PhD Position: Intersectionality and Informal Caregiving in Later

Organisation/Company Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) Research Field Sociology » Educational sociology Sociology » Socio-economic research Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Final date to receive applications 18 Mar 2026 - 22:59 (UTC) Country Netherlands Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Not Applicable Hours Per Week 36.0 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

Population ageing and declining fertility rates pose major challenges for the sustainability and organization of long-term care systems across Europe. In the Netherlands, as in many other countries, policy reforms have increasingly shifted long-term care away from institutional settings toward “ageing in place,” relying heavily on informal care provided by family members, friends, and other close contacts. While this approach allows older adults to remain in familiar environments, it also places growing demands on informal caregivers and raises important questions about inequality in caregiver stress and wellbeing.
Extensive research shows that informal caregiving and its consequences are unequally distributed. Women are more likely to provide care and report higher levels of burden; individuals with a lower socioeconomic position more often provide intensive care and experience heightened stress; and people with a migration background may face particular strains when combining caregiving with work and family responsibilities. However, much remains unknown about how these social categories of inequality intersect.
This PhD project adopts an explicitly intersectional perspective to examine how gender, socioeconomic position, and migration background jointly shape informal caregiving and positive and negative caregiver outcomes.
Methodologically, the project combines quantitative and qualitative approaches and builds on high-quality Dutch data sources. The PhD candidate will conduct multiple empirical studies examining intersections in caregiving participation and outcomes.
We in particular invite candidates who are interested or experienced in intersectional analysis, have an affinity with quantitative research methods, affinity with or an interest in qualitative research methods and are passionate about doing research.
All PhD candidates of the School of Social Sciences will be enrolled in the Graduate School of Social Sciences (VU-GSSS) and admission to the VU-GSSS is part of the hiring procedure. More details can be found on their website and are available upon request.

Your tasks

• gaining in-depth knowledge on theoretical and methodological literature on intersectionality and care
• you design, together with your supervisors, various components of your research, including literature reviews, data-analysis plans and research papers
• preparing data from existing population surveys, like the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) ((Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). )
• carrying out quantitative statistical and qualitative thematic analyses
• present your research at academic conferences and workshops, and to societal partners
• publishing in international academic peer reviewed journals and finish a PhD-thesis
• you take relevant courses within and outside the Graduate School for Social Sciences to meet the requirements for obtaining a PhD
• you assist in teaching in the bachelor program of Sociology (0,10 yearly)

This position is a good fit for you if you have:

• a (Research) Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Health Sciences or a related field
• excellent study results and academic skills
• solid knowledge of and experiences with conducting quantitative research methods and different statistical methods; experience with longitudinal datasets and intersectionality methodology is a plus
• experience with conducting qualitative research methods is a plus
• substantive interest in social gerontology and caregiving research
• previous experiences with doing empirical research, during internships, research assistance or junior positions
• ability to work independently, willingness to collaborate with other team members
• a strong sense of…