项目介绍

2026年5月2日

Introduction

Patient-centred care ensures that healthcare decisions are patient-centred and reflect true value to patients, thereby improving patient outcomes, and ensuring healthcare’s long-term effectiveness and economic sustainability. Failing to incorporate patient perspectives leads to sub-optimal care and inefficient use of resources through lowered treatment adherence and compliance, reduced uptake of effective interventions, poorer health outcomes, and increased inequity of care across communities. Sub-optimal treatment and technology use also wastes resources, raises costs, and increases complications and readmissions. By providing healthcare solutions designed to meet patient needs, health outcomes can be improved while inefficiencies in product development and healthcare delivery can be minimised, ultimately reducing the economic burden of (chronic) diseases. Despite a growing emphasis amongst industry, regulators, and health technology assessment (HTA) bodies on incorporating patient perspectives into decision-making, this is not yet common practice. The lack of a unified framework for obtaining a robust view of a health intervention’s full benefits to patients is a significant key barrier. UNIFIED is a large 5-year public-private partnership project funded by IHI (Innovative Health Innovation) that aims to tackle this urgent problem and enable better-informed healthcare decisions, more efficient innovation processes, and maximised patient value.

Job description

As part of the research group, the candidate will first contribute to an empirical use case designed to generate evidence for the UNIFIED Framework and to inform the development of preliminary recommendations, a common measurement taxonomy, and evidence-based guidance for the subsequent project steps outlined below. The candidate will be actively involved in a use case in the medical domain of paediatric radiation oncology, focusing on patients undergoing curative radiotherapy. This study will examine current patients’ preferences for psychoeducational interventions to reduce anxiety and the need for sedation during radiotherapy, and will use Clinical Outcome Assessments (COA) and Digital Health Technology Measures (DHTM) to measure anxiety, depressed mood and distress. Yet, most of the work of the candidate will focus on the stakeholder-driven development of the final UNIFIED Framework and its recommendations and user guide, by applying a mixed-method approach. A Multi-Criteria Decision Analyses will be conducted to identify which element should be part of the Framework, after which a concept mapping approach will be applied to structure the elements into a robust unifying Framework. Survey-based Delphi rounds and citizen science principles will be used to ensure stakeholder consensus and to test the framework in real world.

Job requirements

The successful applicant for this position is expected to have an MSc degree in health sciences, clinical epidemiology, psychology, sociology or health economics. The ideal applicant has interests and/or experience in quantitative and/or qualitative methods, a strong motivation for methodological research in the field of preference elicitation and patient reported outcomes assessed via quantitative and qualitative methods. Applicants must have excellent communication and writing skills in English, proficiency in Dutch is considered a plus. Applicants have verifiable interest in working on interdisciplinary projects collaborating with (other) universities, private partners and/or governmental organizations. Computer skills should at least include Microsoft Office, ATLAS.ti, STATA, R or similar software, experience with Ngene and Sawtooth is considered a plus.

Employment conditions and benefits

We offer you an internationally oriented and varied job in an enthusiastic team, with excellent working conditions in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU).

The start date of this position is 01-SEP-2026 and you will be based at Health Technology Assessment in Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM). This position is for 1 fte. The salary ranges from a minimum of € 3.059 to a maximum of € 3.881 gross per month Scale PhD on a fulltime basis (38 hours), in accordance with the CAO-NU. The contract is for the duration of 1,5 years with the possibility to prolong to a total duration of 4 years.

Everything else we offer you, you can find below!

–        Everything you need for a good work-life balance: the option to work from home in consultation with your manager, 41 days of paid leave with a 40 hour contract, 8% holiday pay and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a significant discount on a subscription for our on-campus sports centreOpens external!

–        Sustainable, inclusive and diverse work environment with an open culture, where you can be yourself and we pay attention to each other and to the world around us. Make the most of our bicycle budget, or join networks such as Young@EUROpens external, FAME or QuEUR.

–        Time and space for your development in the broadest sense: development days and a personal career budget and free access to our university library.

–        Good pension with ABP that EUR contributes 2/3rds towards, discounts on various collective insurances with Zilveren Kruis Achmea, Loyalis, and Allianz, and compensation for travel, working from home and home internet use.

–        Are you currently combining your job with parenthood, or do you want to do so in the future? EUR offers partially paid parental leave and fully paid additional birth leave for partners, and our campus features a daycare (daycare not paid for by EUR).

–        Moving to the Netherlands for your job with EUR? Then you may be eligible for the 30%-ruling if you meet the requirements of the Belastingdienst (Dutch tax agency), and with our Dual Career Programme we will also help your partner find the right job for them.

Employer

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is an internationally oriented university with a strong social orientation in its education and research, as expressed in our mission ‘Creating positive societal impact’. EUR is home to 4.100 academics and professionals and almost 33.000 students from more than 140 countries. Everything we do, we do under the credo The Erasmian Way – Making Minds Matter. We’re global citizens, connecting, entrepreneurial, open-minded, and socially involved. These Erasmian Values function as our internal compass and create EUR’s distinctive and recognizable profile. From these values, with a broad perspective and with an eye for diversity, different backgrounds and opinions, our employees work closely together to solve societal challenges from the dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Rotterdam. Thanks to the high quality and positive societal impact of our research and education, EUR can compete with the top European universities. www.eur.nl.

Faculty / Institute / Central service

Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM) of Erasmus University Rotterdam is leading in the Netherlands with its educational and research activities, focused on policy and management topics in health care. ESHPM provides a bachelor program, five master’s programs, a pre-master program and postgraduate education.

At ESHPM, research and education are closely intertwined. Knowledge and experience from various scientific disciplines such as economics, law, social-medical sciences, organization science and public administration are brought together and applied in health care. This multidisciplinary approach to teaching and research is unique.

Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM) is housed in the Bayle (J) Building on the Woudestein campus of Erasmus University Rotterdam and has a strong connection with Erasmus MC. About 1600 students study and 200 employees work at ESHPM. 

The position offered is within the department of Health Technology Assessment (HTA).

Department

The Health Technology Assessment (HTA) department within ESHPM, and its linked contract research institute iMTA, are distinguished by and internationally renowned for independent and excellent research in HTA, health economics and health outcomes research. The HTA department contributes to important and influential methodological innovations in these areas. It is dedicated to stimulating the use of cost-effectiveness information in healthcare decision making. The department is responsible for teaching HTA in several courses of the bachelor Health Policy and Management, the master programmes Health Economics Policy and Law (HEPL), and Health Economics (HE), and the European master programme Health Economics and Management (EUHEM).

Applying

For more information about this position, contact dr. Jorien Veldwijk veldwijk@eshpm.eur.nl. 

Supervisory team will further consist of dr. Carina Oedingen and Prof. dr. Esther de Bekker-Grob. 

Qualified applicants should send by email a letter of application, curriculum vitae, MSc topic and summary, and the names and contact information of two references to: Mrs. Sabrina Walraven at sollicitatie@eshpm.eur.nl. The deadline for application is May 25th, 2026.

Please be advised that the first round of interviews is scheduled for Thursday June 4th and Tuesday June 9th2026. These interviews will be online, candidates who are invited will receive a MS Teams link. The second round of interviews will be held at the University Campus on June 16th and June 18th 2026.