Universität Bremen

Deadline: March 15, 2019

The German Science Foundation funded project "The Reciprocal Relationship of Public Opinion and Social Policy" under Principal Investigator (PI) Nate Breznau at the SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy at the University of Bremen seeks to employ - under the condition of job release - 2 PhD Fellows

Salary level 13 TV-L (0,65)

Reference number A332/18

Ffor a duration of three years, starting from September 1st, 2019 through August 31st, 2022

Project description

Fellow "A" will focus on the macro-comparative part of the research and Fellow "B" will focus on the German case, see "Eligibility" for each fellowship below. Both Fellows will collectively contribute to the project and its output such as reports and publications, thus Fellows should be prepared to work in a team environment. Both Fellows are expected to develop academic research and writing skills, statistical analysis skills and attend and present findings at international conferences. English language fluency is necessary as the main project language is English. More details and a project description are available here.

Concurrent to the project work, the Fellows will pursue their doctoral degrees at the University of Bremen as Affiliated with the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS). The Fellows will have about half of their weekly working time free for the pursuit of this goal. The topics of their dissertations are open; however, having topics related to the project is ideal.

Finally, Fellows should be aware that this project seeks to practice ethical and open science. Therefore, Fellows should be interested in data and code sharing, open access publications, developing shared workflows using online technologies (such as the Open Science Framework and GitHub), and a commitment to transparency in all of their work.

Fellow A - Macro-Comparative Focus. Eligibility

Candidates should have studied sociology or related social science disciplines and be interested in macro-comparative social policy. Ideally these candidates want to pursue a dissertation related to comparative welfare states, social policy and/or social inequality. Although this position will focus on the macro-comparative aspect of the project it also includes some work on the German case study, thus some knowledge of or willingness to learn the German language is desirable.

This Fellow will focus on collecting and analyzing cross-national comparative data. Primarily opinion data will come from the International Social Survey Program and the European Social Survey. Policy indicators will come from a variety of sources and the candidate will be expected to develop creative ways to measure policy and welfare states. This candidate must know or be willing to learn Stata or R, and to develop skills to implement multilevel statistical analysis. The ideal candidate will simultaneously pursue a dissertation topic in comparative welfare states or institutions, although this specific topic is not a strict requirement.

Fellow B - German Case-study Focus. Eligibility

Fellow B candidates should have studied political science or related social science disciplines and be interested in the political system of Germany. Given the project's inquiry into German politics, history and public opinion, candidates must be fluent in German with native German being ideal.

This Fellow will focus on analyzing the content of public opinion and policymakers' discussions throughout German history since 1945. In this process they will take responsibility for developing a database for later quantitative analysis. They will develop skills in qualitative content analysis for identifying the nature and direction of policy and opinion over time. The ideal candidate will simultaneously pursue a dissertation topic related to German politics, although this is not a strict requirement.

Hiring Considerations and Requirements

Application materials should include a Curriculum Vitae ("Lebenslauf"); a 1-2 page Cover Letter indicating why the candidate is interested in the position, why they think they are a good fit, what research skills they have, and an indication of what they might like to pursue as a dissertation topic; and a copy of the Master's Degree or a note indicating completion plans. Applicants must have completed a Master's Degree before Sept. 1st, 2019.

Applicants must be able to obtain a visa in case they are offered a position, please see visa requirements on the Federal Foreign Office website for more details.

Applications should be submitted as one combined Adobe pdf document no later than March 15, 2019 to socium-bewerbungen@uni-bremen.de

Interviews will take place in April or May. Candidates from far away can interview via internet video conferencing if necessary.

For any other job-related inquiries please contact Nate Breznau, the PI, at nbreznau@uni-bremen.de

The University of Bremen has received a number of awards for its diversity policies and offers a family-friendly working environment as well as an international atmosphere.

The University is committed to a policy of providing equal employment opportunities for both men and women alike, and therefore encourages particularly women to apply for the position offered. Persons with disabilities will be considered preferentially in case of equal qualifications and aptitudes.

The University of Bremen explicitly invites persons with migration background to apply.

Mailing address:

SOCIUM Forschungszentrum Ungleichheit und Sozialpolitik

Universität Bremen / Bremen University

Postfach 33 04 40

The cost of application and presentation cannot be reimbursed.

Website: https://www.socium.uni-bremen.de/ueber-das-socium/stellenausschreibungen/project-the-reciprocal-relationship-of-public-opinion-and-social-policy/