Research associate for the project “what citizens think they should and can do in democracies (construct)” § 28 subsection 3 hmbhg

Research Associate for the Project “What Citizens Think They Should and Can Do in Democracies (CONSTRUCT)” § 28 Subsection 3 HmbHG
Institution Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, Department of Social Sciences, Political Science with a focus on Democratic Political Decision-Making
Start date 01.09.2026, fixed until 31.08.2029, with the option to extend to four years (This is a fixed-term contract in accordance with Section 2 of the academic fixed-term labor contract act [Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz, WissZeitVG]).
Scope of work part-time
The project “What Citizens Think They Should and Can Do in Democracies” (CONSTRUCT), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), aims to investigate how citizens understand their role in democracies, especially during societally challenging times. Amid these challenges, the CONSTRUCT-project reconsiders citizens’ role in democracies: what do citizens themselves think they should and can do in democracies, especially when the issues they care about might be too big to be addressed by institutions alone? inform themselves, deliberate, get active), but empirical research often shows that citizens cannot meet these demands (e.g., The CONSTRUCT project aims to develop a novel concept––tentatively called Constructive Citizenship Behavior––that directly captures the tension between ideals and reality by asking citizens directly what they think they should do and what they can actually do.
Led by Peter Luca Versteegen, PhD, members of the CONSTRUCT project will first conduct qualitative interviews with citizens in several countries to get an in-depth understanding of citizens’ ideals and experiences. Besides building scientific knowledge of citizens’ ideals and experiences in democracies, the project ultimately aims to contribute a pragmatic understanding of how Western democracies can better address the many challenges they are facing. 
Duties include academic services in the project named above. Research associates may also pursue further academic qualifications outside of their work responsibilities. Duties include academic research in the realm of the CONSTRUCT-project. Your project-related tasks will be, amongst others, to collaborate on literature reviews, designing the studies, conducting the qualitative interviews, preparing the quantitative studies, analyzing qualitative and quantitative data, and drafting and revising manuscripts for publication in international and peer-reviewed journals.
political science, psychology, communication sciences, economics, data science, sociology)
excellent command of written and spoken English (C1), the project’s business will be conducted entirely in English
command of languages other than English or German
experiences in social science research processes
advanced knowledge of social science research methods
knowledge of research in fields, theories, or concepts related to, for example: citizenship norms, democratic theory, responsiveness, populism, radical right voting, (affective) polarization, political behavior, political psychology
Continuing education opportunities
~ Work-life balance opportunities
~ 30 days of vacation per annum

Universität Hamburg—University of Excellence is one of the strongest research educational institutions in Germany. Our work in research, teaching, educational and knowledge exchange activities is fostering the next generation of responsible global citizens ready to tackle the global challenges facing us. Diversity enriches our university life, whether in our studies, research, teaching, education, or workplace. The University of Hamburg strives to increase the number of women in academia, and encourages qualified female academics to apply.
Severely disabled and disabled applicants with the same status will receive preference over equally qualified non-disabled applicants.