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Who are we looking for?
The Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS; https://sodas.ku.dk/). Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Copenhagen, invites applications for a Post-doctoral position (100%, 36 months). Supported by the Tryg Foundation, the chosen candidate will primarily work in a project related to curiosity in children and adults, together with a PhD student at SODAS, a PhD student at the Department of Psychology, Guido Makransky (Department of Psychology), and Ingo Zettler (SODAS and Department of Psychology).

The position is available from 1 July 2024, but a sooner or later starting date is also possible.

The chosen candidate will be part of the research project “Shedding New Light on Curiosity in Children and Adults”. The main goal of this project is to generate new knowledge that can support children and adults in having a positive life both mentally and socially, by increasing the understanding of: 1) how to best conceptualize and measure curiosity in children and adults; 2) how interventions can foster individual’s curiosity levels; and 3) the role of (different aspects of) curiosity for important outcomes. The project has three intertwined work packages focusing on psychometrics; Virtual Reality (VR) measurement and interventions with children; as well as survey, experimental, and register data studies with adults.

The chosen candidate will be primarily responsible for the psychometrics and development of measurement instruments in the project. This includes using VR as a behavioral measurement instrument and the use of survey, experimental, and register data to establish sound measurements of curiosity in children and adults. The chosen candidate is expected to publish scientific articles in international journals as well as to present findings at national and international conferences. In general, the position is research-focused, and funding is available for conducting studies, conference attendances, and a research visit such that the chosen candidate can maintain and increase their international network and research expertise. For the chosen candidate, there will be possibilities to influence the project and develop new project ideas within the project frame. In addition, the chosen candidate will also be asked to fulfill other work obligations (typically teaching or supervising thesis students) to a small degree in the overall period.

Applicants should have a master’s degree in computational social science, social data science, psychology, another social science discipline, or adjacent disciplines. Next to interest in conducting research on curiosity, applicants should have experience with psychometric measurement, scale development, as well as conducting survey and/or experimental studies, including quantitative analyses. Having experience with register data and/or VR experiments is an additional strength, but no precondition. It is expected that applicants will publish in internationally recognized scientific journals in English, and that the chosen candidate will contribute continuously with their collaboration skills to the interdisciplinary, international research team. High proficiency in spoken and written English is thus a requirement.

What do we offer?
The successful candidate will become part of the SODAS research environment with around 40 researchers across different levels. SODAS is an interdisciplinary research, teaching, and impact center, combining traditional social science theories and methods with novel data science methods and paradigms. In collaboration with partners in Denmark and abroad, SODAS is home to research projects funded by, among others, the European Research Council (ERC) as well as both independent and private Danish research foundations. SODAS hosts the English-language Social Data Science (SDS) Master degree program at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The working language at SODAS is English. Our community maintains strong collaborative relationships with all Departments at the Faculty of the Social Sciences (Anthropology, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology), the Department of Computer Science at the University of Copenhagen, as well as internationally renowned, computational social science research groups and centers in the Copenhagen area, including the Networks, Data, and Society (NERDS) group at the IT University of Copenhagen, the Social Complexity Lab at the Technical University of Denmark, and the Pioneer Centre for AI which operates across all Danish universities.

How to apply
Submit a complete application at our online portal. Click on the “Apply now” icon at the bottom of the page to apply. The documents must be in Adobe PDF or Word.

  • Cover/motivation letter (max. 3 pages)
  • Curriculum vitae (including publications and conference presentations if applicable)
  • Diplomas and transcript of grades (bachelor and master, if applicable)
  • The PhD thesis (if finished already)
  • 3 resarch aricles and/or working papers (if applicable)
Please note that it is only possible to upload one document per attachment category. If more than one document has to be uploaded in the same category, please make sure that they are scanned and collected into one file.

Terms of Employment

The Recruitment Process
Shortlisted applicants are notified of the composition of the assessment committee, and each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant themselves. Further information on these recruitment process at University of Copenhagen can be found here: https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

An Equal Opportunity Workplace
The University of Copenhagen is committed in its pursuit of academic excellence to equality of opportunity and to creating an inclusive working environment and therefore encourages all qualified candidates to apply, regardless of personal background, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, ethnicity etc. For more on the diverse working place environment at the University and the University’s participation in the HRS4R HR Excellence in Research, see https://employment.ku.dk/working-at-ucph/eu-charter-for-researchers/

International Applicants
The University of Copenhagen offers information and services for international researchers. Please find more information about these services as well as information on entering and working in Denmark here: https://ism.ku.dk/

Contact Information
Information about the recruitment process is available from HR , e-mail: hrsc@hrsc.ku.dk., please refer to ID number: 211-1801/24-2I #1

Additional information about the position can be obtained from Ingo Zettler (ingo.zettler@psy.ku.dk).

The closing date for applications is 30 April 2024 at 23:59 CEST.
Applications or material received after the deadline will not be taken into account.

Please note in your application that you found the job at Jobindex

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