Postdoctoral position in extremism on social media

The Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark, invites applications for a 2-year postdoctoral position in media studies to be filled by 1 March 2023, or as soon as possible thereafter.

The Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics (NorS ) provides the setting for international research and education from BA to PhD studies within linguistics and language technology, literature, media, culture, and gender studies. More information can be found here: https://nors.ku.dk

Job content
The Postdoc will be part of the project Social Media Narratives: Addressing Extremism in Middle Age (SMIDGE) financed by Horizon Europe (2023-26). This project addresses a challenge of social media as an outlet for sharing extremist views, but also considers how extremism relates to aspects of misinformation and conspiracy theories. In particular the project is aimed at social media users from the age of 45-65 as middle-aged users may take different paths to extremist content than younger users but may also have better access to policy-making and democratic influence than their younger counterparts. The project aims, on the one hand, to map out the landscape of extremist content on social media (and its users) and, on the other hand, to offer multi-level, multi-disciplinary, and multi-sector countermeasures to prevent extremist and anti-democratic action.

This interdisciplinary project brings together media studies, information studies, data science, security studies, law, psychology and collaborates with Inclusive Europe, a European NGO, to answer questions and offer solutions into the spread of extremist content on social media platforms.

The Postdoc project to be carried out by the candidate in media studies consist of:

The Postdoc project will be carried out in close collaboration with (among others) Associate Professor in media studies Line Nybro Petersen (PI, Consortium Manager), Senior Lecturer Sara Wilford, Du Monfort University (UK), Associate Professor Kalypso Iordanou, UCLan (Cyprus) and data scientist Christian Gulas, FASResearch (Austria). 

It is highly recommended that applicants contact PI Line Nybro Petersen at [email protected] prior to submission of the application.

Qualification requirements
To be considered for the position applicants must have research qualifications at least corresponding to what can be achieved as part of a successfully completed PhD within media studies. Ideally, this means that applicants must at least have submitted their PhD thesis by the time of application.

In addition, the applicant preferably has one or more of the following qualifications:

• Documented experience in both qualitative and quantitative methods
• Experience researching social media platforms and users
• Experience conducting interviews and/or focus groups
• Insight into social media use in a Danish context is preferred

The right candidate will be expected to follow UCPH-based courses on data scraping, Python and social media APIs and conduct part of the research using these tools for collecting data.

For further details about the qualification requirements for postdocs, please refer to the job structure for Academic Staff at Universities 2013: https://ufm.dk/en/legislation/prevailing-laws-and-regulations/education/files/job-structure-for-academic-staff-at-universities-2013.pdf

For further information about the position, please contact PI Line Nybro Petersen at [email protected] or head of department Anne Jensen at [email protected]  .

Application
Submit the application online in Adobe PDF or Word format.

Please click on the “Apply now” icon at the bottom of this page.

The application must be written in English and include the following enclosures:

• An application letter. The letter must not exceed 5 pages and 12,000 characters.

The letter must describe i) the applicant’s motivation for applying, ii) the applicant’s qualifications in relation to the postdoc project outlined in the SMIDGE project description (to be obtained from Line Nybro Petersen at [email protected]) and an account of how the applicant will contribute to the deliverables in the SMIDGE project description. iii) plans for specific studies that fall under the SMIDGE project description, and iv) a short description of previous research.

• Curriculum vitae (with applicant’s e-mail & telephone number).
• Documentation of qualifications (examination certificates/PhD diploma, etc.).
• Complete and numbered list of publications. The enclosed publications must be marked with *.

Appointment procedure
After the application deadline, the project PI and the Head of Department select applicants for assessment on the advice of the appointment committee. All applicants are notified of whether their application has been accepted for assessment. The Dean subsequently appoints an expert assessment committee tasked with carrying out an assessment of the selected applicants for the specific post. Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the committee. Applicants are ultimately offered the opportunity of commenting on the part of the assessment relating to themselves before the appointment is finalized.

Further information about the application procedure is available from HR, e-mail: [email protected] . Please refer to ID number 211-1280/22-2I #1.

Salary and conditions of employment
Terms of appointment and salary will be in accordance with an agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). The salary range starts at DKK 35,728 (EUR 4,800) + a 17,1 % contribution to the pension scheme. It is possible to negotiate salary supplements on an annual basis.

The Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC) have further agreed on a protocol that makes it possible for international researchers employed by the University to achieve a pension exemption, whereby the pension contribution will be paid out as salary. For more information about the different pension schemes, please read more here: https://ism.ku.dk/salary-tax-pension/pension/

If you consider applying from abroad, you may find useful information on how it is to work in Denmark and at UCPH here : http://ism.ku.dk , http://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-us/frontpage.htm  and https://www.workindenmark.dk/

UCPH wishes to encourage everyone interested in this post to apply, regardless of personal background.

The closing date for applications is 15 December 2022, 23:59 (Central European time).

Applications or supplementary material received thereafter will not be considered.

Part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and among Europe’s top-ranking universities, the University of Copenhagen promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard. Rich in tradition and modern in outlook, the University gives students and staff the opportunity to cultivate their talent in an ambitious and informal environment. An effective organisation – with good working conditions and a collaborative work culture – creates the ideal framework for a successful academic career.