Doctoral Position in Political Communication (80 %)
Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ), University of Zurich
Start date: as soon as possilbe
Application deadline: 21 December 2024
The International and Comparative Media Research Group (Prof. Frank Esser) at the Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ) is seeking to fill the position of a doctoral researcher within the SNSF-funded project “Political Social Media Influencers: An Empirical Investigation into Their Role and Influence on Youth Political Engagement”.
This project investigates the mechanisms through which political social media influencers (PSMIs) affect the political engagement of young people across different countries and media systems. Using cutting-edge computational methods (natural language processing, computer vision, machine learning), alongside panel experiments and data donations, our project aims to map the landscape of PSMIs on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. We seek to understand how these influencers shape political discourse and mobilize young voters across three diverse media environments (Germany, Poland, and the United States). This position offers an exceptional opportunity to contribute to a groundbreaking area of political communication and media research, with significant implications for both academic understanding and practical policy development in digital political communication and youth political engagement.
Your responsibilities
- Develop expertise in computational social science methods, including advanced text analysis with large language models, computer vision, and network analysis, to study political phenomena on social media.
- Acquire detailed knowledge of the literature on political communication, political engagement, social media communication, and information flows.
- Lead subprojects within the larger project framework, focusing on computational text analysis and multi-modal social media analysis to trace and content-analyze political conversations online.
- Assist PIs in coordinating data collection processes across multiple platforms and countries.
- Conduct data analysis and write scientific articles as part of the doctoral dissertation.
- Present findings at international scientific conferences and contribute to high-impact publications.
- Actively participate in the research environment of the Department of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich, including its structured PhD program.
- Submit a PhD dissertation within the period of appointment.