Careers

The team is led by Prof. Dr de la Paz and it includes a research team, administrative and communications team. We value collaboration, creativity and authenticity among ourselves and we encourage and motivate each other in our projects. Join us!

Funded PhD position (m/f/x) - Digital Technology, Governance and Policy

Posted on: January 17, 2025

Position Type: The position is fixed-term for the period of three years, from Spring 2025 through Spring 2028 and full-time

Are you dreaming of pursuing a PhD in the area of open-source software, peer production or other alternative production structures or economic models within digital technologies? Do you have the skills and expertise to work at the intersection of quantitative and qualitative research? Do you want to contribute to the development of a new and rapidly growing social science research cluster within a digital engineering faculty? If so, we invite your application to join the politics, digital technology and governance research team at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) of the University of Potsdam.

Your future tasks:

  • Undertake a doctoral research project in the area of open-source software, peer production or other alternative production structures or economic models within digital technologies
  • Projects must be grounded in the social sciences should combine elements of computational / digital social science with qualitative research approaches such as interviews, case studies or ethnographies
  • We are particularly interested multi-case projects that include studies in the global south and / or projects that take a political economic approach
  • Participate in research group, HPI and wider scholarly activities

    Your skills:

  • An outstanding master’s degree (or an equivalent university degree) completed by the commencement of the position; - Students who do not hold a master’s degree in digital engineering or equivalent must take 18 credit hours of courses within the institute to graduate
  • Academic or professional background in a relevant social science field, with focus on digital technologies
  • Demonstratable experience with digital / computational social science as well as qualitative methods
  • Excellent proficiency in both academic and professional English - Knowledge of German is beneficial for living and working in Germany, but it is not requirement. Our team’s working language is English
  • Independent worker, motivated to pursue their proposed project and happy working in hybrid and remote teams
  • Confident processing and implementing constructive written and oral feedback
  • Ability to manage own working time and set internal milestones in order to adhere to deadliness

What we offer:

  • A first-class, active and inspiring research environment.
  • Expert research supervision and career development support, including channels for policy and stakeholder impacts.
  • Generous budget for research expenses, travel, conferences etc.
  • Possibility for hybrid or mobile working.
  • Office space at the HPI campus in Potsdam-Babelsberg (S-Bahn station Griebnitzsee) near to Berlin.

Mature students and candidates with non-traditional career trajectories are warmly welcomed. The HPI is an equal opportunity employer and, further, we seek to build a project that is flexible enough to allow people with different working needs, life paths, (dis)abilities and caring responsibilities to thrive.

To apply send:

  • A CV and cover letter.
  • A research proposal of up to 2,500 words (excluding references).
  • One academic writing sample.
  • Degree certificates/transcripts.
  • And contact details of three references.

he application deadline is Friday 28th February. Please apply exclusively via our career page.

Apply Via career page