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Project A2-24 “Foreign States and International Organizations in the perception of Arab publics”

The University of Münster (Germany) wishes to appoint a two year half-time Research Assistant within the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics in Modern and Pre-Modern Cultures”, research project A2-24 “Foreign States and International Organizations in the perception of Arab publics” under the direction of Prof. Dr. Bernd Schlipphak.

This temporary position is scheduled to start on October 1st, 2014, and will run until September 31st, 2016. Depending on the progression of the project, the position may be extended for a third year. According to the German collective labour agreement for public sector employees (TV-L E 13), the gross salary for the position starts at approximately 1680 € per month during the first year. The regular working hours amount to 19 hours and 55 minutes per week.

The Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics in Modern and Pre-Modern Cultures” was established at the University of Münster in 2007 and has been awarded funding through the German Excellence Initiative until 2017. Some 200 academics from 20 disciplines within the humanities and the social sciences examine the sensitive relationship between religion and politics, which has shaped all ages and cultures. Research projects are divided into the fields of research normativity, mediality, integrative procedures, and violence. For more information on the structures and research outline of the Cluster, please refer to www.religion-und-oolitik.de/en/forschung/.

Standard duties:

  • Participation in research project A2-24 “Foreign States and International Organizations in the perception of Arab publics”

Research Assistants are expected to pursue their academic career (doctoral thesis) in conjunction with the duties pertaining to the position. Hence, the topic of the doctoral thesis should be closely connected to the topic of the research project.

Qualifications, knowledge and experiences:

  • Above-average university diploma (Master) in a social science discipline (Political Science, Social Science, Communication Studies)
  • Profound knowledge of and experience with quantitative methods
  • Profound knowledge of the Arabic and the English language
  • Interest in the topic of the project has to be demonstrated by the proposed topic of the doctoral thesis.
  • Practical experience with software for the application of quantitative methods
  • Willingness to work for up to 6 months in one of the countries which are part of the analy-sis (dependent on security considerations)
  • Willingness to learn the German language during the course of the project (basic language skills needed to participate in the lectures of the Cluster)
  • Ability to work in a team and organizational skills

The University of Münster is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to increasing the proportion of women academics. Consequently, we actively encourage applications by women. Female candidates with equivalent qualifications and academic achievements will be preferen-tially considered within the framework of the legal possibilities.

Among applicants of equal qualifications and equal position-relevant skills, disabled candidates will be given preference unless other candidate-related reasons prevail.

Applications should include a cover letter, a 1-2 sided sketch of the proposed doctoral thesis, CV, and names/addresses of two referees within a single PDF document, and be submitted by July 30th, 2014, to:

Prof. Dr. Bernd Schlipphak
Department of Political Science
Scharnhorststraße 100
D-48151 Muenster
bernd.schlipphak@uni-muenster.de

Interviews with short-listed candidates are planned for the first two weeks of August 2014. Inquiries regarding this position should be directed by email to Bernd Schlipphak. An abstract providing a first insight into the research project is available at www.uni-muenster.de/IfPol/personen/schlipphak [->Short Info in English].