PhD Building Belonging: social belonging at school in neurodiverse youth; FTE

Organisation/Company Leiden University Research Field Educational sciences ‑ Education Psychological sciences ‑ Psychology Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Final date to receive applications 10 Mar 2026 - 22:59 (UTC) Country Netherlands Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Not Applicable Hours Per Week 28.8 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

PhD candidate Building 4 Belonging: social belonging at school in neurodiverse youth (0.8 FTE)

Interested in tackling loneliness in schools? Consider joining the Building 4 Belonging consortium as a PhD student to co‑design research with neurodiverse youth on how the school environment foster social belonging.

This PhD position on the Building 4 Belonging project aims to examine how the built environment impact loneliness of neurodiverse youth in high‑school. You will conduct your research in co‑design with neurodiverse youth and other important stakeholders, e.g., school boards, policy makers, teachers by using different approaches, including questionnaires, qualitative methods (i.e., focus groups, interviews) and ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Work activities consist of:

• Conducting a literature review on loneliness in autistic youth from an interdisciplinary perspective.
• Coordinating and conducting co‑design studies with stakeholders on how the built environment affects loneliness in neurodiverse high school youth.
• Writing peer‑reviewed articles resulting in a dissertation.
• Presenting on (inter) national scientific and professional conferences and events.

High school is an important social environment for youth and therefore it is essential that all youth feel welcomed and valued in their school. During breaks, before or after classes, youngsters can connect with each other and develop a peer community, social skills, and positive views and attitudes on diversity and inclusion. Facilitating inclusion and reducing loneliness in school will impact life for all youth way beyond the school premises: schoolmates meet outside school hours, often resulting in life‑long relationships.

Skills developed in the learning environment are transferable to other areas such as family life, vocational activities and free time. And youth who value diversity and are aware of their roles in creating inclusion will positively impact other social environments they enter later in life. Notwithstanding efforts to create more inclusive school, many students – especially those with special needs or vulnerabilities – often feel unwelcome and lonely in school.

Also, autistic youth report higher levels of loneliness in school than allistic (non‑autistic) youth.

This project focuses on how the built environment can facilitate social belonging in school.

When asked about their high school daily life experiences, autistic youth in our youth panel mentioned the overcrowded canteen, no places to sit, others bumping into them while trying to reach their locker. They experienced listening fatigue and over arousal because of the challenging acoustics and other forms of sensory over stimulation. Instead of mingling with their peers, they prefer to go to the empty classroom for their next class, and wait there for the class to start.

Environmental factors may therefore impede the ability of autistic youth to stay in proximity of their peers during this unstructured school time, overhear conversations, or be part of the peer group in a more or less active role. These negative effects of such (school) environments may not only be limited to autistic youth alone; many others are also impacted by these environmental conditions.

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences consists of five institutes: the Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Education and Child Studies, Political Science, and Psychology. The faculty is home to approximately 7,000 students and 1,000 staff members. Our institutes are dedicated not only to education…