobs.org (not just UN)