Postdoctoral position in Image Analysis with specialisation in Computational Social Science

Published: 2022-05-10

Uppsala University is a comprehensive research-intensive university with a strong international standing. Our ultimate goal is to conduct education and research of the highest quality and relevance to make a long-term difference in society. Our most important assets are all the individuals whose curiosity and dedication make Uppsala University one of Sweden’s most exciting workplaces. Uppsala University has over 54,000 students, more than 7,500 employees and a turnover of around SEK 8 billion.

The Department of Information Technology has a leading position in research and education in a wide spectrum of areas, from information retrieval and methods for applying computers in a variety of contexts such as social network analysis, data science, and machine learning; to  construction of computer systems, via programming of computers, storage and handling of data. The Department currently has about 300 employees, including 120 teachers and 110 PhD students. More than 4,000 students take one or more courses at the department each year. More info: https://www.it.uu.se .

We are looking for a postdoctoral fellow in image analysis with a focus on computational social science within the framework of a recently funded project that studies the role of images in the dissemination and anchoring of political ideas.

The position is hosted by the Uppsala University Information Laboratory (https://uuinfolab.github.io ), a growing interdisciplinary research group that conducts basic and applied research at the intersection of data mining, social network analysis, and computational social science. The InfoLab is part of the EU-funded Nordic Observatory for Digital Media and Information Disorder and has several ongoing collaborations with the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences at Uppsala University.

Read more about our benefits and what it is like to work at Uppsala University

Duties
This project studies the role of images in the spread and anchoring of political ideas, and ultimately how visual politics contributes to shaping the political agenda. Visual politics is increasingly prominent in digital public spaces, where image-based (dis)information spreads effectively. We know that images are a powerful form of political communication, that visual communication is perceived as convincing and affects people's perceptions of a variety of issues. At the same time, we still know surprisingly little about the actors who use images to promote political ideas, what mechanisms are at play, and even less what impact these activities have on public discourse.

Your role in the project will be to apply and develop image analysis methods that are suitable for analysing large-scale and complex visual spreading phenomena.

This postdoctoral position is a 2-year career-development appointment focused on research, and includes a limited amount of teaching (20%).

Requirements
PhD degree or a foreign degree equivalent to a PhD degree in computer science, image analysis or related subject, or in a computational discipline related to image analysis.  The degree needs to be obtained by the time of the decision of employment. Those who have obtained a PhD degree three years prior to the application deadline are primarily considered for the employment. The starting point of the three-year frame period is the application deadline. Due to special circumstances, the degree may have been obtained earlier. The three-year period can be extended due to circumstances such as sick leave, parental leave, duties in labour unions, etc.

A requirement for the employment is documented experience of research on computer-based image analysis, in the form of either method development or data analysis.

Good communication skills in English, both oral and written, are a requirement.

Additional qualifications
Experience of studying online data and in social science research is an advantage.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position of 2 years according to central collective agreement. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date as agreed. Placement: Uppsala.

For further information about the position, please contact: Matteo Magnani (matteo.magnani@it.uu.se )

Please submit your application by 31 May 2022, UFV-PA 2022/1583.

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Submit your application through Uppsala University's recruitment system.

Placement: Department of Information Technology

Type of employment: Full time , Temporary position longer than 6 months

Pay: Fixed salary

Number of positions: 1

Working hours: 100%

Town: Uppsala

County: Uppsala län

Country: Sweden

Union representative: Seko Universitetsklubben seko@uadm.uu.se
ST/TCO tco@fackorg.uu.se
Saco-rådet saco@uadm.uu.se

Number of reference: UFV-PA 2022/1583

Last application date: 2022-05-31