Doctoral Researcher in spatial data management (SDC-36)

EURAXESS Czech Republic; Köln; Hybrid; EUR 36.000 - 48.000; Teilzeit

Benefits dieser Stelle

Childcare subsidies

Health management

Pension support

Sports program discounts

Flexible working hours

Zusammenfassung

GESIS - Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences in Cologne/Mannheim invites applications for a Doctoral Researcher in spatial data management. The role is a 75% part-time, temporary assignment (3 years) starting 1 January 2027, with salary group TV-L 13.

Tasks include building data storage, R interfaces, and data pipelines in the Electoral Spaces project. The candidate should hold a Master's degree in geography or geoinformatics, have strong R skills, and a clear PhD motivation aligned with

Qualifikationen

• Master's degree in geography or related field.
• Strong programming skills in R and geospatial software stacks.
• Interest in GIS and spatial data for social science research.
• Motivation to pursue a PhD within the project.

Aufgaben

• Set up data storage and the R interface for electoral spaces.
• Test and assess the tech stack to support spatial data research.
• Support data modeling, ingestion pipelines, and curation workflows.
• Contribute to technical docs, project outreach, and dissemination.
• Conduct methodological or applied research showcasing infrastructure value.

Kenntnisse

R programming

Geospatial analysis

GIS

Geoinformatics

Ausbildung

Master's degree in Geography

Geoinformatics background

Tools

R

Geospatial GIS software

Jobbeschreibung

Organisation/Company GESIS - Leibniz Institut für Sozialwissenschaften Department Cologne/Mannheim Research Field Sociology » Other Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Application Deadline 2 Oct 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Berlin) Country Germany Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Part-time Offer Starting Date 1 Jan 2027 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Reference Number SDC-36 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

GESIS - Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences is an internationally active research institute, funded by federal and state governments and member of the Leibniz Association. Starting on January 1, 2027, our Department Survey Data Curation, Team Survey Data Augmentation, located inCologne, is looking for a Doctoral Researcher in spatial data management (Salary group 13 TV-L, working time 75 %, limited to 3 years). The department "Survey Data Curation" processes and prepares social science research data across a diverse range of data types to support sociological and political science research, especially in comparative perspectives across space and time. The curated data include long-running national (e.g., ALLBUS, GLES) and international (e.g., ISSP, CSES) survey programs, which are documented and curated to the highest quality standards, but also research data products derived from or connected to these surveys, such as geo referencing services or trend files. "Electoral Spaces" is a project of our team Survey Data Augmentation that develops a research data infrastructure for making geocoded electoral data more findable, accessible, interoperable, and re-usable.

Your tasks will be:

• Setting up the data storage technology and programming the R interface and auxiliary tools for "Electoral Spaces"
• Testing and assessing the tech stack to ensure it meets researchers' needs for spatial electoral data
• Supporting data modeling, data ingestion pipelines, and curation workflows
• Contributing to technical documentation, project outreach, and dissemination
• Conducting methodological or applied research showcasing the added value of the infrastructure

Your profile:

• Master's degree in geography, geoinformatics, spatial data science, or a related discipline
• Technical literacy in geospatial software stacks and strong programming skills in R
• Strong interest in the application of GIS and spatial data to political and social science research
• Motivation to complete a PhD thesis closely aligned with the project
• Opportunity to contribute to a research data infrastructure with substantial impact on the future of democracy research
• Work in an integrated yet flexible team of quantitative social scientists with substantial synergies between survey augmentation projects specializing in geospatial data applications and democracy
• Flexible working hours and regulations for mobile working
• Very good conditions for reconciling work and family life, e.g. subsidies for childcare for children who have not yet attained the age of compulsory schooling
• Holistic company health management and discounted participation in the university's sports programme
• Generous support for your pension provision as a direct insurance policy
• Promotion of your skills through further training measures

Our reference number is: SDC-36