The Department of Political Science at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau invites applications to join the ERC-funded research project CLIMPLEXITY as postdoctoral researcher.
Your area of responsibility:
This position is embedded in the ERC Starting Grant project “Climplexity”: Climate Policy Integration—A Complexity Trap? (grant number: 101163928). The project starts from the puzzle: as climate policies multiply, they do not necessarily become more coherent. In fact, they often contradict each other. Climplexity addresses this puzzle by treating climate policy not as a set of isolated measures, but as a complex and evolving system. It develops new theories and methods to understand how policies interact over time through trade-offs and synergies.
The postdoctoral researcher will join an international project team consisting of two PhDs, student assistants and the PI. The position includes:
1. A full-time postdoctoral position (100%, TV-L E13) for a duration of four years
2. An anticipated start date of 1 August 2026
3. A leading role within the project
4. Funding for conference participation and academic dissemination
5. Research with transdisciplinary relevance and political impact
Your requirements profile:
Applicants must hold an advanced academic degree (e.g., a master’s degree) and a Ph.D. in political science, public policy or computational social science, or neighboring disciplines. The postdoc profile lies at the intersection of political science and computational social science. We welcome candidates with expertise in the following domains:
6. Political science, public policy
7. Complex systems
8. Advanced/inferential network analysis and/or quantitative social science methods
9. Legal networks
10. Computational science, natural language processing, machine learning or AI-supported methods
11. Excellent command of academic English; proficiency in German is an asset
We offer:
Health promotion
Family Service Center
Vocational Training
Flexible working hour and
home office
Jobticket
Retirement provision
Sport & Fitness programms
Culture & Leisure offers
Local recreation in the Palatinate Forest
RPTU stands for diversity among all employees. We welcome applications from all interested parties, regardless of their ethnic and social origin, age, religion, gender, disability and sexual orientation or identity. Preference will be given to severely disabled persons and persons equivalent to them if they have the appropriate qualifications and suitability.
The RPTU aims to increase the proportion of women in areas where women are underrepresented. Applications from researchers from abroad are expressly encouraged. The position can also be filled on a part-time basis.