The LUT School of Engineering Sciences, the academic discipline of global communication sciences, is seeking a junior researcher (doctoral student) in Computational Social Science or Data Social Science to strengthen its global communications, soft power, strategic narratives and propaganda research areas. Specifically, we are looking for someone with a curious mind who is aiming for an academic career and is passionate about constant learning and making the world a better place to live through science.
The newly appointed junior researcher will have the opportunity to be part of the creation of a new faculty. LUT’s research in social sciences and communication sciences will be further strengthened. With a significant public donation, LUT University is building a school of social sciences to house 1,000 students and 100 researchers by the 2030s. LUT University’s research in social sciences and communication sciences is based on understanding society and human activities in relation to global sustainability problems. We believe that, by engaging individuals and communities at the start of problem solving, we can bring about changes more quickly.
Candidate requirements (mandatory)
- A master’s degree (M.Sc. or equivalent) in a relevant field (preferably computational social science, computational communication/journalism studies, data science, computer science and media and communications studies or computer science and news media and journalism studies)
- Alternatively, a degree in another social science field, such as sociology, political science, social psychology or international relations and a significant amount of study in computer science, combined with a desire to use that knowledge to contribute to communication sciences, particularly to soft power, disinformation, propaganda and strategic narratives research. The candidate might hold two degrees, with one degree in computer or data science.
- The ability and motivation to complete doctoral studies within the expected duration (i.e. 4 years)
- Fluency in English (both written and spoken), with knowledge of other languages considered a plus.
- Experience working with computational text analytics or image analysis/computer vision using either R or Python, familiarity with word-embedding methods, topic modelling, network analysis, and large language models, such as BERT, and experience in or willingness to learn PyTorch/Keras/TensorFlow
- A desire to write an article-based doctoral thesis (in English) and publish in international top-tier academic journals in the field of media and communication studies (e.g. Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Communication Methods and Measures, Digital Journalism, International Journal of Press/Politics, Political Communication, Big Data & Society)while drawing on computational methods/computer science
- Commitment to a high standard of research ethics as defined by LUT University guidelines and national Finnish guidelines
- A global perspective, with applicants with international academic experience in particular encouraged to apply
- Excellent knowledge of scientific writing, computational research methods and strong research ethics are a must, and previous scientific publications in the field are considered is a merit.
- An interest in writing a doctoral dissertation on propaganda in the context of news and the changing landscape of AI, with the dissertation focusing on the field of computational social science/data social science.