Student Assistant vacancy: Mapping innovative practices in academia
Are you interested in how universities and the broader academic system need to change to support just and climate‑resilient futures? Do you enjoy working with qualitative data and are you curious about working with a research team at a university?
Then apply for the position of Student Assistant ‘Mapping social innovations in academia’ at ESPhil.
What will you be doing?
As a student assistant, you will support our NWO-funded research on ‘Academia in Transition’. You will work closely with a senior researcher and get a behind‑the‑scenes view of how research on social innovations, sustainability transitions and science policy is done in practice. Think of, among other things:
- populating an overview of innovative practices and processes in academia including searching, collecting and organising relevant documents and insights;
- analysing and coding documents and interviews, incl. creating simple tables and overviews;
- supporting the team in setting up the communication channels of the project.
Most work can be done flexibly and digitally; we regularly meet on campus to coordinate and discuss progress.
What kind of person are we looking for?
We are looking for a Master’s student (or advanced Bachelor) in a relevant field (e.g. public administration, sustainability transitions, STS, sociology, philosophy of science, or a related discipline) who recognises themselves in the following:
- you work independently, accurately, and can keep an overview of multiple documents;
- you have experience or affinity with qualitative research (e.g. transcription, document analysis);
- you have good reading and writing skills in English; and ideally Dutch reading skills;
- you are reliable, communicative, and respect deadlines;
- you are curious about innovations in how research is done and organised, in sustainability transitions and working in an academic context.
If you have specific skills that could be relevant—for example, experience with qualitative analysis software, data visalisation, or advanced skills in Word/Excel—please mention this in your motivation; we can then tailor some tasks to your strengths.
When, how many hours, and what is the salary?
The starting date is by mutual agreement, but ideally as soon as possible. The expected workload is about 8 hours/week, to be planned in consultation across the week. Your appointment is for six months with a probationary period of two months.
You will be appointed as a student assistant and receive the standard salary for student assistants at Erasmus University Rotterdam, in accordance with the applicable regulations.
| Monthly salary | 2nd year student | 3rd year student | 4th year student |
| 0,2 fte | € 646,00 | € 651,20 | € 657,60 |
More information about employment as a student assistant can be found here:
https://my.eur.nl/nl/eur-employee/hr/dienstverband/bijzondere-arbeidsrelaties/student-assistenten. Note that you need to be enrolled as a student in order to be employed as a student assistant.
Interested?
Send an email with a short motivation and your CV to huang@esphil.eur.nl, ideally no later than 10 October 2026 when recruitment commences.