Fellow 12 (project 3.13)

Nursing staff play a crucial role in delivering high-quality care, yet they often face significant challenges that impact their well-being, safety, and mental health. This project seeks to address these issues by exploring how existing measurement systems in countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark, and Canada evaluate nurse satisfaction, workload, and related metrics. A broader international study may also be conducted to ensure the development of a comprehensive and globally relevant framework. The research will analyze the determinants influencing nursing well-being and their connection to care quality, drawing on best practices and comparative analyses to identify effective improvement strategies. Approximately 50% of the project duration will involve secondments at organizations, primarily in the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, and France, to gather insights, perform comparative analysis and enhance collaboration. The outcomes will support the creation of a standardized system to monitor nursing well-being and cultivate a safety culture, ultimately informing quality improvement activities that benefit both nurses and patients.  

The project aims to identify and analyze the key determinants impacting nurses’ well-being and safety, drawing on global measures of nursing staff well-being through a comprehensive gap analysis. Comparative studies in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Canada will form a critical component of this phase, offering valuable insights into existing systems and identifying gaps in monitoring nurse satisfaction, workload, and mental health. Building on this foundation, the research will evaluate the impact of staffing levels on care quality and explore evidence-based nursing care improvement practices to extract best practices that can be applied across diverse healthcare contexts. 
The second phase will focus on the co-creation, design, and validation of standardized measures tailored to assess nursing staff’s well-being, safety, and mental health. Working closely with nurses, healthcare organizations, and policymakers, the research will ensure that these measures are practical, actionable, and relevant to frontline nursing staff. Collaborations with healthcare organizations will facilitate the practical implementation and testing of the tool in real-world settings, while its integration into organizational quality improvement frameworks will enable data-driven decision-making that directly benefits nurses and patient care. 
International secondments will play a pivotal role in the research. Approximately 50% of the research time will be spent working with international partners. These collaborations will enhance the study’s comparative and cross-contextual components, providing access to labor force data, practical insights, and perspectives from diverse healthcare environments. 

The Health Systems and Services Research (HSR) Group at the Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, is an internationally recognized research group dedicated to improving healthcare systems. The group specializes in Health Systems Performance, Quality of Care, Health Policy, Primary Care Development and Evaluation, Public Health, Indicator Development, and Health Information Systems. Actively engaged in international comparative studies, the group collaborates with organizations across different health systems to inform and shape evidence-based health policies. 

As a WHO/EURO Collaborating Centre, the HSR group contributes to health research and innovation. The Principal Investigator (PI) of the group is also the coordinator of HealthIntelAct and previously led the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Training Network for Health System Performance Professionals (HealthPros), the predecessor of HealthIntelAct. All fellows based in the group during HealthPros have successfully completed their PhD theses and remain affiliated with or closely collaborate with the research team, reflecting the group’s strong academic network and commitment to long-term research partnerships. 
For more information, please visit the LinkedIn profile of the Principal Investigator (PI). 

• Candidates should have a Master’s degree in public health, health services research, psychology, nursing, or related fields. 
• Qualitative and/or quantitative research methods. 
• Statistical knowledge and data analysis tools (e.g., SPSS, R, or similar). 
• Health workforce or quality improvement research. 
• Interdisciplinary collaboration and stakeholder engagement. 
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities. 
• Fluent spoken and written English skills. 

Preferred but not essential: 

• Familiarity with systems science or health workforce research. 
• Experience with quality improvement activities in healthcare. 
• Knowledge of mental health or well-being assessment tools. 
• Experience in studying European healthcare systems, particularly in the context of health system performance assessment 

We seek a highly motivated aspiring researcher with a strong interest in conducting research, who thrives in an interdisciplinary environment and project, and can work both independently and as part of a team. 

This 4-year PhD position is funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions of the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement No 101168576.  You will be appointed as fulltime PhD for 4 years with Amsterdam UMC. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) programme offers an attractive salary and working conditions. The successful candidates will receive a salary in accordance with the MSCA regulations for early-stage researchers. Exact salary will be confirmed upon appointment [Living Allowance = €3.400 * (country specific correction factor for NL)1.096 = €3.726,40 + Monthly mobility allowance = €600. An additional monthly allowance of €660 is applicable depending on family situation. In addition to their individual scientific projects, all fellows will benefit from further continuing education, which includes internships and secondments, a variety of training modules as well as transferable skills courses and active participation in workshops and conferences.  

Be aware the contracts include social security coverage providing at least sickness and parental benefits, invalidity and accidents at work and occupational diseases, covering the fellows in every place of implementation of HealthIntelAct activities. As these will be paid by the employer and depend on country-specific regulations, the final net salary that each fellow will receive may differ. 

See recruitment procedure. You can apply using the online application form. For more information about the position you can contact Dr. Dionne Kringos (d.s.kringos@amsterdamumc.nl). 

Amsterdam UMC is one of the largest and leading academic medical centers in the Netherlands, formed through a collaboration between VU University Medical Center and the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam. With over 17,000 employees, it provides top-tier patient care, conducts cutting-edge scientific research, and offers comprehensive education. The center also hosts the Amsterdam UMC Graduate School, where over 200 PhDs are awarded each year, and provides advanced academic training for its PhD students. 
All doctoral degrees for fellows based at the HSR Group at Amsterdam UMC will be awarded by the University of Amsterdam.