PhD Media Use and Body Image and Identity among Youth with Visual Impairment

KU Leuven is a leading academic institution in Europe. Owing to its cutting-edge research, KU Leuven is a charter member of LERU, has been ranked as Europe’s most innovative university and is among the Top 10 of European universities. Within KU Leuven, the Media Psychology Lab represents a pioneering institution for media effects research. The Lab’s ultimate intent is to inspire key players and stakeholders in society as well as individuals and their families with robust evidence on both adverse and beneficial effects of media and with a sound understanding of how media can be employed to achieve goals of social relevance. Issues studied in recent years include the relationships between different media uses and mental and physical well-being, alcohol and drug abuse, sexuality, body image, and sleep. Within this context, Prof. Dr. Lara Schreurs (co-)supervises four PhD students and has developed a research line on the role of media literacy within media effects among youth (https://soc.kuleuven.be/smc/staff/00114310). Dr. Chelly Maes is part of the Social Environments and Adolescence Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is affiliated to the Media Psychology Lab of KU Leuven (https://soc.kuleuven.be/smc/staff/00125885). She co-supervises 2 PhD students and has developed a research line on adolescents’ digital media use and their body image and sexuality development. Both Prof. Dr. Schreurs and Dr. Maes are currently investigating social media use of youth with visible differences.
Prof. Dr. Koen Luyckx is part of the School Psychology and Development in Context Department of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. He is a developmental psychologist and his research focuses mainly on identity development both in community and clinical samples, and how identity formation relates to psychosocial functioning in youth and adults.
Prof. Dr. Els Ortibus is part of the Department of Development and Regeneration at the Faculty of Medicine. She is a child neurologist and rehabilitation physician and expert in diagnosis and rehabilitation of children with visual impairment and cerebral palsy. She is the head of the PRONTO research lab (https://gbiomed.kuleuven.be/english/research/50000640/clusterlmnd/fetal-neonatal-and-pediatric-developmental-neurosciences/PRONTOresearchlab.
Prof. Dr. Lara Schreurs (Media Psychology Lab), Dr. Chelly Maes (Media Psychology Lab), Prof. Dr. Koen Luyckx (School Psychology and Development in Context Department), and Prof. Dr. Els Ortibus (Department of Development and Regeneration) will be the supervisors of the PhD position.

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The applicant should be highly motivated to study social media effects in individuals with visual impairments and learn about explanatory mechanisms. They should also demonstrate a keen enthusiasm for teamwork (e.g., working with other researchers) and possess the interpersonal skills to contact youth populations as well as organizations that work with vulnerable youth.

Applicants can have a master in communication sciences (cum laude), psychology (cum laude), social informatics (cum laude), or in related fields (sociology ...) (cum laude). 

Applicants are preferred to be fluent in English and Dutch, and need to have excellent writing and presentation skills. 

The applicant needs to have quantitative and qualitative research skills and data analytic experience (e.g. SPSS, AMOS, R, ...). Clear strengths are experience with in-depth interviews, experiments, and survey research.  They should be motivated to further develop methodological skills. A strong commitment to further developing methodological as well as academic writing and publishing skills is expected. 

Offer

An initial 1-year contract of a (PhD) research position that can be prolonged to a total period of 4 years that can be initiated in February 2025 and approved by the supervisors. Salary and benefits are in line with the university salary scales for PhD candidates and highly competitive according to international standards.

PhD candidates will be enrolled in KU Leuven’s Doctoral Programme of the Social Sciences, in which they acquire many other important career skills.

Applications are preferably submitted in English.

Interested?

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