Postdoctoral position in early intervention focusing on childhood emotion regulation/mental health (0-5 years)

Centre of Excellence in Early Intervention and Family Studies (CIF) at the Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, and National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, invites candidates for a fully funded 4-year postdoctoral position starting on March 1st, 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter.

We invite everyone who holds a relevant PhD degree or expects to finish it soon, to apply.

The position and the project
The successful candidate will work on a research project developing and evaluating a new transdiagnostic, modular-based intervention targeting parents to children 0-5 years of age, who experience difficulties with emotion regulation. The deliverers of the intervention are thought to be psychologists working in the primary sector (e.g., the Danish pedagogical psychological counselling offices, PPC).

Duties and Responsibilities
The successful applicant will be expected to work both independently and in close collaboration with colleagues. The main responsibility will be to contribute to the development of an intervention manual and to conduct a feasibility study of the intervention. The candidate will be working with both quantitative and qualitative data, synthesizing existing evidence on early interventions, project management, and contributing to writing scientific papers.

Your Competencies and Opportunities
The candidate must have obtained a PhD degree in psychology, public health, pedagogy, sociology, anthropology, or a related field. Experience within the field of early childhood mental health, early childhood interventions or a related subject is an advantage, as well as experience from pedagogical psychological counseling offices or the like. Collaborative skills and team spirit are in high regard, and strong scientific writing skills are necessary. For the right candidate, there will be ample possibilities to influence the work and develop new project ideas that fit within the overall aim of the Centre of Excellence in Early Intervention and Family Studies.

About CIF
CIF is led by Professor Mette S. Væver, and the staff at CIF consists of approximately 22 full-time employees (scientific assistants, PhD students, postdocs, one assistant professor, and two associate professors) mostly with a background in psychology, as well as a corresponding number of student assistants.

The research at CIF focuses on the mental health of 0-6-year-old children and their parents and is organized around four programs: the child in the family, the child in the daycare, the child in PPC, and psychometrics and statistics. The postdoc position is within the child in the PPC program. The center's research is conducted in close collaboration with municipalities and professionals working with children and families. As an employee at CIF, you get to work within a very important field and engage in interdisciplinary collaborations with a focus on promoting mental health in children and parents.

As a workplace, CIF is a tolerant and inspiring environment where we collaborate across projects and share knowledge and ideas with each other. All employees at CIF are deeply concerned about working towards improving early childhood mental health and supporting families and professionals working with young children, creating an engaged and passionate working environment with forums for both formal and informal knowledge sharing. Furthermore, the CIF leadership aims at supporting different social activities strengthening the relations between the employees, such as a running club, early CIF parties, and a Thursday bar, while at the same time also trying to create a family friendly workplace focusing on maintaining a satisfactory work-life balance among the employees.       

You can read more about CIF here: Center for Early Intervention and Family Studies – Institut for Psykologi - Københavns Universitet (ku.dk)

Terms of Employment
The position is full-time (37 hours a week), and you will be employed by the Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen. Working from remote is not an option, since we expect you to be physically present at the department for a minimum of four days a week. Further information on the qualification requirements for postdocs can be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities 2019 here: https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/criteria-for-recognising-merit/dokumenter/Ministerial_Order_no._1443_of_11_December_2019_on_Job_Structure_for_Academic_Staff_at_Universities.pdf

Terms of appointment and salary is in accordance with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikerne).

Since the work might involve direct contact with children under the age of 15, it will be a prerequisite for employment that a clean children’s certificate can be obtained.

The recruitment process
Further information on the recruitment process at University of Copenhagen can be found here:  https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

Contact information
For information about the project and the position, please contact associate professor Katrine Røhder, katrine.rohder@psy.ku.dk. Information about the recruitment process is available from HR, e-mail: hrsc@hrsc.ku.dk. Please refer to ID number: 211-2034/24-2I #1

How to apply
Submit a complete application at our online portal. Click on the “Apply now” icon at the bottom of the page to apply. The documents must be in Adobe PDF or Word.  

Your application must be written in Danish or English and include the following documents:

• Motivated application
• Curriculum vitae
• Diploma (master and PhD)
• Publication list
• Other relevant material

The closing date for applications is January 6th, 2025 [CET].

Applications or enclosures received thereafter will not be considered.