12 fully funded PhD positions in

The Graduate School (DFG Research Training Group/DFG-Graduiertenkolleg)
User-Centred Social Media (UCSM)
at the University of Duisburg-Essen invites applications for its new PhD programme starting in October 2015.

The Graduate School UCSM provides an interdisciplinary research environment with computer science and psychology as the main contributing disciplines. From this interdisciplinary perspective, it addresses research challenges related to Social Media which are understood as complex socio-technical systems characterized by features such as user-generated content, social interaction and awareness, and emergent functionality. Significant research gaps have been identified with respect to analyzing and understanding the characteristics and determinants of user behaviour, both at the individual and the collective level, as well as regarding the user-centred design of social media systems. Our research will build on theories and methods from the following fields:

• Media and communication psychology
• Decision making and decision support
• Human-computer interaction
• Information retrieval and mining
• Social network analysis and visualization
• Privacy and security engineering
• Media-supported collaboration and learning

Applicants should have a background in Computer Science, Cognitive Science, Psychology or Communication Science and, ideally, prior knowledge and experience in one or more of the areas listed above.

The positions are paid according to German TV-L E13 (starting from 43,000 €/year before taxes), for a duration of three years.

The Graduate School includes a qualification programme with courses on basic methods from all disciplines as well as advanced courses to deepen and extend specific areas of knowledge related to the RTG. It is accompanied by workshops, retreats, an international summer school, a peer-reviewed colloquium, as well as interdisciplinary work groups. PhD students will be introduced to international research at a very early stage and instructed to publish the results of their work on an international level. They will have the possibility of a three-month stay abroad during their graduation phase, which will broaden their view of the field, stimulate new ideas and further develop their independence as researchers.

The University of Duisburg-Essen aims to promote the diversity of its members (see http://www.uni-due.de/diversity/international.shtml). It also aims to increase the share of women in the scientific personnel and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply. Women will be preferentially considered when equally qualified according to the state equality law. Applications from disabled or equivalents according to § 2 Abs. 3 SGB IX are encouraged.