The research group “Political Behavior and Digital Media” (Prof. Karsten Donnay) in the Department of Political Science at the University of Zurich (https://www.ipz.uzh.ch) invites applications for a Student Assistant / Hilfsassistent*in (20-25%) starting January 1, 2024. Research in the group substantively focuses on the role of new digital media channels for political behavior. The group’s second main research interest is in the area of computational social science more broadly.
Responsibilities
The position supports ongoing research in the group related to a variety of substantive research topics in the area of political behavior online. This includes projects on strategic political online communication by international actors but also work on detecting hate speech and counter hate speech strategies as well as other ongoing smaller projects in the team around political behavior and computational social science.
Level of employment
20-25%
Qualifications
The position is particularly suitable for third-year BA or first-year MA students with a strong quantitative interest and, ideally, prior experience working with more advanced quantitative or computational methods. More generally, the position is a starting point for all of those students, who would like to get hands-on experience in academic research projects.
Applicants for this position should meet the following requirements
- Enrolled in a political science degree program
- Good overall study performance
- Excellent statistical skills and experience working with R/RStudio
- High degree of self-motivation and excellent work ethics
- Knowledge of Python, JavaScript etc. is an asset
Language requirements
English and German.
We offer
- Working in an interesting, cutting-edge project together with an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the social and computer sciences
- First experience working in an academic research project
- A work space at the institute in the common pool of desks reserved for student assistants at the IPZ
Starting date
The starting date for the position is January 1, 2024.
Further information
If you are interested in applying for this position, please address your application (including motivation letter, CV, proof of academic performance and a seminar / research paper or your BA thesis) to personal@ipz.uzh.ch with the subject “Student assistant – Prof. Donnay”.
Closing date for applications
Review of applications will begin on November 6, 2023 and continue until the position is filled. Interviews will likely take place already in November (and can be done virtually, if need be).