CfA: Research Assistant (Postdoc) (m/f/d) Full-time Job Limited to 3 years Entgeltgruppe 13 TV-L
FU Kennung: SCRIPTS_POSTDOC_RUS_CHIN_2022
Bewerbungsende: 22.08.2022
The Cluster of Excellence “Contestations of the Liberal Script (SCRIPTS)” is a research consortium that analyses the contemporary controversies about the model of liberal democracy and the market economy. The term “liberal script” relates to a set of ideas and institutional prescriptions about how society is organised based on the core principle of individual selfdetermination. The main purpose of SCRIPTS is to understand why the liberal model of order has fallen into crisis despite its political, economic, and social achievements. SCRIPTS has been operating since 2019 and is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) until the end of 2025. The Cluster is hosted by the Freie Universität Berlin and unites eight major Berlin-based research institutes. Cluster research teams are made up of doctoral researchers, postdoctoral researchers, and professors from social, political, and area studies. SCRIPTS is well connected with research institutes and knowledge exchange partners throughout the world, including political and cultural organisations, as well as civil society actors. In addition, SCRIPTS brings renowned visiting scholars from all over the world to Berlin.
The Postdoc will join the project on “Reinterpreting the alternative script? War in Ukraine, state-sponsored narratives of block building in authoritarian countries and their public perception” led by Prof. Genia Kostka (Institute for China Studies) and Prof. Alexander Libman (Institute for East European Studies) and funded by the excellence cluster SCRIPTS. The position provides an opportunity for both independent and collaborative research within an ambitious project while working in a small research team in Berlin. The goal of the research project is to investigate the state-sponsored narratives of economic block building emerging in conjunction with the war in Ukraine in China and in Russia. Based on the analysis of the official rhetoric, webscraping and analysis of social networks in Russia and in China, as well as analysis of search profiles in Chinese and Russian search engines and (if possible) public opinion surveys in both countries, we expect to identify the nature of the official narratives, as well as how these narratives are (re)interpreted by the general public in both countries.
We value diversity and welcome all applications — independent of gender, nationality, ethnic and social background, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation and identity. Applications from women and persons with a migration background are especially welcome. Applications from people with a recognized disability status will be considered preferentially.
Job description:
– empirical research for the SCRIPTS research project
– working on joint research publications
– join cluster activities
– support by organization of workshops and events within the framework of the project
– The successful candidate is supposed to achieve the following goals within the project: by the end of the first year – assembling an original database of texts for the analysis of state-sponsored narratives in Russia and in China (text corpus); by the end of the second year – preparation and implementation of an original survey; by the end of the third year – preparation of two working papers based on the analysis of data collected within the framework of the project (possibly co-authored).
Requirements:
– university degree; completed doctorate in any social-science discipline with a strong quantitative background, e.g. political science, economics or sociology, as well as related fields (mathematics, statistics, computer science, data science, area studies, linguistics etc.), by the time of the appointment.
Desirable:
– Excellent university degree
– Fluency in Russian AND / OR Chinese
– Experience in empirical research with relevant focus for the project on either Russia or China (or both).
– Fluency in English. German is not a must but willingness to learn German will be supported.
– Strong background in quantitative research methods of social sciences.
– Good working knowledge of R and / or Python.
– Experience in webscraping of Russian and / or Chinese sources.
– Familiarity with the tools of natural language processing or willingness to learn these tools within a short period of time.
– The successful candidate must be willing to move to Berlin.
Please submit the following documents: CV (including the publication list), doctoral certificate (if available), university diploma. Questions could be also directed to Prof. Dr. Genia Kostka (genia.kostka@fu-berlin.de ).
For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Alexander Libman (alexander.libman@fu-berlin.de / +49 30 838 67693).
Weitere Informationen
Applications should be sent by e-mail, together with significant documents indicating the reference code, in PDF format (preferably as one document) to Herrn Prof. Dr. Alexander Libman: sek-politik@fu-berlin.de or postal to
Freie Universität Berlin
Zentralinstitut Osteuropa-Institut
Exzellenzcluster “Contestations of the Liberal Script” (SCRIPTS)
Herrn Prof. Dr. Alexander Libman
Garystr. 55
14195 Berlin (Dahlem)
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