PhD student in Statistics Maastricht University, Department of Mathematics

The candidate will carry out research on multiple imputation methods for missing covariates in randomized trials and cluster randomized trials (in the latter type of trials, organisations such as schools, companies, or health centres instead of individuals are randomized to treatment). This research will predominantly involve computer programming and running simulations to evaluate different imputation methods.

The candidate is expected to apply this technical work to real designs resp. data in health research and to publish this work in peer reviewed top journals in medical or behavioral statistics, to present this work on international statistical conferences, e.g. of the Int. Society for Clinical Biostatistics and the Int. Biometric Society, and to disseminate the results through practical guidelines and software for health scientists.

• Graduated with a MSc in Statistics, Psychometrics, Biometrics, Econometrics or similar
• Good mathematical and computer programming skills
• Good writing and expressional skills in the English language

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > Support > UM employees > Employment conditions.

Temporary employment for 4 years.

Your salary would be € 2.174,- gross per month in the first year up to € 2.779,- gross per month in the fourth year according to the PhD-student salary scale.

Each year an evaluation will take place.

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 16,000 students and 4,000 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.

Department Methodology and Statistics

The Department of your place of employment is the Department of Methodology and Statistics of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) of the Maastricht University Medical Center, in Maastricht, the Netherlands. This Department works closely together with the dept. of Methodology and Statistics of the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (FPN) under a common leadership. Together, these two departments consists of 20 staff members from PhD student to Professor, and provide the statistics education in five different Bachelor programs and various master and PhD courses in the two aforementioned faculties. The research is mainly carried out within the School CAPHRI and concentrates on two themes: Optimal design and sample sizes, and multilevel/Mixed models. Further, the Department offers statistical consulting and advanced data analyses to researchers from other departments.

Prof.dr. Gerard van Breukelen, Chair, Department Methodology and Statistics FHML and FPN,
Tel. 00 31 (0)43 3882258 or 3884001, Email: gerard.vbreukelen@maastrichtuniversity.nl