The Amsterdam School for Regional, Transnational and European Studies (ARTES) currently has a vacant Postdoc researcher position as part of the critical infrastructure lab, led by main researcher Niels ten Oever, PhD. ARTES is one of the five Research Schools within the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR).

What are you going to do?
In this two-year full-time postdoc you will be analysing the structuration of internet infrastructure with a particular emphasis on the research-policy-implementation pipeline of information controls. You will be combining the analysis of policy documents, research papers, and technical implementation of information controls to differentiate infrastructural ideologies in the European Union, China, and Russia.

Your tasks and responsibilities:

• conducting research on infrastructural ideologies and the structuration of internet infrastructures under supervision of the PI;
• gathering and analysing of policy documents, technical documents, and research papers;
• interviewing policy makers, civil society experts, equipment manufacturers, and network operators;
• presenting intermediate research results at workshops and conferences;
• publishing two peer-reviewed articles;
• participating in meetings of the lab and developing a shared database;
• participant observation during industry conferences and workshops;
• co-organising knowledge dissemination activities.

You are passionate about engaged research, enjoy working in a multidisciplinary academic team, and are interested in engaging with policy makers, engineers, and researchers. You thoroughly like theory and theory-development, but you enjoy it most when you see it in action. You are inspired by working in a cross-cultural environment and are enthusiastic about collaborative knowledge production.

Your experience and profile
Candidates need to have the following qualifications:

• a finished PhD in political science, communication sciences, science and technology studies, media studies, or a related field;
• interest and experience in internet governance and infrastructure politics;
• excellent research and writing skills demonstrated by a track record of publishing in high-ranking journals and/or with leading presses or a demonstrable capacity to develop such a record;
• experience with interviewing, thematic coding of interviews, policy analysis, and document analysis
• a strong cooperative attitude and willingness to engage in collaborative research;
• enthusiasm for communicating academic research to non-academic audiences;
• good command of English;
• ability to read and speak Russian and/or Chinese.

The Postdoc researcher will be appointed as Researcher 4 at the Department of History, European Studies and Religious studies of the Faculty of Humanities and will conduct the research in ARTES. The employment will be for one year. Contingent on a positive performance evaluation the contract will be extended with 1 year. The employment contract is for 38 hours a week. The preferred starting date is 1 July 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Your salary, depending on relevant experience on commencement of the employment contract, ranges between € 4,036 (scale 10, step 5) to € 5,090 (scale 10, step 12) gross per month on the basis of a full working week of 38 hours. This sum does not include the 8% holiday allowance and the 8,3% year-end allowance. Favourable tax agreements may apply to applicants moving from abroad. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

What else do we offer?

• excellent possibilities for further professional development and education;
• an enthusiastic and professional academic team;
• an inspiring academic and international work environment in the heart of Amsterdam;
• the opportunity to collaborate with leading researchers at research institutes that - partly as a result of their interdisciplinary approach - are world renowned.

Faculty of Humanities

The University of Amsterdam is the largest university in the Netherlands, with the broadest spectrum of degree programmes. It is an intellectual hub with 42,000 students, 6,000 employees and 3,000 doctoral students who are all committed to a culture of inquiring minds.

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.

Want to know more about our organisation? Read more about working at the University of Amsterdam.