Dear colleagues, I am looking for two postdoctoral researchers to join my team at the Bavarian School of Public Policy (HfP) of the Technical University of Munich. The substantive focus is on digital media and democracy and the methodological focus is on quantitative methods, experiments and computational social science. The positions are for three years (with a possible extension) and the deadline is April 1st with expected starting date in September. I would be grateful if you could share the call with your networks and encourage anyone who you think might be interested to apply. Best regards, Yannis Theocharis ############## Two postdoctoral positions (m/f/d) in digital media and democracy Yannis Theocharis, Professor and Chair of Digital Governance at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), is inviting applications for two postdoctoral positions in his research team at the Bavarian School of Public Policy (Hochschule für Politik München - HfP) / TUM School of Governance in Munich, Germany, beginning September 2021. The Bavarian School of Public Policy is an interdisciplinary institute for the study of politics and public policy, and the TUM School of Governance its corresponding department at TUM, one of Germany’s top research universities. The Chair of Digital Governance is a research and teaching unit at the Bavarian School of Public Policy / TUM School of Governance focused on the effects of technology on democracy. The Chair’s research and teaching agenda is interdisciplinary and has a particular interest in the application of advanced quantitative and computational methods to tackle a broad range of questions at the intersection of digital media and politics. We welcome applications with research proposals on any topic pertaining to the impact of technology on democracy, but are particularly interested in projects addressing the following topics: * New forms of political and civic participation * Collective action organization (political mobilization and protest, social movements, civil society) * Incivility online and its consequences for democracy and platform governance * Polarization, disinformation, and conspiracy theories * Citizen voice in non-democratic regimes * Electoral campaigns and political communication more broadly * Politics and artificial intelligence Analytical skills and the capacity for independent social scientific research will be key selection criteria. Successful applicants will be expected to develop and pursue their own research within the overarching agenda of the Chair of Digital Governance, collaborate with members of the Chair, and make independent contributions to teaching. Your Qualifications * A PhD (or very close to completion) in political science or a related social science discipline or interdisciplinary field * Advanced skills in quantitative methods, experiments and knowledge of causal inference techniques, text-as-data methods including NLP and machine-learning. Using R is a must, additional skills in Python an asset * Ability for excellent academic research evidenced through internationally visible publications, presentations at international conferences, third-party funding or related research activities * Ability to teach classes on information technology and politics, digital governance, or on related topics * Ambition to pursue an active research agenda and eagerness to make both theoretically exciting and empirically important contributions * Enthusiasm for working in a team as well as ability to work independently * Strong ability to communicate in spoken and written English (applicants who do not have a degree from an English-language university or program, please indicate proficiency). Your Responsibilities * Conduct cutting-edge research and publish in top journals (on your own and jointly) * Actively participate in the intellectual life and research activities of the Chair of Digital Governance (e.g. ongoing projects, papers, applications for third-party funding) * Teach courses relevant to the Chair and your research interests at the Bachelor's and/or Master's level, usually 2 courses/semester (5 SWS) * Collaborate with other Chair members Our Offer * A postdoctoral research and teaching position in a vibrant research team for 3 years (extension possible). * Remuneration will be in accordance with the German public service pay scale (collective agreement for state-level public servants, TV-L) at the E-13 level (100%) * The opportunity to develop your own research agenda within the Chair * An exciting research environment with many international collaborations and ongoing cutting-edge research projects funded by or in cooperation with the European Commission, Facebook, etc. * Funding support for conferences, additional training, research activities How to Apply Please send the following materials electronically and as a single pdf file to digitalgovernance@hfp.tum.de<mailto:digitalgovernance@hfp.tum.de>: * A motivation letter which gives a sense of your scholarly and career interests * A current CV, including list of publications * A research proposal (in English, typically 2-4 pages in length) outlining your postdoctoral project and the research agenda you hope to carry out in the context of this postdoctoral position * Academic transcripts providing specific information about all of your university-level coursework and/or a list of courses that is informative about your substantive and methodological preparation, including the level at which each course was taken and the grade obtained; * if not readily apparent from the official transcripts, documentation of all degrees obtained; if you have not yet completed your doctoral degree, please indicate date of completion and award * A research paper or other analytical writing sample published in English (for co-authored articles, please indicate your contribution) * A list of three academic references who can speak to your qualification for postdoctoral research. The application deadline is April 30, 2021. For questions, please contact Prof. Dr. Yannis Theocharis at yannis.theocharis@hfp.tum.de<mailto:yannis.theocharis@hfp.tum.de> The Chair of Digital Governance strongly supports the TUM's strategic goal of increasing the diversity of its staff. As an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer, we particularly encourage applications from women, people with disabilities, members of groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the academy, and others who would increase the diversity of the university's research and teaching staff. As part of your application, you provide personal data to the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Please view our privacy policy on collecting and processing personal data in the course of the application process pursuant to Art. 13 of the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (GDPR) at https://portal.mytum.de/kompass/datenschutz/Bewerbung/. By submitting your application you confirm to have read and understood the data protection information provided by TUM. Find out more about us at www.tum.de<http://www.tum.de> and www.hfp.tum.de<http://www.hfp.tum.de> Contact Chair of Digital Governance Bavarian School of Public Policy Richard-Wagner-Str. 1. 80333 Munich Germany Email: digitalgovernance@hfp.tum.de<mailto:digitalgovernance@hfp.tum.de> Data Protection Information: When you apply for a position with the Technical University of Munich (TUM), you are submitting personal information. With regard to personal information, please take note of the Datenschutzhinweise gemäß Art. 13 Datenschutz-Grundverordnung (DSGVO) zur Erhebung und Verarbeitung von personenbezogenen Daten im Rahmen Ihrer Bewerbung. <https://portal.mytum.de/kompass/datenschutz/Bewerbung/> (data protection information on collecting and processing personal data contained in your application in accordance with Art. 13 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)). By submitting your application, you confirm that you have acknowledged the above data protection information of TUM. Kontakt: digitalgovernance@hfp.tum.de<mailto:digitalgovernance@hfp.tum.de>