PhD Candidate Predicting Adherence to Digital Health-Promoting Interventions
Welcome to Maastricht University!
Do you want to understand and predict how people engage with digital health interventions using AI? Join us to turn real-world sensor and app data into smarter, personalized digital solutions that support behavior change.
PhD Candidate Predicting Adherence to Digital Health-Promoting Interventions
- Our goal: To make digital health interventions more effective by predicting and improving adherence through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
- Your colleagues: An interdisciplinary team of scientists working across Maastricht University and FH Joanneum in Austria.
We are seeking a PhD candidate on predicting adherence to digital health-promoting interventions with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques. You will develop AI-based predictive models to anticipate user engagement, primarily using data collected through unobtrusive measurements (e.g., websites, smartphones, smartwatches). The goal is to construct a AI-driven framework that predicts both intervention use (e.g., content exposure, study protocol completion) and behavior. Better adherence prediction is crucial to support the development, tailoring and delivery of health promoting interventions, and ultimately their effectiveness and success.
The PhD research involves a variety of use cases focussed on predicting adherence to various elements of digital interventions to promote health behavior. These use cases are based on already collected datasets. For example:
- Data from a 2-year smartphone-app and Fitbit-supported lifestyle intervention to reduce dementia risk.
- Data from a web-based intervention focused on the prevention of sexually transmitted disease and condom use.
- Additional use cases will be explored during the project, also based on your preferences and interests.
You are primarily based at Maastricht University (MU), Maastricht, the Netherlands. There are opportunities for short research visits to FH Joanneum – University of Applied Sciences (FHJ), Graz, Austria. Supervision is organised by dr. Jeroen Bruinsma (MU), dr. Markus Bödenler (FHJ), dr. Rik Crutzen (MU).
What you bring
We’re interested in who you are and what you bring. Do you recognize yourself in this?
- Strong interest in digital interventions, health promotion and behavior.
- A (almost) completed University Master’s degree in a relevant field concerning health (e.g., health science, health psychology) or data analysis (e.g., data science, statistics)
- Affinity with data science (e.g., complex statistics, machine learning or computational modelling) or willingness to develop relevant skills (in case of a degree focused on health)
- Affinity with health promotion or willingness to develop in that field (in case of a degree focused on data science)
- Knowledge in programming (e.g. Pyhton, R, SQL) and data science frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn) is a plus
- Excellent English language skills
What we offer
As a PhD Candidate at Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, you will be employed by the most international university in the Netherlands, located in the beautiful city of Maastricht. In addition, we offer you:
- Good employment conditions. The position is graded in scale P according to UFO profile PhD Candidate, with corresponding salary based on experience ranging from €3059,00 and €3881,00 gross per month (based on a full-time employment of 38 hours per week). In addition to the monthly salary, an 8.0% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus apply.
- An employment contract for a period of 12 months with a scope of 1,0 FTE. Upon a positive evaluation, an extension of 3 years will follow.
- At Maastricht University, the well-being of our employees is of utmost importance, we offer flexible working hours and the possibility to work partly from home if the nature of your position allows it. You will receive a monthly commuting and internet allowance for this. If you work full-time, you will be entitled to 29 vacation days and 4 additional public holidays per year, namely carnival Monday, carnival Tuesday, Good Friday, and Liberation Day. If you choose to accumulate compensation hours, an additional 12 days will be added. Furthermore, you can personalize your employment conditions through a collective labor agreement (CAO) choice model.
- As Maastricht University, we offer various other excellent secondary employment conditions. These include a good pension scheme with the ABP and the opportunity for UM employees to participate in company fitness and make use of the extensive sports facilities that we also offer to our students.
- Last but certainly not least, we provide the space and facilities for your personal and professional development. We facilitate this by offering a wide range of training programs and supporting various well-established initiatives such as 'acknowledge and appreciate'.
The terms of employment at Maastricht University are largely set out in the collective labor agreement of Dutch Universities. In addition, local provisions specific to UM apply. For more information, click here.
Maastricht University
Why work at Maastricht University?
At Maastricht University (UM), everything revolves around the future. The future of our students, as we work to equip them with a solid, broad-based foundation for the rest of their lives. And the future of society, as we seek solutions through our research to issues from all around the world. Our six faculties combined provide a comprehensive package of study programmes and research.
In our teaching, we use the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) method. Students work in small groups, looking for solutions to problems themselves. By discussing issues and working together to draw conclusions, formulate answers and present them to their peers, students develop essential skills for their future careers.
With over 22,300 students and more than 5,000 employees from all over the world, UM is home to a vibrant and inspiring international community.
Are you drawn to an international setting focused on education, science and scholarship? Are you keen to contribute however your skills and qualities allow? Our door is open to you! As a young European university, we value your talent and look forward to creating the future together.
Click here for more information about UM.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences
At the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), everything revolves around healthy living. Our research and education are not solely focused on recovery, but place a strong emphasis on prevention, health preservation, and health promotion. Our aim is to use our knowledge and expertise to genuinely contribute to the well-being of individual people as well as society in total.
In, research, and healthcare, FHML is closely collaborating with the academic hospital in Maastricht, together forming the Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+). FHML is strongly connected in education, research, and care with the Maastricht academic hospital, together with which it forms the Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+).
FHML, which is the largest faculty of Maastricht University, is formed by an (inter)national community of employees and students. The faculty offers a wide range of Dutch and English-taught bachelor's and master's programs in innovative educational concepts in which the emphasis is always on building bridges to practice.
The multidisciplinary research of the FHML focuses on a number of carefully chosen topical current themes. In addition to research aimed at gaining new insights, it also concerns research whose results can be directly translated into concrete applications and innovations. The implementation of the various research programs is organized in our six graduate schools and two institutes.
Curious?
Are you interested in this exciting position but still have questions? Feel free to contact Jeroen Bruinsma at jeroen.bruinsma@maastrichtuniversity.nl for more information.
Applying?
Or are you already convinced and ready to become our new PhD candidate? Apply now, no later than Monday 20 October 2025 for this position. The first interviews preferably take place on 31 October 2025.
The vacancy is open for internal and external candidates. In case of equal qualifications, internal candidates will be prioritized.
Maastricht University is committed to promoting and nurturing a diverse and inclusive community. We believe that diversity in our staff and student population contributes to the quality of research and education at UM, and strive to enable this through inclusive policies and innovative projects led by teams of staff and students. We encourage you to apply for this position.