TREE (Transitions from Education to Employment) is a large national panel survey prospectively following up two cohorts of school leavers in Switzerland.
The first cohort (TREE1, still ongoing, N=6.343) started in 2000 and has been followed up throughout nine survey panels between 2001 and 2014. The second cohort (TREE2) will start in 2016. Data collected include cognitive and non-cognitive skills at the end of compulsory school and detailed description of post-compulsory education and labour market pathways, richly contextualised by individual data covering family background, attitudes, values, personality traits, health and well-being, and many more.
The study is mainly funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF). Its data are made available as public use files to the scientific community and belong to the country’s five most important social science data infrastructures, being widely used for analysis both in Switzerland and abroad. The project’s prospective multi-cohort design is unique within Europe, opening up a promising field of new research opportunities, especially with regard to cohort comparisons. In view of the impending launch of the 2nd TREE cohort next year, we are looking for a
Scientific collaborator (50-80%)
(junior or senior researcher)
Job description
– Collaboration in all aspects of survey design, development, implementation and management with regard to the impending launch of the 2nd TREE cohort (baseline survey: 2016; follow-up panels at a yearly rhythm);
– Networking and representation activities geared to promote national and international research cooperation and third party data use;
– Conceptualisation, realisation and publication of scientific analyses based on the TREE data, including their presentation at national and international conferences;
– Project-related teaching assignments (to be negotiated).
Job requirements
– Master degree (or higher) in social sciences (preferably psychology or educational sciences);
– Solid experience in the field of large-scale quantitative social research;
– In-depth methodological knowledge with regard to quantitative statistical analysis, preferably with longitudinal data;
– Preferably proficiency with regard to design and methods of quantitative skills measurement;
– Team player, networking and communication skills;
– Willingness to work in an interdisciplinary research environment;
– Excellent command of at least one Swiss national language (preferably French, with in-depth knowledge of French-speaking Switzerland’s education and/or labour market system), solid command of scientific English.
We offer
– Excellent scientific career prospects within a large, unique, innovative social scientific research project embedded in proficient scientific networks both at nation al and international levels;
– Dynamic, supportive, “well-tuned” international and inter-disciplinary scientific team;
– Opportunity to write a doctoral thesis;
– Competitive salary in line with University of Berne regulations;
– Begin of employment: immediately or by agreement;
– Job location: Berne/Switzerland (von Roll campus, University of Berne);
– Further information: Sandra Hupka-Brunner, Thomas Meyer (co-heads of project).
Send your application by email to tree@soz.unibe.ch until 8 November 2015