Research Assistant, 20-25%, Prof. Dr. Karsten Donnay, IPZ, Zürich

Fvpolito; Zürich; On-site; CHF 30,000 - 40,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Working on cutting-edge projects

Hands-on experience in academic research

Workspace in the common pool of desks

Job summary

An academic institution in Switzerland is seeking a Research Assistant to support research on political behavior and digital media. This role, suitable for BA or MA students, requires strong statistical skills and a command of English. Candidates will engage in cutting-edge projects addressing online political communication and harmful speech detection. The position offers a chance to gain hands-on experience in academic research and includes a flexible salary based on cantonal guidelines.

Qualifications

• Strong quantitative interest in research.
• Prior experience with advanced quantitative or computational methods is ideal.

Responsibilities

• Support ongoing research related to political behavior online.
• Work on detecting harmful speech online and mitigation strategies.
• Contribute to small projects in political behavior and computational social science.

Skills

Excellent statistical skills and experience with R/RStudio

Strong command of English

Self-motivation

Excellent work ethics

Education

Enrolled in a political science degree program

Good overall study performance

Job description

The research group “Political Behavior and Digital Media” (Prof. Karsten Donnay) in the Department of Political Science at the University of Zurich (http://www.ipz.uzh.ch) invites applications for a Research Assistant / Hilfsassistent*in (20-25%) starting August 1, 2026. This is a fixed-term position until the end of December 2026. Research in the group substantively focuses on the role of new digital media channels for political behavior. The group’s second main research interest is in computational social science more broadly.

Your responsibilities

The position supports ongoing research in the group related to a variety of substantive research topics in the area of political behavior online. This includes projects on strategic political online communication by international actors but also work on detecting harmful speech online and potential mitigation strategies as well as other ongoing smaller projects in the team around political behavior and computational social science.

Your profile

The position is particularly suitable for third-year BA or first-year MA students with a strong quantitative interest and, ideally, prior experience working with more advanced quantitative or computational methods. More generally, the position is a starting point for all those students, who would like to get hands‑on experience in academic research projects.

Applicants for this position should meet the following requirements:

• Enrolled in a political science degree program
• Good overall study performance
• Excellent statistical skills and experience working with R/RStudio
• High degree of self‑motivation and excellent work ethics
• Strong command of English

We offer

• Working in interesting, cutting‑edge projects together with an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the social and computer sciences
• First experience working in an academic research project
• A workspace in the common pool of desks reserved for student assistants at the IPZ
• Employment is at a 20-25% salary grade with the salary set according to cantonal guidelines
• This is a fixed‑term position until the end of December 2026

Place of work: Zurich

Start of employment: August 1, 2026

Closing date for applications: May 15, 2026

Further information: Further inquiries can be directed to Karsten Donnay ([e-mail]).

The department aims to increase the diversity of its members and thus explicitly invites applications from women and other traditionally underrepresented groups.