The Institute of Political Science, research group in Comparative Politics led by Prof. Daniel Bischof, PhD at the University of Münster, Germany, is seeking to fill the position of a
Postdoctoral Research Associate (Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in, salary level E 13 TV-L)
commencing on 1 April 2027. We are offering a fixed-term full-time position (100%) for three years as part of the SAFEDEM project "Do Ordinary Citizens Defend Democracy? Everyday Acts of Democratic Resistance" at the Chair of Comparative Politics.
Your tasks:
- Independent research and publication in comparative politics, political behaviour and democratic resilience.
- Collaboration in the SAFEDEM project, which studies when and why ordinary citizens defend democracy in everyday situations.
- Contributing to the design, programming, implementation and analysis of representative comparative surveys in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Poland.
- Developing, implementing and analysing survey and (field-)experimental research designs on democratic norms, social norms and everyday democratic resistance.
- Planning, ethically preparing, pre-testing and organising empirical data collection in close cooperation with the PI.
- Preparing and analysing quantitative data, including experimental data, open-ended text responses and, where useful, computational approaches.
- Contributing to joint publications, project reports, conference papers, workshops and the project's international research network.
Our expectations:
- Completed academic university degree in political science or a related field, e.g. sociology, communication science, psychology or economics.
- At the start of the appointment: completed doctoral degree in political science or a related field.
- Very good knowledge of quantitative data analysis; knowledge of R as well as survey and (field )experimental research designs is particularly welcome.
- Experience implementing empirical research designs, especially in survey or experimental contexts, is advantageous.
- Interest in democratic resilience, political behaviour, social norms, political psychology, comparative politics or related fields.
- Very good command of written and spoken English; German is not a requirement, but willingness to work with German-language project contexts for the field experiments is desirable.
- Ability to work independently and carefully, strong organisational skills, collegiality and enthusiasm for collaborative research.
Advantages for you:
- Work within an internationally oriented research group at the University of Münster.
- Close involvement in SAFEDEM - a collaborative project on which measures can be used to safeguard democracy
- Substantial scope to shape a new research project on everyday democratic resistance
- Generous funding for conferences, workshops, data collection and fieldwork provided within the project.
- Appreciation, commitment, openness and respect – values which are important to us.
- Our broad range of diverse work-time models offers great flexibility – also when working from home.
- If you have family members or young children in your care, our Family Service Office offers concrete support to help you balance your private and professional responsibilities.
- As an educational institution, we are deeply committed to offering occupational training and continuing education opportunities tailored to your individual needs.
- From A – Z, Aikido to Zumba, our sport and health programmes ensure a healthy work-life balance.
- As a university employee, you are entitled to numerous benefits afforded to public servants, e.g. an attractive company pension scheme (VBL), an annual end-of-year bonus and a position that is shielded from economic fluctuations.
The University of Münster strongly supports equal opportunity and diversity. We welcome all applicants regardless of sex, nationality, ethnic or social background, religion or worldview, disability, age, sexual orientation or gender identity. We are committed to creating family-friendly working conditions. Part-time options are generally available.
We actively encourage applications by women. Women with equivalent qualifications and academic achievements will be preferentially considered unless these are outweighed by reasons which necessitate the selection of another candidate.
If you have any questions, please contact Daniel Bischof directly: dan.bischof@uni-muenster.de
Are you interested? Then we look forward to receiving your full application (cover letter outlining your motivation, skills and research interests, CV including a list of publications, PhD diploma, contact details of two referees, and a writing sample) by 2026-11-06 via our application platform.
Universität Münster
Institute of Political Science
Prof. Daniel Bischof, PhD
Reference number: 2026_09_22
Scharnhorststraße 100
48151 Münster
dan.bischof@uni-muenster.de
Reference number: 2026_09_22
