The Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ) of the University of Zurich has an opening for a postdoctoral position in Internet & Society (80-100 %) starting January 1, 2022 or upon agreement.
The University of Zurich is the largest university in Switzerland. The Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ) at the University of Zurich (UZH) is one of the leading international departments of communication studies.
The successful applicant will work on dedicated topics that align with the division’s research program (link to the research program) or contribute to a new research project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) led by Prof. Dr. Michael Latzer and Dr. Moritz Büchi.
The division’s research program focuses, among other things, on digitalization as socio-technical transformation, algorithmic selection in everyday life, governance of media change, digital inequalities, and digital well-being (link to the publications) for the division’s recent publications). The new SNSF project aims at conceptually capturing and empirically assessing chilling effects, i.e., inhibitory effects on people’s digital communication behaviors that result from their sense of being surveilled online from an empirical communication science perspective (link to the project).
As a postdoctoral researcher in the team, you will :
– devise and conduct original theoretical and empirical research in the area of digital media use, well-being, social impact of algorithmic selection and AI, governance of media change, privacy, and dataveillance
– contribute to the project : The Chilling Effects of Dataveillance: Conceptual Advances and Empirical Evidence for Switzerland
– (co)author academic publications
– participate in academic exchange (e.g., conferences, departmental talks) and support outreach activities that target the public
– contribute to teaching and student supervision aligned with the division’s teaching priorities, mentor PhD students in the division
– attain further academic qualifications (e.g., colloquia, research seminars, or summer/winter schools)
– PhD degree in communication or a related discipline
– Experience with and/or interest in conducting interdisciplinary research on what digitalization means for well-being, reality construction, social order, democracy, privacy, and autonomy
– Excellent ability to apply *one or more* of the following quantitative methods: mobile experience sampling and analysis of longitudinal data, experimental designs, survey questionnaire design, descriptive and advanced statistics (e.g., structural equation modeling), agent-based simulation or other computational methods
– Excellent time management, ability to take initiative, and independent work attitude under the guidance of the division chair
– Excellent written and verbal communication skills
– Proficiency in English and German *or* willingness to acquire a passive understanding of German in the medium term
– Internationally competitive salary
– An internationally highly successful department: IKMZ is among the top 5 communication science departments in Europe and the top 20 worldwide
– A supportive, globally connected, research-oriented team with an interdisciplinary approach using innovative methods
– An excellent opportunity to develop academic qualifications and gain credentials and experience in the interdisciplinary fields of digital media use, well-being, algorithms, governance, privacy, and dataveillance
– Strong support for career development, including funding opportunities for conference travel and summer/winter schools
– An attractive work environment: the University of Zurich is one of Switzerland’s leading universities in a vibrant, cosmopolitan city that regularly ranks as one of the cities with the highest quality of life in the world
The planned starting date for this position is 1 January 2022 or upon agreement.
The deadline for applications is 1 November 2021. Review starts immediately and early submissions are encouraged, but the position will remain open until a suitable candidate is found. Please submit your application containing your CV including a list of publications and conference presentations, grade transcripts, copy of degrees, up to three selected publications (e.g., journal articles, dissertation chapter), and a short letter of motivation (max. 2 pages A4).
The contract is for 3.5 years and can be renewed.
Place of work
Andreasstrasse 15
CH-8050 Zurich
Switzerland
Further information
Your Application
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