Amsterdam School For Cultural Analysis  currently has a vacant Postdoc researcher position as part of the University Research Priority Area on Trust in the Digital Society (TRUST RPA), led by main researchers Marc Tuters and Jan B. Engelmann. ASCA is one of the five Research Schools within the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research.

What are you going to do?

The Media Studies department and School of Economics at the University of Amsterdam are looking for a jointly appointed postdoctoral researcher as part of the University Research Priority Area on Trust in the Digital Society (TRUST RPA), a five-year interdisciplinary research initiative concerned with trust production technologies and the disruption of existing trust relations. This position focuses on the latter, by tracing narratives of (dis)trust in social media datasets and by studying the underlying behaviors in human subjects. 

Two recent socio-economic shocks have affected European societies: the Covid pandemic and the current war in Ukraine. Coming in rapid succession, they may have affected individuals’ sense of security and their optimism about the future. In that trust binds us to one another, it can counteract these insecurities, yet European society has undergone multiple crises of trust in public institutions and in financial, scientific, and medical expertise over the last decade(s). Accordingly, recently we have witnessed the growth and spread of narratives of (dis)trust, which pose a significant challenge to liberal democratic norms. In these crises, social media technologies have served to bind people together while also, paradoxically, functioning as a primary vector for spread of narratives of (dis)trust.

This project aims to understand the dynamics by which these narratives of (dis)trust are propagated through social media and to investigate the underlying drivers that might make individuals susceptible to them. Accomplishing this necessitates a mixed-methods approach that entails a collaboration between the humanities and the social sciences: 1.) the Digital Methods Initiative (DMI) and 2.) the Center for Research in Experimental Economics and political Decision Making (CREED). Through this collaboration the project aims to bridge the gaps between different methodological perspectives.

The first part of the project will use social media to study how these narratives develop over time, through dynamics of connection, convergence, and antagonism. The objective of this part of the project is to develop a comprehensive understanding of how folk theories attribute malign intentions to institutions and experts attached to these matters of concern, which may range from climate change to the war in Ukraine, to the public understanding of science and technology. Through digital methods (such as co-hashtag semantic network analysis), this stage of the project will produce digital narratologies that will serve as an empirical baseline for the subsequent lab-based, experimental research stage of the project which studies how trust is affected in vulnerable population demographics.  

Collaborating with scholars in the Behavioral Economics and Psychology department the second stage of the project differentiates between interpersonal trust, measured using economic games and questionnaires, general trust and specific trust towards governmental institutions and news sources, measured via a combination of novel and well-established questionnaires. Finally, we will assess the economic and psychological determinants of trust at an individual level, including current and projected future income, family status, social network support, levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness, as well as country-level determinants of trust, including perceived integrity of institutions and satisfaction with public institutions.

Broadly, this research will look at the dynamics and determinants of distrust and trust in times of crisis, yet applicants are invited to formulate their own specific research questions.

Your tasks and responsibilities:

• collect and analyze social media data on (dis)trust narratives using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods including social network analysis and natural language processing. 
• be open to working with multiple methods across disciplines between the humanities and the social sciences. 
• work with interview- and questionnaire-based methods developed in collaboration with the Behavioral Economics and Psychology department
• actively pursue external funding for research, notably funding from research councils, national as well as European;
• actively contribute to and develop national and international research networks 

What do you have to offer?

You are passionate about developing innovative strategies for combining quantitative and qualitative research around the issue of narratives of (dis)trust. You are interested in how political debate is shaped by contemporary digital platforms. In addition, you have a social and cooperative attitude, and you thrive in a team setting. You are curious and open-mined towards research traditions you are less familiar with.

Your experience and profile:

• a PhD degree in media studies, digital sociology, digital humanities, science and technology studies, or an equivalent discipline
• excellent research skills demonstrated by a track record of publishing in high-ranking journals (such as, for example, Big Data & Society) and/or with leading presses or a demonstrable capacity to develop such a record;
• a strong cooperative attitude and willingness to engage in collaborative research;
• enthusiasm for communicating academic research to non-academic audiences;
• excellent command of English

Candidates will be given extra consideration in the application process who have quantitative skills, including survey development, statistical analysis, and/or  familiarity with R, python or any other programming language, and/or big data collection and analysis skills, and/or  previous experience in the private or public sector. We strongly encourage members of minority socio-cultural groups to apply, including persons of color, feminist and/or intersectionalist scholars, and scholars from the Global South.

What can we offer you?

The Postdoc researcher will be appointed at the department of Media Studies of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Amsterdam and will conduct the research in Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis. The employment contract will be for one year. Contingent on a positive performance evaluation the contract will be extended with 1 year. The employment contract is for 30,4 hours a week. Preferred starting date is 01 September 2023.[TvV1] 

The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week and relevant experience, ranges between € 3703 to € 5439. This sum does not include the 8% holiday allowance and the 8,3% year-end allowance. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment we offer you multiple fringe benefits:

• 232 holiday hours per year (based on fulltime) and extra holidays between Christmas and 1 January; 
• 7 weeks birth leave (partner leave) with 100% salary; 
• Partly paid parental leave; 
• A pension at ABP for which UvA pays two third part of the contribution; 
• The possibility to follow courses to learn Dutch;
• Multiple courses to follow from our Teaching and Learning Centre; 
• Multiple courses on topics such as leadership for academic staff; 
• Multiple courses on topics such as time management, handling stress and an online learning platform with 100+ different courses; 

What else do we offer

• the possibility to start up and grow a New Research priority Area at the UvA, 
• close working relations with five faculties of the UvA; and with TU Delft, and Erasmus University, Rotterdam 
• freedom to develop your own research agenda; 
• welcoming, international, dynamic teams; 
• an inspiring academic and professional environment in the heart of Amsterdam; 
• excellent possibilities for further professional development and education.

About us

The University of Amsterdam is the Netherlands' largest university, offering the widest range of academic programmes. At the UvA, 42,000 students, 6,000 staff members and 3,000 PhD candidates study and work in a diverse range of fields, connected by a culture of curiosity.

The Faculty of Humanities provides education and conducts research with a strong international profile in a large number of disciplines in de field of language and culture. Located in the heart of Amsterdam, the faculty maintains close ties with many cultural institutes in the capital city. Research and teaching staff focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and are active in several teaching programmes.

Part of UvA’s world #1 ranked Media Studies department, the Digital Methods Initiative (https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/) offers a rich empirical research environment that is internationally renowned for studying the effect