PhD Candidate in Social Study of Science: Error, Correction and Overpromising (Radboud University, Nijmegen)

Research project

The NanoBubbles ERC Synergy project’s objective is to understand how, when and why science fails to correct itself. The project’s focus is claims made within the field of nanobiology. Project members combine approaches from the natural sciences, computer science, and the social sciences and humanities (Science and Technology Studies) to understand how error correction in science works and what obstacles it faces. For this purpose, we aim to trace claims and corrections through various channels of scientific communication (journals, social media, advertisements, conference programs, etc.) via both qualitative and digital methods.

PhD vacancy

Your contribution to the overall project will be a qualitative social qualitative social science study of scientific promising, novelty claims and discursive reframing of novelty in nanobiology. For example, the portrayal of the nanoparticle-protein corona as a radical innovation is opposed by critical nanobiologists, insisting that the protein corona is simply a continuation of colloid adsorption research. The case provides a lens to study practices of reframing, of novelty, and of the challenges that such reframing misrepresents the innovative potential of research. This project also analyses science as a social process and asks how scientists assess what forms of promising and reframing are acceptable. The project will rely on interviews and documentary analysis from a wide range of sources (scientific, policy, media) to study how novelty claims made in the literature are connected to the mobilisation of research resources. This project can also build on systematic bibliometric studies developed by scientometricians and data scientists working in associated research projects.

What we have to offer

• Employment for 1.0 FTE.
• The gross starting salary amounts to €2,434 per month based on a 38-hour working week and will increase to €3,111 in the fourth year.
• You will receive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• You will be appointed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4-year contract).
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Care Services.
• Working for us means getting extra days off. In case of full-time employment, you can choose between 29 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the legally allotted 20.