Software and Platform Studies

The Munich Center for Technology in Society of the Technische Universität München is seeking early-stage researchers for positions available immediately with a focus on STS & Digital Media.

1 doctoral position (TV-L E13, 65%, 3 years, fixed term): Software and Platform Studies About us MCTS is a cross-faculty integrative research center focusing on the interface between technology and society. Our research is empirical, interdisciplinary, and reflexive. This involves a dialogue between philosophers, social scientists, architects, engineers and natural scientists in an attempt to explore a mutual understanding and collaboration. A key area of research at the MCTS Digital/Media/Lab focuses on how science and technology shape the current transformation towards digital society and culture, paying particular attention to the changing role of data, algorithms and software in different fields of modern society for example in the case of smart energy systems, health technologies and personal and public media. Topics of our research include: data infrastructures and standardization, sociotechnical imaginaries of smart societies, science and technology communication on blogs and video-platforms, big data and sensor technologies in manufacturing, the emergence of data science, new forms of algorithmic knowledge production and digital and material forms of collaboration and participation. Your tasks PhD-students are expected to complete an outstanding doctoral dissertation within three years time, actively engage in MCTS academic life, gain experience in teaching, organize academic events and support different activities of the research area. Intended as a collaborative ethnography your project will map and reconstruct the sociotechnical controversies around the construction, implementation and maintenance of a platform for video and public broadcasting. It will help to understand the changing role of software, data and algorithms in the field of media distribution, audience measurement and recommender systems. Your project will be part of the MCTS Digital/Media/Lab. Who can apply? Applicants for the PhD student position should hold a Masters degree or equivalent in the social sciences, humanities, media studies or related areas. Familiarity with science and technology studies, as well as knowledge of theories and methods of the social sciences are also expected. A profound interest in the epistemic cultures of computer science and/or engineering and a basic knowledge of software development is necessary. All applicants should have very good communication skills both in German and English and the ability to work both individually and in teams.



We offer… ...an excellent and inspiring research environment in which early career researchers will refine and consolidate their profile as internationally recognized promising researchers. MCTS offers many forms of dialogue both with the scientific community as well as the general public. Working within the MCTS you will gain inside-experience of the academic world and have access to various promising career pathways. We are committed to raising the number of women in research and teaching. Female researchers are especially encouraged to apply. Applicants with disabilities are treated with preference given comparable qualification. Interested? Please send us your complete application as a single pdf document to [email protected]. Applications will be reviewed from December 20, 2015 on. Later applications will be accepted if the position is not already filled. In addition to usual application documents (letter of motivation, CV, certificates), a complete application will include a brief synopsis of a potential research project (max. 500 words), as well as a writing sample (eg. an article (not necessarily published) or a chapter of your MA or PhD thesis). If you have specific questions about the application procedure, please contact [email protected] Dr. Jan-Hendrik Passoth Digital/Media/Lab Munich Center for Technology in Society Technische Universität München