Funded PhD Position

Are you dreaming of pursuing a PhD in the area of open-source software, peer production or other alternative production structure or economic models within digital technologies? Do you have the skills and expertise to work at the intersection of quantitative and qualitative research? Do you want to contribute to the development of a new and rapidly growing social science research cluster within a digital engineering faculty? If so, we invite your application to join the politics, digital technology and governance research team at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) of the University of Potsdam.

The HPI is Germany’s center of excellence for digital engineering (www.hpi.de). The Digital Engineering Faculty, founded jointly by the University of Potsdam and HPI, offers a highly practical and engineering-oriented computer science study program, which is unique throughout Germany. While initially focusing on IT, computer science and digital engineering, the institute is rapidly expanding its research within the social sciences (as they intersect with digital technologies). In the course of our ongoing expansion, we are currently seeking a:

Funded PhD Position (M/F/D)

for our location in Potsdam.

The position is fixed-term and full time for the period of three years, from Spring 2025 through Spring 2028, with a salary of 3,100 Euro per month plus a generous budget for research travel, training and other expenses.

Your future tasks

• Undertake a doctoral research project in the area of open-source software, peer production or other alternative production structure or economic models within digital technologies.
  • Projects must be grounded in the social sciences should combine elements of computational / digital social science with qualitative research approaches such as interviews, case studies or ethnographies.
  • We are particularly interested multi-case projects that include studies in the global south and / or projects that take a political economic approach.
• Participate in research group, HPI and wider scholarly activities.

Your skills

• An outstanding master’s degree (or an equivalent university degree) completed by the commencement of the position;
  • Students who do not hold a master’s degree in digital engineering or equivalent must take 18 credit hours of courses within the institute to graduate.
• Academic or professional background in a relevant social science field, with focus on digital technologies;
• Demonstratable experience with digital / computational social science as well as qualitative methods;
• Excellent proficiency in both academic and professional English;
  • Knowledge of German is beneficial for living and working in Germany, but it is not requirement. Our team’s working language is English.
• Independent worker, motivated to pursue their proposed project and happy working in hybrid and remote teams;
• Confident processing and implementing constructive written and oral feedback;
• Ability to manage own working time and set internal milestones in order to adhere to deadlines.

What we offer

• A first-class, active and inspiring research environment
• Expert research supervision and career development support, including channels for policy and stakeholder impact
• Generous budget for research expenses, travel, conferences etc.
• Possibility for hybrid or mobile working
• Office space at the HPI campus in Potsdam-Babelsberg (S-Bahn station Griebnitzsee) near to Berlin

Mature students and candidates with non-traditional career trajectories are warmly welcomed. The HPI is an equal opportunity employer and, further, we seek to build a project that is flexible enough to allow people with different working needs, life paths, (dis)abilities and caring responsibilities to thrive.

To apply send:

• A CV and cover letter
• A research proposal of up to 2,500 words (excluding references)
• One academic writing sample (max. 5000 words)
• Degree certificates/transcripts
• And contact details of three references.

christine.buckley@hpi.de

The application deadline is Friday 28^th February.

Hasso-Plattner-Institut für Digital Engineering gGmbH

Prof.-Dr.-Helmert-Str. 2-3, 14482 Potsdam, Germany