PhD – Health Economics – The Netherlands

Tilburg University is recruiting two doctoral candidates to address research questions on the effects of recent changes in social and health insurance policies.

Both positions are part of HEPARD, an EU-funded doctoral network that provides doctoral training in empirical health economics at five leading European Universities in Germany, Sweden, Norway, Romania, and the Netherlands.

Both PhD candidates will employ advanced econometric methods of causal inference and draw on microeconomic theory to guide their analyses of social and health insurance policy and individual behavior. They will benefit from close collaboration with faculty in Tilburg and at partner universities and non-academic partners, providing a unique opportunity to generate insights with direct societal relevance.

Research area 1:  Postpartum Care & Childcare Policies 

• The project examines how postpartum care services and subsidized childcare in the Netherlands affect parents’ physical and mental health.
• It investigates variations in postpartum care availability and childcare subsidy reforms to understand their implications for parental well-being.
• Using robust analytical methods, the project aims to generate insights on optimizing these interconnected systems to better support families.
• The project results will provide insights into how postpartum care and childcare services influence maternal and paternal health, offering evidence for targeted policy improvements.

Research area 2:  Insurance Design and Health Insurance Deductibles

• The project explores how the design of health insurance contracts affects healthcare utilization, healthcare costs, and health outcomes. While deductibles reduce moral hazard and give financial incentives to patients to avoid unnecessary care, they might also cause patients to avoid necessary care, with possible negative consequences on health.
• The research analyses how deductible payment structures affect healthcare access, utilization, and equity across income groups, comparing traditional models with instalment options.
• It provides policy recommendations for insurers and regulators to design deductibles that balance equity in access to care with incentives for efficient care use.

Both positions offer:

• The opportunity to work with rich administrative datasets, including Dutch health insurance and healthcare data.
• A significant methodological component, including methods from the research frontier of causal inference.
• A strong policy orientation, contributing evidence-based recommendations to improve social policy and health insurance designs, and to address socioeconomic inequalities.
• Participation in HEPARD network-wide activities, including training in health economics, microeconometrics, policy engagement, and transferable skills
• Two secondments: one academic, fostering research collaboration and methodological expertise, and one non-academic, providing real-world policy and practice experience.

Your profile 

• An academic Master’s or MPhil/Research Master’s degree in economics, econometrics, or a closely related field with advanced training in microeconometric methods, in particular causal inference.
• Completed the previous degree with an excellent GPA (top 10% of class as a guideline)
• Proficiency in English to be proven by means of an IELTS score of at least 7.0, with no sub scores below 6.5, a TOEFL score of at least 100 (internet-based) or 600 (paper-based), a Cambridge CAE (at least B), or a Cambridge CPE. Exemptions can be provided upon request to native English speakers or to candidates who have obtained their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English in Europe, Canada, the USA, Australia, or New Zealand.
• Programming skills in Stata, R or Matlab.
• Intellectual curiosity, analytical rigor, and a keen interest in policy-relevant empirical research.
• Desirable: familiarity with the health insurance system, structural estimation, or administrative data.
• Mobility rule: the candidate must not have resided or carried out a main activity (work, studies, etc) in the Netherlands for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before their recruitment.

Conditions of employment

• A position based on 1,0 fte (40 hours per week)
• A salary of €3,059 gross per month in the first year, up to €3,881 gross per month in the fourth year for full-time employment, based on UFO profile Promovendus and salary scale P.
• This is a vacancy for a temporary position in accordance with Article 2.3 paragraph 8 under b of the CLA DU. You will initially receive a temporary contract for the duration of 18 months to assess your suitability. The evaluation will take place after about 14 months. If suitable, this contract will be followed by a new fixed-term contract of 30 months. (N.B. program is 4 years, full-time).
• Vacation pay of 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.3%.
• Over 8 weeks of vacation leave.
• The opportunity to work partly on campus and partly from home with a home office allowance of €2 per day.
• Reimbursement for sustainable commuting: walking, cycling, and public transportation.
• A monthly internet fee of €25.
• An Options Model in which you exchange benefits for things such as additional leave, more pension, a bicycle, or personal training at our Sports Center.
• A moving allowance (subject to conditions).
• Employees from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for the 30/20/10% tax facility.
• A pension with ABP, the most sustainable Dutch pension fund.
• Training in personal development, career development, leadership, education, and research, or a language course at our Language Center.
• A work culture in which we embrace differences, everyone is welcome, and given equal opportunities.
• A vibrant campus in green surroundings that is easily accessible by public transport.

Organisation/Company – Tilburg University.

Field of research – Economics » Health economics

Research profile – First Stage Researcher (R1).

Country – Netherlands.

Application deadline – 15 Feb 2026 – 23:59 (Europe/Amsterdam).

More information: Euraxess