Research Assistant - Project Slow-Motion Democracy
- Aarhus BSS Research Assistant
- Project Slow-Motion Democracy Ansøgningsfrist 15.
jan Institut for Statskundskab Bartholins Allé 7 8000 Aarhus C Tidsbegrænset fuldtidsstilling 1.
jan 2026- 31. dec 2026 ID: 19006 Søg stillingen The Department of Political Science at Aarhus University invites applications for a 1 year Research Assistant position to join SLOMODEMO (Slow-Motion Democracy)—an ERC Advanced Grant (project no.
101198983), led by professor Kees van Kersbergen.
Start date is preferably 1 January 2026, with flexibility by mutual agreement.The research project SLOMODEMO studies how accelerating technological, social, and life-pace change (“social acceleration”) pressures liberal democracies’ capacity to solve problems effectively while safeguarding democratic quality—across eight democracies, 2000–2024.
The project combines theory-building with comparative datasets and experiments.Job description You will work with the PI and a student assistant on the work package “Theorizing, Operationalizing, and Measuring Social Acceleration.” The aim is to develop a combined formative–reflective measurement model of social acceleration and build a comprehensive cross-national dataset (2000–2024) capturing technological change, social change, and life-pace change in eight countries.
Your responsibilities will include, among other things: Data collection & management: identify indicators in OECD/World Bank and related macro sources; design web scrapers and API pipelines to extend coverage (e.g., technology-adoption series, Google Trends time series); maintain versioned, documented datasets with clear codebooks.
Measurement modelling: help design reflective sub-indices of the three dimensions and integrate them into a formative index of social acceleration with multiple indicators/causes.
Validation & analysis: build descriptive dashboards, run reliability/sensitivity checks and validation tests for the combined model.
Text/natural language processing support: collect government policy documents across countries and set up machine-translation and AI-driven data analyses.We value on-campus collaboration: plan for at least three days per week at the department; short research stays elsewhere can be agreed when useful for the project.
Your qualifications Completed MA degree (by the start date) in political science, data science, economics, sociology, computer science, or a related field.
Advanced skills in quantitative and computational areas, alongside a keen interest in dataset creation and model measurement.
Clear, careful coding and documentation; able to balance speed with reliability.
Examples of relevant skills/tools (appreciated, not must-haves): Programming and data work: R or Python; regular expressions; data wrangling libraries; Structured Query Language (SQL).
Web and text data: web scraping; application programming interfaces (APIs); natural language processing (NLP); machine translation.Modelling and measurement: statistical modelling; supervised machine learning; measurement and validation for formative and reflective constructs.
Workflow and sharing: Git and GitHub; reproducible environments; clear documentation (readme files and codebooks).
Visualisation: plotting libraries (e.g., ggplot2 or Matplotlib) and simple dashboards.
What we offer An active position in developing the essential measurement and data infrastructure for an innovative ERC project, involving collaboration in comparative politics, experiments, and computational social science.A supportive, collegial environment with student assistant support, data-collection funds, and travel/workshop budgets.
Scope to shape a unique dataset, sharpen advanced natural language processing/machine learning measurement skills, and contribute to publications.
The Department of Political Science at Aarhus University The department is one of Europe’s largest political science environments, with a vibrant research culture and strong methodological communities; we expect active participation in department life.
Place of work Department of Political Science, Bartholins Allé 7, DK-8000 Aarhus C.
Further information Questions about the position or SLOMODEMO: Prof.Kees van Kersbergen – kvk@ps.au.dk.
Questions about the application process: HR-supporter Line Kristiansen
- lmkr@au.dk Qualification requirements The qualification requirement for appointment as research assistant is a Master's degree.
International applicant?
Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners.Please find more information here:https://internationalstaff.au.dk/relocationservice/Please find more information about research opportunities at Aarhus University here: http://international.au.dk/research/ Terms of employment The appointment is made in accordance with the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities as well as the circular on the Collective Agreement for Academics Employed by the State (in Danish).The job content and qualification requirements are described in further detail in the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.
Application procedure When you apply for this position it is mandatory to attach the following: Application.
1 page with fit and availability (and whether you seek full-time or part-time).Curriculum Vitae.
You are encouraged to declare any periods of leave without research activity, including, for example, maternity leave, since your research activities are assessed in relation to your actual research time Education (diploma for master's, PhD and possibly higher doctoral degree) In addition the following documents can be included in the application: List of publications (the enclosed publications must be clearly marked on the list of publications) or other examples of relevant work (including assignments you handed in as a student; briefly describe your role).
Publications.Up to three publications may be submitted.
In the event of several authors the publications must be accompanied by a co-author statement concerning the applicant's share of the collaborative work with the consent of the co-authors.
This template may be used for the purpose.
Teaching portfolio.
The specific requirements regarding the documentation can be found here Materials which cannot be uploaded together with the application may be submitted in three copies to Aarhus BSS HR & PhD, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 16, DK-8000 Aarhus C.Read more about how to apply for an academic post at Aarhus BSS here The evaluation process After the application deadline, an assessment committee is appointed.
Please note that the assessment of applicants is based solely on the material received prior to the application deadline.For further information, see Guidelines for Assessment Committee, Aarhus BSS.
Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop.
We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.
The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.
Spørgsmål til stillingen?
Kees van Kersbergen Professor, Institut for Statskundskab +4587165727 kvk@ps.au.dk Spørgsmål til ansøgning og proces?
Administrationscenter Aarhus BSS- Aarhus BSS HR & Ph.d.
+4593522904 bss.hr@au.dk Søg stillingen Ansøgningsfrist: lørdag den 15.
nov 2025 kl.23:59 CET 37.000 studerende inklusiv ph.d.-studerende 8.700 ansatte opgjort i årsværk 8,3 mia.
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