In due course, a research project will start on Trust in collaborative repositories (such as Wikipedia). This research is based on earlier findings that trust in machines is based on a propensity to trust and on prior system failure. Recent experiments indicate that people who had a higher propensity to trust but who were paired with an ill-functioning machine suffered the largest negative effects on perceptions of machine characteristics and on post-task trust. However, these experiments were based on closed and fully-automated systems. The doctoral candidate will be carrying out further research on trust, but will focus on open information repositories, like Wikipedia. The research focuses on the question whether experience with such repositories and individual differences in dispositional trust have an effect on trust in collaborative repositories.

Tasks
You will be involved in this basic research project, which should result in academic articles in international journals, contributions at (inter)national conferences and a doctoral thesis. In addition, a limited amount of your time will be spent on teaching.

University Graduate
Profile
You are a behavioural scientist with a specialisation in Psychonomics, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Artificial Intelligence or a similar discipline. Besides, you have affinity and experience with performing experiments and statistical analyses, and programming experiments (the ability to program an interactive task environment is a prerequisite).

University of Twente Behavioural Sciences Faculty

Sharing knowledge, working together, research, innovation. It is all part of the only campus university in the Netherlands: the University of Twente (UT). A university with an international character. We have for example many foreign doctoral students, and master programmes are provided in English. Divided over 5 faculties, we provide more than 50 Bachelor and Master programmes, varying from Applied Physics and Public Administration to Applied Communication Science and Biomedical Technology. In beautiful green surroundings, more than 8000 students and 2700 staff live, work and recreate at the UT. It is also a place where talented people get every opportunity to perform cutting edge research. But as an entrepreneurial university this is not all we do. In ‘Kennispark’, for example, we work together with the business community, we support our students in setting up their own businesses and participate in many projects in the area of knowledge development. In brief, a dynamic climate in which to work and study.

The Behavioural Sciences Faculty offers the Bachelor programmes Educational Design Management & Media (EDMM), Applied Communication Science (TCW) and Psychology (PSY), and the Master programmes Educational Science and Technology (EST), Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society (PSTS), Communication Studies (CS), Psychology (PSY) and a Research Master. The research is largely accommodated under the behavioural sciences Institute of Behavioural Research (IBR). In addition, research is carried out within the biomedical institute and the institute for information and communication technology.

Estimated maximum salary per month: eur 2000 - 2500
Salaryscale 10.
Maximum salary amount in Euro's a month 2558
Employment basis: Temporary for specified period
Duration of the contract: 4 years
Maximum hours per week: 38

Additional conditions of employment:
Offer
We offer you an appointment as Ph.D, for a period of 4 years. The gross salary starts at € 2.000,- per month (first year) and ends at € 2.558,- per month (final year).

Additional information about the vacancy can be obtained from:

prof. dr. J.M.C. Schraagen
Telephone number: (+31) (0)6-5163 5334
E-mail address:

 
Or additional information can be obtained through one of the following links.

You can apply for this job before 02-11-2008 by sending your application to:

When applying for this job always mention the vacancy number AT/08/228.