Open Positions
Open Positions: 2 PhD Researchers and 1 Postdoc (Start 2027)
We are hiring! Our group at LMU Munich invites applications for three positions: two PhD positions and one postdoc. The research is about how ordinary citizens think about democracy and how their support for it can be strengthened. It brings together political psychology, experimental methods and computational social science.
Application deadline: October 20, 2026. We review applications on a rolling basis, so the earlier you apply, the better. Start: January 1, 2027 or as soon as possible.
The projects
The positions are part of two DFG-funded research projects.
Democratic Persuasion: How to Make the Case for Democracy (project proposal) Most citizens say they support democracy, but for many this support is wavering. This project identifies the motivations behind democratic skepticism and tests which communicative strategies can win these citizens back. We use survey experiments, LLM-based persuasive conversations, and a framed field experiment with one-on-one dialogues that we run together with civil society organizations.
Emmy Noether Research Group: Predictably Paradoxical: Mapping the Democratic Mind with AI People often hold puzzling and contradictory beliefs about democracy. Standardized surveys struggle to capture them, because their response options only measure what researchers already expect. Our group therefore uses large language models as interviewers. In AI Conversational Interviews, respondents in many countries explain in their own words what democracy means to them, while the AI interviewer asks follow-up questions. From these conversations we map democratic belief systems and distinguish well-founded from superficial democratic attitudes.
The positions
1. PhD Researcher working in both projects
75%, 4 years (extension possible), TV-L E13
You begin in Democratic Persuasion, where you help design and analyze persuasion experiments and develop your own interventions. You then continue in the Emmy Noether group. Your dissertation will be in the area of Computational Text Analysis for Mapping Democratic Belief Systems.
3. Postdoctoral Researcher on Democratic Persuasion
100%, fixed-term until October 31, 2028, TV-L E13
You lead the project’s framed field experiment on Socratic probing, a conversation technique that invites people to examine the reasons behind their own beliefs. Beyond this study, you develop your own theory-driven interventions to strengthen support for democracy and test them with LLM-based conversations or survey experiments.
Who we are looking for
Ideal candidates have training in quantitative methods, skills in R and/or Python, and an interest in political psychology, persuasion research or democracy research. Experience with LLMs and text-as-data methods is a plus. No candidate is expected to meet every criterion, and the job ads explain what matters most for each position.
What we offer
You will join a welcoming and collaborative team at one of Europe’s leading research universities. Our research combines scientific ambition with questions that matter for democratic societies, and we support your career development. Munich regularly ranks among the cities with the highest quality of life.
How to apply
Please send your application documents, a writing sample and a cover letter to A.Wuttke@lmu.de. The job ads describe what the cover letter should address for each position. Zoom interviews begin in October 2026.
We welcome applications from women and from other groups that are currently underrepresented in academia. Disabled applicants will be given preference if equally qualified.