Postdoc in Computational Social Science

Work assignments 

As a postdoctoral fellow, your main task will be to conduct cutting edge computational social science research. The research will be carried out within the context of the Swedish Excellence Center for Computational Social Science (SweCSS), which is a joint initiative between the Institute for Analytical Sociology (IAS) and the Department of Computer Science (IDA).

SweCSS researchers combine large-scale data, computational methods, and clearly articulated social-science theories to improve our understanding of society. Recent advances in machine learning, natural language processing, and agent-based modelling have paved the way for innovative collaborations between social scientists and computer scientists that jointly seek to answer fundamental questions of the social sciences and humanities in new and rigorous ways.

The Excellence Center aims to position Sweden at forefront of international research in CSS research and to be an educational canter and a central node for CSS-oriented research groups and institutes worldwide.

Read more about SweCSS: https://liu.se/en/research/swecss

Read more about the Institute for Analytical Sociology: https://liu.se/en/organisation/liu/iei/ias

Read more about the Department of Computer Science: https://liu.se/en/organisation/liu/ida

Qualifications

To be eligible for employment as a postdoctoral researcher, you must hold a doctoral degree. While you can apply when you are awaiting your defense, the degree must be awarded no later than the date on which Linköping University makes its employment decision.

It is considered advantageous if your doctoral degree has been awarded no more three years before the application deadline. If there are special reasons for having an older doctoral degree – such as illness or taking parental leave – then these may be taken into consideration.

A suitable candidate will have a PhD in computer science, statistics, sociology, economics, political science or a corresponding subject of relevance to computational social science.  Further requirements for the position include (a) expertise in combining social science theories with computationally intensive methods to understand social phenomena, (b) publications in international journals that demonstrate a promising early-career trajectory, and (c) plans for future research with the potential to break new ground within CSS. It is further considered advantageous to have experience with interdisciplinary research networks, and a record of successfully attracting external funding for interdisciplinary research projects.

To be able to use computationally intensive methods, demonstrated experience of coding in programming languages such as R and Python is considered particularly advantageous. Examples of computationally intensive methods central to IAS and IDA are data-driven text analysis, work with large language models, network analysis, causal inference in machine learning and agent-based modelling. Experience in collecting, curating and analyzing large digital datasets with social science relevance is also considered particularly advantageous. To contribute to theory formation in CSS, documented work on the development of social science concepts is considered particularly advantageous. Theoretical work that has been translated into empirical studies that are at the interface between social science and computer science is desirable.  You have good collaboration skills and an interest in working interdisciplinary and in different research constellations. We expect you to work closely with both IAS and IDA during your employment, to contribute to strengthening the link between the two, for example by finding points of contact and being involved in the respective research groups, and to initiate collaborations between the research groups. You are also expected to demonstrate an ability to shift roles and responsibilities according to the constellations and competencies of different research projects, from, for example, responsible for theory development and literature searches to performing data-driven analyses. Your previous research and the described research plan testify to a creative and flexible person who is not afraid to cross disciplinary boundaries.

The workplace

The position will be housed at the Department of Computer and Information Science (IDA) on Campus Valla, Linköping. IDA is one of the largest departments in northern Europe in its field. Research activity at IDA covers artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, software and computer systems, and data science.

The department is a dynamic and growing environment for research and education with around 300 employees. The activity covers a wide range of areas, from core computer science to applications of science. It is oriented towards both the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

IDA hosts four international master's programmes in 1) Statistics and Machine Learning, 2) Computer Science, 3) Cybersecurity and 4) Design.

As a SweCSS postdoc, you could either be based at the division of Statistics and Machine Learning (STIMA) or Artificial Intelligence and Integrated Computer Systems (AIICS).

Read more about STIMA: https://liu.se/en/organisation/liu/ida/stima

Read more about AIICS: https://liu.se/en/organisation/liu/ida/aiics

In your application, kindly indicate which of these divisions you would prefer to be based at.

The employment

This employment is a fixed term contract of two years with the possibility of extension up to a total maximum of three years.

The position as a postdoctoral fellow is full-time.

The starting date is by agreement.

Salary and employment benefits

The university applies individual salaries.

More information about employee benefits is available here.

Union representatives

Information about union representatives, see Help for applicants.

Application procedure

Apply for the position by clicking the “Apply” button. Your application must be received no later than 3 June 2025. 
 
Applications and documents received after the date above will not be considered. 
 
Please attach your selected research publications electronically, in pdf or word format, in the application template. Research publications, e.g. monographs, which cannot be sent electronically should be sent in three sets by mail to the University Registrar at Linköping University, University Registrar, S-581 83 Linköping, Sweden. The publications must be received by Linköping University no later than the deadline for application. 

Please note that printed publications will not be returned. They will be archived at Linköping University. 
 
In the event of a discrepancy between the English translation of the job announcement and the Swedish original, the Swedish version shall take precedent.