5 Research Positions for Doctoral Researchers and Postdoctoral Researchers (m/f/d) - Department DHSS
Your workplace
The Text & Language Lab in the Department of Digital Humanities and Social Studies (DHSS) at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) is recruiting up to five outstanding postdoctoral and doctoral researchers. Join a highly collaborative team pursuing an ambitious research agenda on various aspects of language in today’s digital world. Led by Alexander von Humboldt-Professor Michaela Mahlberg, the lab offers an inspiring environment where curious researchers work across disciplines and produce results with clear, real-world relevance.

Our benefits

• Regular promotion to the next level and increase in salary pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement for the public service of the German Länder (TV-L) or remuneration pursuant to the Bavarian Public Servants Remuneration Act (BayBesG) plus an additional annual bonus
• 30 days annual leave at five working days per week with additional free days on December 24 and 31
• Occupational pension scheme and asset accumulation savings scheme
• Excellent support during the academic qualification phase
• Joint team activities
• Subsidized food and drinks in our student restaurants
• Place of work within comfortable walking distance of public transport
• Family-friendly environment with childcare options, also during school holidays
• Flexible working hours
• A wide range of training courses and opportunities for professional development
• Active health management

Your Tasks
The positions

Depending on your qualifications and experience there are different options of appointment, which include opportunities to make a contribution to the teaching of the Department.

• PhD positions are for up to 4 years (75% or 100%), initial contract 1 year with extension after successful completion of first year
• Postdoctoral positions are initially for 2 years (100%), after successful completion of that period there is the opportunity to extend the positions until 31.03.2031

1) Postdoctoral researcher with focus on web application development and CLiC (clic-fiction.com)

Specific responsibilities will include:

• Corpus compilation
• Modular software development
• Leading on the organisation of training workshops and dissemination activities
• Developing training materials for workshops
• Producing documentation
• Collaboration with external software developers
• Working as part of a team, with the responsibility to manage specific work packages and lead clear sub-projects (including publications and grant application development)
• Managing project tasks such as supervising student assistants and providing progress reports

2) Postdoctoral researcher with focus on experimental methods

Specific responsibilities will include:

• Designing and running experiments that focus on the engagement with texts and tools (reader response, surveys, interviews, eye-tracking, Human-AI interaction)
• Analysing research data
• Leading on the organisation of training workshops and dissemination activities
• Working as part of a team, with the responsibility to manage specific work packages and lead clear sub-projects (including publications and grant application development)
• Managing project tasks such as supervising student assistants and providing progress reports

3) Doctoral researcher

PhD Project: Fictional people and the climate crisis

The project will be situated within a research context that deals with textual patterns of characterization with a focus on the relationship between fictional people and their environment. This environment will cover both the natural and the built environment. The textual patterns will be studied on the basis of data from a variety of texts (including climate and science fiction). Methods of analysis will draw on computational textual analysis. The specific research questions of the project will be developed together with the successful candidate.

Specific responsibilities will include:

• Text and data analysis
• Corpus design and compilation
• Working as part of a team, with the responsibility to manage specific work packages and lead clear sub-projects (including publications and grant application development)
• Managing project tasks such as supervising student assistants and providing progress reports

Your Profile
1) Postdoctoral researcher with focus on web application development and CLiC (clic-fiction.com)

Required qualifications

• Ph.D. (or equivalent qualifications) in Computer Science, Computational Humanities, Computational Linguistics, Mathematics, Machine Learning, Data Science, or other relevant subjects
• Evidence of strong programming skills, ideally JavaScript and Python
• Experience with statistical analysis
• Excellent communication skills in English, including the ability to write for publication, present research proposals and results, and represent the project team at meetings and research events
• High level analytical capability
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly
• Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively
• Ability to work independently, manage own time efficiently and effectively
• Ability to work as part of a team, and to co-ordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort
• Working level German or willingness to acquire working knowledge of the language

Desirable qualifications

• Previous experience with web application development
• Strong publication record appropriate for career level and experience
• Experience with React and Vue
• Database skills (PostgreSQL)
• Experience with AI and Machine Learning
• Evidence of the ability to supervise research assistants
• Evidence of leading a lab team

2) Postdoctoral researcher with focus on experimental methods

Required qualifications

• Ph.D. (or equivalent qualifications) in Psycholinguistics, Psychology, Machine Learning, Computer Science, Computational Humanities, Data Science, or other relevant subjects
• Experience running experimental studies
• Experience managing lab equipment (e.g. eye-trackers)
• Excellent communication skills in English, including the ability to write for publication, present research proposals and results, and represent the project team at meetings and research events
• High level analytical capability
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly
• Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively
• Ability to work independently, manage own time efficiently and effectively
• Ability to work as part of a team, and to co-ordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort
• Working level German or willingness to acquire working knowledge of the language

Desirable qualifications

• Strong publication record appropriate for career level and experience
• Evidence of the ability to supervise research assistants
• Evidence of leading a lab team

3) Doctoral researcher

Required qualifications

• M.A./M.Sc. (or equivalent qualifications) in a relevant area of digital humanities, NLP, corpus linguistics, literary studies, or other relevant subjects
• Knowledge of relevant theories and methods and ability to contribute to developing new ones
• Knowledge of fundamental methods of digital text analysis
• Excellent communication skills in English, including the ability to present research results in both written and spoken form
• High level analytical capability
• Working level German or willingness to acquire working knowledge of German

Desirable qualifications

• Ability to communicate complex information clearly
• Ability to work as part of a team, and to co-ordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort

Supplementary description
The application has to include:

• a 1-page cover letter (please specify which project you would like to work on and why you feel you are well qualified for the project, for the PhD please briefly outline how you would approach the topic)
• academic CV
• evidence of all relevant qualifications (transcripts and other supporting documents)

The first round of interviews will likely take place in the week beginning 27 July (via zoom). For enquiries please contact

Start date 15 September or as soon as possible thereafter.

Application deadline

2026-07-24

Title

5 Research Positions for Doctoral Researchers and Postdoctoral Researchers (m/f/d) - Department DHSS

Job start date

2026-09-15

Payment

E13
Gehaltsrange (brutto pro Jahr)

Working time

full or part time

Weekly working hours

30,00-40,00

Working Time in Case of Part-Time

as agreed upon

### Temporary Contract yes

Period of Temporary Contract

0 Months

Further general conditions

Work location

Nürnberger Str. 74
91052 Erlangen

Contact

Prof. Michaela Mahlberg
Tel.: +49 9131 85-0
Mobil:
michaela.mahlberg@fau.de

Please apply via our online platform instead of sending applications by post or e-mail. Applications sent to us by post will not be returned.

With regard to the personal data collected during the application process, please refer to our information pursuant to Art. 13 and 14 of the General Data Protection Regulations at .

FAU is a modern, cosmopolitan and family-friendly employer. We welcome your application irrespective of your age, gender, cultural and social background, religion, ideological beliefs, disability or sexual identity. Applicants with a disability or who are considered to be equivalent to people with a disability will be given preference provided their aptitude, performance and capability are essentially the same. We are happy to offer part-time positions, provided a job-sharing arrangement means that the tasks in the area are fully covered.

If you wish, you may invite a person responsible for ensuring equal rights to accompany you to the job interview without incurring any disadvantages.