Research Assistant (Postdoc) in Media Studies

The third-party-funded position is offered until 31st March 2028, if no former times of qualification must be considered. The starting date is 1st April 2026. The position is fulltime with salary and benefits commensurate with a public service position in the state Hesse, Germany (TV-H E 13).

The Emmy Noether Research Group investigates _web sleuthing_—activities by amateur investigators who use digital media to track clues, gather information, and collaboratively attempt to solve or critically follow criminal cases online. The project examines how these forms of participatory investigation are organized, what kinds of media practices and knowledge forms emerge, and how they become effective within legal, political, and public contexts. Its goal is to understand web sleuthing as a cultural and media phenomenon that sheds light on current forms of participation, platform culture, media literacy, and data work in the digital sphere.

The advertised position is part of the subproject “Sleuthing Data,” which systematically studies web-sleuthing practices in digital contexts. These communities are highly dynamic spaces: they collect and structure large amounts of data, develop their own standards for transparency and validity, and continuously negotiate rules for communication and collaboration. Using methods from the Digital Humanities and Computational Social Sciences, discussions and case analyses on platforms such as Reddit, X, or Websleuths.com will be collected, structured, and evaluated.

Tasks:

• securing, annotating, and analyzing web-sleuthing platforms and media; conducting text analyses and NLP-based investigations into platform logics, conversational norms, and community policing
• planning and conducting user surveys and semi-structured interviews
• ensuring compliance with research ethics and platform-specific regulations in close collaboration with university units
• collaborating with partner institutions at Philipps-Universität Marburg for data processing and storage
• supervising and mentoring student assistants

The position will be filled by a temporary contract that is limited to the period which is necessary to gain further scientific expertise (such as the preparation for a subsequent qualification period). Within the entrusted tasks the opportunity for independent scientific work to obtain further personal qualification is given. The limitation of the contract complies to § 2 sec. 1 WissZeitVG.

Profile:

• MSc-degree or equivalent and a PhD in Media Studies, Digital Humanities, Computational Sciences, Computational Social Sciences or a related discipline
• solid knowledge of digital research methods and experience in computer-assisted text analysis; familiarity with markup languages (e. g., XML, TEI) and research ethics
• experience in social media research and/or online ethnography
• excellent analytical skills, ability to work independently, and strong team orientation
• very good command of English; knowledge of German is an asset

We offer:

• a diverse and stimulating range of tasks in an exceptional research environment
• opportunities for independent research and academic work
• an attractive university with family services, university sports, training and professional development programs and a ticket for free use of public transport in the state Hesse, Germany

We support women and strongly encourage them to apply. In areas where women are underrepresented, female applicants will be preferred in case of equal qualifications. As a certified family-friendly university, we support our employees in balancing family and career. A reduction of working time is possible. Applicants with a disability as discribed in SGB IX (§ 2 Abs. 2, 3) will be preferred in case of equal qualifications. Application and interview costs can not be refunded.

Please submit your application by 4th January 2024 exclusively via the application button below.