University of Rostock

The Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Rostock is filling the following position as of October 1, 2026, subject to budgetary regulations.

This tenure track professorship is funded by the Lola Zahn Professorinnen Program, which aims to increase the proportion of women among professors at the University of Rostock.

The successful candidate is expected to represent a wide spectrum of media and communication studies in research and teaching by the end of the Junior Professorship. The main focus will be on empirical (quantitative and/or qualitative) media research in the context of digitalization with a view to gender, diversity, and inequality. In addition, teaching methodological skills in the field of empirical media research is a central component of the teaching duties.

Participation in the dual bachelor's program in Communication and Media Studies and in the master's programs in Communication and Media Studies (dual master's) and Media Education and Media Culture (single master's) is expected.

The professional focus of the position holder should be compatible with the profile of the Institute for Media Research at the University of Rostock. The Institute for Media Research at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Rostock sees itself at the interface between empirical social science communication studies and humanities oriented media studies. The social science oriented Junio Professorship for communication and media studies should be embedded in this tradition. Relevant experience in university teaching and a willingness to contribute to the interdisciplinary faculty of the University of Rostock are expected.

This call is aimed at scholars in the early stages of their careers who are expected to gain national and international visibility in the field of communication and media studies with a focus on gender, diversity, and inequality research.

A corresponding research concept must be submitted with the application. Special skills and achievements in teaching, scientific organization, and academic self-administration will be taken into account. To this end, applicants should outline their ideas for future teaching, including the didactic design of courses, and describe their experience in scientific management.

Requirements:

For further inquiries, please contact:

Prof. Dr. Nicola Hömke, Chair of the Search Committee

Fon: +49 381 498 2781

E-Mail: nicola.hömke@uni-rostock.de

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Qualifications are as per § 62 (1) of the Higher Education Act of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (LHG MV).

So far as there has been a period of employment as a member of scientific staff or as a scientific assistant in Germany, before or after completion of the doctorate, it is required that the doctorate period and the employment period combined have not exceeded nine years.

The professorship is to be filled according to § 62 (2) LHG M-V as a position with civil servant status of time or as a regular state employee. The employment relationship is extended for a further three years in the event of probation as part of an interim evaluation after the third year. Pursuant to § 62a LHG M-V, the appointment to the junior professorship is linked to the promise that a professorship in the civil service status for life or as a regular state employee will be accepted if the individual defined performance requirements are met during the junior professorship. Before the end of the second phase of the junior professorship, a tenure track evaluation is carried out in order to check the prerequisites for taking on the permanent W3 professorship.

A special focus is placed on academic achievement and teaching qualifications as well academic organization and administration. For this reason, candidates should describe previous teaching results, ideas regarding future teaching (including didactic lesson planning) and their prior experience in academic and scientific management. In addition, candidates are expected to have experience and interest in developing programs that can attract and maintain external funding.

The University of Rostock is committed to their university management guidelines.

Equal opportunities are part of our personnel policy. The announcement is therefore aimed at all persons regardless of their gender. Disabled applicants will be given preference if all other qualifications are essentially equal.

The University of Rostock is especially interested in promoting women within the context of § 7 (3) of the Gender Equality Act, and therefore specifically encourages applications from qualified women. Women will be given priority if their qualifications are essentially equivalent, unless reasons attributable to the person of the competitor predominate.

Applications with the usual documents (full CV, certificates, a complete list of academic and professional background, publications, teaching experience, any additional qualifications, a summary of grants and sponsored research activities and a description of future research plans) should be sent no later than 5th September 2025 to the Universität Rostock, Dekan der Philosophischen Fakultät, August-Bebel-Straße 28, 18055 Rostock or by e-mail to berufungen.phf@uni-rostock.de. We would like to point out that your e-mail will be sent to us unencrypted.

The protection of your personal information is very important to us. Therefore, the data collected during the application process will be collected, processed and used in accordance with the relevant data protection rules.

Application costs cannot be reimbursed by the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. We ask you to submit applications only in copy, as they will not be returned after the procedure has been completed.