Postdoctoral Scholar: Curiosity & Character Development, Schooler META Lab, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences

The META Lab in UC Santa Barbara's Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences seeks a postdoctoral scholar to help lead a three-year, multi-institution initiative on cultivating curiosity as an intellectual virtue in higher education, funded by the Educating Character Initiative at Wake Forest University. The project integrates an evidence-based, app-delivered curiosity programme into classrooms, wellness programming and campus culture at UCSB and George Mason University, building on pilot work showing that curiosity can be trained and catalyses broader positive development, and asks how these gains scale and how curiosity supports belonging and academic success among first-generation, Pell-eligible and transfer students.

The postdoc coordinates with faculty and campus partners, develops pedagogical and assessment materials, leads assessment design and data collection, analyses longitudinal multi-time-point intervention data, and leads publications. The estimated full-time rate is $69,073-$82,836.

All PhD requirements except the dissertation completed at application, in psychology, education, cognitive science or a related field; PhD conferred by the start date. At least one year of quantitative training, with multilevel modelling and longitudinal or repeated-measures designs preferred. Experience with applied or field-based intervention research is a plus.