Doctoral Researcher (m/f/x) in Political Science / Public Administration (70%) I ERC Project BiASD-A

Zeppelin Universität (ZU) in Friedrichshafen on the Lake of Constance is a state-recognized, private university with BA, MA and doctoral programs in the fields of business, culture and politics. It is committed to interdisciplinarity, internationality and individuality in research and teaching.

We are currently looking to fill the following position, for four years at the Chair of Public Administration & Public Policy (Prof. Dr. Steffen Eckhard) by 1st May 2025 (or upon agreement):

Doctoral Researcher (m/f/x) in Political Science / Public Administration (70%) I ERC Project BiASD-AI

The doctoral researcher will be part of the project BiASD-AI (Biases in Administrative Service Encounters: Transitioning from Human to Artificial Intelligence), funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The project studies the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in citizen-state interactions, which refer to those instances in which citizens seek or receive assistance, information, or support from a public agency. In Germany alone, around 130 to 150 million public service encounters occur each year, with a growing share of digital encounters, facilitated through email or chatbots. This is only the beginning of a revolution that will accelerate due to technological innovation and scarcity in human resources. The BiASD-AI project studies the consequences of shifting from human to AI-powered conversational agents in these encounters. The project's main research questions are: How can we conceptualize and measure communicative dynamics in encounters? What biases emerge in the verbal communication of humans and AI agents? How does variation in communication affect citizen perceptions of the encounter? As its main contributions, the project (1) develops natural language processing tools to operationalize verbal communication; (2) collects data from human public service encounters and realizes experiments on AI-based encounters; (3) and analyses such data to formulate and test a theory about communicative biases in Public Administration. Doing so, (4) the project will produce and disseminate urgently needed practical insights on the application of AI conversational agents in the public sector.

Your tasks

1. Contributing to the conceptual and theoretical development and methodological implementation of a large-scale research project
2. Publishing research results in top-tier international journals
3. Presenting research findings at international conferences
4. Participating in the regular meetings of the members of the research project
5. No teaching obligation, but opportunity to teach

Your profile

1. An excellent master's degree in political science, public administration, or data science
2. A keen interest in matters of public administration, artificial intelligence, and/ or computational text analysis
3. Experience in the application of quantitative research methods with R and/or Python
4. Problem-solving and analytical skills, along with a high degree of self-motivation and self-organization
5. An international orientation and very good English language skills. Knowledge of the German language is an advantage, but not required

What we offer

We offer you a varied and challenging job in an innovative working and learning environment with currently more than 220 exceptional and dedicated colleagues as well as 700 students, thirsty for knowledge. You will be paid a competitive salary commensurate with a TV-L 13 position of 70% (~39.000 - 44.000€ gross p.a., depending on prior experience) and you will be given the opportunity to develop a dissertation within the scope of the BiASD-AI project and at the ZU Graduate School (ZUGS), receive high-quality mentoring for your academic career and make an impact on public administration / political science in the context of a large-scale, ERC-funded research project.

Additional benefits:

1. Funding available for participation in international conferences
2. Work and live in one of the most beautiful natural surroundings of Germany, right next to the Lake of Constance
3. Flexible working hours for better work-life balance
4. Support for company pension plans
5. Participation in the company fitness program Wellpass
6. "Deutschlandticket" (train ticket valid everywhere in Germany) as job ticket, subsidized by the university
7. Nursery subsidies
8. JobRad (bicycle leasing program)
9. Corporate Benefits program
10. Company outings, Christmas parties, summer festivals

Zeppelin Universität is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants with disabilities will be given priority. Zeppelin Universität supports the compatibility of family and work and promotes gender equality.

Are you Interested? Please send your detailed application documents (cover letter, CV, list of publications, educational certificates and a writing sample) to Ute Aisenpreis (HR Management) until 10 March 2025, including your earliest availability via the application management system softgarden (application link).

For any specific questions regarding the position, please contact Prof. Dr. Eckhard at: steffen.eckhard@zu.de.