Are you looking for a challenging job in a dynamic setting? The Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture currently has a vacant  PhD position in the area of innovating cross media research on public debates. This Research School is one of the five within the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research.

We are looking for a PhD candidate for Twi-XL. This interdisciplinary project aims to develop an innovative data infrastructure that enables students and researchers in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) to systematically examine current and emerging public debates on crucial societal issues in the Netherlands. The project is funded by the Platform Digital Infrastructure of the Dutch SSH-council and developed in a collaboration between the University of Amsterdam (UvA), University of Groningen (RUG), SURFsara, National Library of the Netherlands (KB), and Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (NISV). The project is led by Prof. Julia Noordegraaf.

Public debate and information exchange, as well as related problems of misinformation, polarization, and radicalization, are increasingly articulated online through social media platforms. This affects the media landscape as a whole: social media activity largely takes shape in response to mass media reporting, which, in turn, is progressively affected by online discourse. Hence, for a healthy democratic system, it is vital that researchers and public institutions can monitor the evolving dynamics of mediated public debate. Currently, however, researchers do not have access to comprehensive sets of social media data and readily searchable collections of mass media reporting, nor do they have effective tools for cross-media research at their disposal. Twi-XL will facilitate such research, aligning with the first VSNU Digital Society Programme Line ‘Citizenship & Democracy’.

What are you going to do

Together with a postdoc in this project, you will develop proof-of-concept research projects on prominent societal issues (2020-2025), drawing on Dutch language collections of social media and web data—Twitter, YouTube, blogs, websites — radio and television broadcasts and newspaper reports. Combining hyperlink and comparative content analysis, these collections enable innovative cross-media research on issues such as refugees & migration, MeToo, and climate change. Through this research, you will produce infrastructural requirements and demonstration scenarios and tutorials for other SSH researchers as well as academic publications of the results. In addition, you will contribute to building the Twi-XL infrastructure in close collaboration with developers from SURFSara, KB and NISV. This infrastructure will enable cross-media research through customized Jupyter notebooks.

Tasks and responsibilities:

• Submission of a PhD thesis within the period of appointment.
• Conducting cross-media research on Dutch language collections of social media and web data, radio and television broadcasts, and newspaper reports with Python or R via Jupyter notebooks to create proof of concept of this approach.
• Presenting intermediate research results at workshops and conferences and publishing at least one peer reviewed article.
• Collaborate with tool developers in building the Twi-XL infrastructure by providing requirements and testing specific components;
• Developing customized Juypter notebooks enabling cross-media research.
• Organize workshops, teaching SSH researchers and students to do cross-media research using Jupyter notebooks.
• Participating in meetings of the project research group and assisting the project coordinator in communication tasks (co-managing social media account and website, writing blog posts).
• Teach courses at bachelor’s and/or assist at Master’s level in the 2nd and 3rd year (0,2 FTE per year).
• Participation in the Research School and Faculty of Humanities PhD training programmes.

What do we require of you

You have completed a (research) Master in the humanities or social sciences (media or communication science preferably) with a great curiosity and interest in the opportunities of data science for the study of mediated public debates. In addition to an innovative personal research agenda in this field, you have a keen interest in how data-driven research on mediated public debates can be supported by a shared, open research infrastructure for research and teaching in the humanities and social sciences. You possess excellent communication skills and look forward to collaborating with programmers and data curators in developing an infrastructure that matches technological opportunities to research and teaching needs. Please note that the nature of the available project data requires you to be a (near) native speaker of Dutch (level C1/C2). If you do not meet this requirement, you do not qualify for this position and should not apply.  

Your experience and profile:

• A (research) Master in the humanities or social sciences or in another discipline with a relevant specialisation. The degree must have been obtained by the time the position starts.
• Outstanding research qualities, manifested in a high-quality Master’s thesis and possible also publications or contributions to conferences/workshops.
• Excellent command of Dutch (fluent in reading and speaking, level C1/C2; hard requirement) and English (C2).
• Advanced programming experience with Python and/or R and with developing and using Jupyter notebooks for research and/or teaching.
• Affinity with empirical research using relevant qualitative and/or quantitative methods.
• A strong cooperative attitude and willingness to engage in collaborative research.
• Enthusiasm for communicating academic research to non-academic audiences.

Fixed-term contract: 16 months.

We offer a temporary full-time contract for the period of 48 months. The first contract will be for 16 months, with an extension for the following 32 months, contingent on a positive performance evaluation within the first 12 months. The preferred starting date is 1 January 2022.

The gross monthly salary will be €2,434 during the first year to reach €3,111 during the fourth year, based on 38 hours per week, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities. This is exclusive 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% end-of-year bonus. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants.

University of Amsterdam (UvA)

The UvA is the Netherlands' largest university, offering the widest range of academic programmes. At the UvA, 30,000 students, 6,000 staff members and 3,000 PhD candidates study and work in a diverse range of fields, connected by a culture of curiosity.

Curious about our organisation and attractive fringe benefits such as a generous holiday arrangement and development opportunities? Here you can read more about working at the UvA.

The Faculty of Humanities provides education and conducts research with a strong international profile in a large number of disciplines in de field of language and culture. Located in the heart of Amsterdam, the faculty maintains close ties with many cultural institutes in the capital city. Research and teaching staff focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and are active in several teaching programmes.

Faculty of Humanities – Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture

The Faculty of Humanities provides education and conducts research with a strong international profile in a large number of disciplines in de field of language and culture. Located in the heart of Amsterdam, the faculty maintains close ties with many cultural institutes in the capital city. Research and teaching staff focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and are active in several teaching programmes.

Curious about our organisation and attractive fringe benefits such as a generous holiday arrangement and development opportunities? Here you can read more about working at the UvA.