Zentraleinrichtung Margherita-von-Brentano-Zentrum für GeschlechterforschungResearch assistant (postdoc) (m/f/d) Full-time job Limited to 31.10.2026 (for the duration of the project) Entgeltgruppe 13 TV-L FU Reference code: MvBZ-01-2024-BUA-Nachwuchsgruppe Bewerbungsende: 11.03.2024

The Junior Research Group, “Fixing the System: Analyses in the Context of the History of Science,” is funded through the Berlin University Alliance (BUA). BUA offers the opportunity to establish a joint cross-university research context in which new questions, methods, and approaches are used to create scientific foundations for empirically informed organizational development in the areas of diversity and gender equality at universities. The identification and analysis of diversity-enhancing as well as discriminatory and exclusionary structures and practices in the organizational structures and academic cultures of BUA institutions will be leveraged into the development of innovative standards and interventions that promote cultural change toward a diverse and gender-sensitive research and teaching environment. The junior research groups are based at the four gender studies centers of the partner institutions and are advised and supported by a team of experts in the “Diversity and Gender Equality Network” (DiGENet). This junior research group is located at the Margherita von Brentano Center for Gender Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. A focus of this junior research group is analyzing how frameworks for gender and diversity have and have not institutionalized, both in academic settings and in governmental and non-governmental organizations. We are particularly concerned with histories of bureaucratization, institutionalization, and the policy implementation of frameworks for gender, diversity and intersecting themes.

Job description:

The postdoc will have two primary responsibilities. The first is to work collaboratively with the other junior research group members on a project about the history of sexual harassment and discrimination within the Berlin universities. Tasks for this project will include conducting research at a variety of archives in Berlin, carrying out oral history interviews, performing literature reviews, and co-authoring publications resulting from the study.
The second primary responsibility of the postdoc will be to pursue their own, independent research project. This could include revising an already-defended doctoral dissertation for publication into a monograph, pursuing stand-alone journal articles from the project for publication, and/or beginning a new research project with support and supervision from the junior research group members. This research project must deal in some way with histories of the institutionalization of policymaking concerning gender and diversity in Berlin. A project that takes a global perspective, placing Berlin or broader Germany into conversation with events in other parts of the world and using research languages beyond German or English, is particularly welcome. We similarly welcome projects about histories of gender- or diversity-focused policymaking in the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and/or on intersectional histories of internationalism during the Cold War.
The postdoc will teach each semester in the Department of History and Cultural Studies.
The activity serves as its own scientific qualification.

Requirements:

A doctoral degree in history, gender studies, or a related discipline.

Desirable:

• Experience conducting both archival research and oral history interviews.
• Familiarity with archival holdings on histories of gender and/or diversity in Berlin and the broader region.
• Familiarity with scholarly debates about histories of women, gender, diversity, and intersectionality in Berlin and internationally.
• The ability to work autonomously, structure time, and meet long-term deadlines while collaborating with the junior research group leader and colleagues.
• An interest in collaborating with the interdisciplinary projects of the three other junior research groups that are funded through the Berlin University Alliance’s Diversity and Gender Network.
• A willingness to help manage the tasks of student assistants who may also be hired to work on the project.
• A willingness to organize the joint project’s materials on shared digital spaces, such as Google Drive.
• Advanced proficiency in English (writing, speaking, and listening).
• Advanced proficiency in German (writing, speaking, and listening).
• The ability to conduct research in languages other than English and German, particularly in non-Western European languages.

For more information, please contact Dr. Sarah Bellows-Blakely ([email protected] ).

Applications should be sent by e-mail into a single PDF together with significant documents (cover letter, CV, one-page description of the research project, writing sample of any length, the names and contact information for two people who could be contacted references) indicating the reference code to Dr. Sarah Bellows-Blakely: [email protected] or postal to

Freie Universität Berlin

Zentraleinrichtung Margherita-von-Brentano-Zentrum für Geschlechterforschung

Dr. Sarah Bellows-Blakely

Habelschwerdter Allee 45

14195 Berlin (Dahlem)

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