Job description

The Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1342, "Global Dynamics of Social Policy," has been funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 2018. The third phase represents the culmination of the 12-year research agenda. In Phase I, the worldwide introduction of social protection programs was mapped, and the Global Welfare State Information System (WeSIS) was established. Phase II documented the differences in the inclusiveness and scope of social policy benefits and integrated this information into WeSIS. In Phase III, based on this foundation, the socioeconomic effectiveness of social policy is being examined in terms of improving social conditions and promoting political integration.

The CRC is structured into two research areas. The six projects in Area A focus on the socioeconomic and political impacts of social policy in a global comparison. The six projects in Area B primarily investigate the political and socioeconomic consequences of social policy in selected countries or world regions. The Information Infrastructure Project (INF) provides a shared platform for data and methods.

This position is part of project B13 which will investigate in a macro comparative perspective how social policy reforms and their generosity affect the occurrence of social policy related protests in a large sample of African states. Using LLMs and building on existing pipelines for the automation of protest event analysis, the project will build a protest event dataset for all countries in which English, French, or Arabic are one of the official languages (42 out of 54 countries). Using this data the project will then identify and analyze patterns and dynamics of social policy-related protest in Africa.

Tasks 

The tasks for the doctoral researcher will be 

• protest event data collection,
• analysis and development of models and tools for automatic PEA data classification,
• identification and comparative analysis of social policy related protest patterns.
• contribution to research publications,
• develop and pursue your own PhD project (related to the project themes).
• One of the two positions also comes with teaching responsibilities (1,4 SWS)

Requirements

• An outstanding university degree (master's or university diploma) in political science, sociology or a closely related discipline of the social sciences.
• Knowledge of and ideally research experience with core concepts of social movement research.
• Familiarity with methods of quantitative text analysis (ideally experience with the use of language models).
• Strong Interest and ideally some knowledge of politics in Africa.
• Very good knowledge of English (C1) and ideally good knowledge of either French or Arabic.
• For degrees obtained outside the EU, please provide a German translation and an evaluation from the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB). Alternatively, you may submit a PDF extract from the ANABIN database on the recognition and evaluation of foreign educational qualifications.

General Information

Open to unconventional approaches in research and teaching, the University of Bremen has retained its character as a place of short distances for people and ideas since its founding in 1971. With a broad spectrum of subjects, we combine exceptional performance and innovative potential. As an ambitious research university, we stand for research-based learning approaches and a pronounced interdisciplinary orientation. We actively pursue scientific cooperation in a spirit of global partnership. 

Today, around 23,000 people learn, teach, research, and work on our international campus. In research and teaching, administration and operations, we are strongly committed to the goals of sustainability, climate justice, and climate neutrality. Our Bremen spirit is expressed in the courage to try new things, in supportive cooperation, in respect and appreciation for each other. With our study and research profile and as part of the European YUFE network, we assume social responsibility in the region, in Europe, and in the world.

The university is family-friendly, diverse and sees itself as an international university. We therefore welcome all applicants regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic and social origin, religion/belief, disability, age, sexual orientation and identity.

As the University of Bremen intends to increase the proportion of female employees in science, women are particularly encouraged to apply. In the case of equal qualifications, women are given priority, unless reasons relating to the person of a competitor prevail.

Disabled applicants will be given priority if their professional and personal qualifications are essentially the same. 

For general questions about the personnel selection procedure, as well as questions regarding the content of the advertised position, please contact:

Sebastian Haunss <haunss@uni-bremen.de> or Sophia Hunger <hungerprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de>

Please send your application with your complete documents (cover letter, curriculum vitae, qualification certificates, references) to the following address, quoting the reference number A262-25 until 14.01.2026 as a PDF file by unencrypted electronic mail to:  Stefanie Rühmann <stefanie.ruehmannprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de>

Or by mail to 

Universität Bremen 
SFB 1342 
Stefanie Rühmann
Postfach 33 04 40
28334 Bremen 

We kindly ask you to send us only copies (no portfolios) of your application documents, as we cannot return them. They will be destroyed after the selection process has been completed. Any application costs cannot be reimbursed.

Please note that no photos are to be attached to the application documents