Summary
- Topic Job Offer — 3-4 Postdoctoral/Doctoral Positions
- When to (Europe/Berlin / UTC100)
- Where München
- Payment E13 for entry level graduate students; E14 for senior researchers
- URL https://transform-cluster.de/startseite/jobs/
- Download date as file get iCal file
Description
The DFG Cluster of Excellence TransforM at Technical University Munich is inviting applications for up to
3-4 PhD / Post-Pocs in the team developing the Public Technology Lab
What are they looking for?
They are looking to hire three to four doctoral or postdoctoral researchers to help us develop and run the ‘Public Technology Lab’ as a research infrastructure of TransforM: Munich Center for Transformative Technologies and Societal Change (www.transform-cluster.de).
Start Date: as soon as possible (negotiable)
As a Cluster of Excellence funded by the German Research Foundation DFG, TransforM’s goal is to better understand why, when, and how technologies become socially transformative, and to critically assess and inform transformation pathways ‘all the way through’ – from the early stages of their emergence to their wider socio-economic impact. As one element in an ambitious research infrastructure, TransforM will set up a Public Technology Lab tasked to explore and mediate the complex relationships between emerging technologies and emerging publics in all their heterogeneity, including through innovative public engagement and dialogue formats.
they are not looking for people to match existing profiles. These are positions for creative and ambitious people interested in working in a team to develop and run their own projects while building a public research infrastructure in collaboration with TransforM as a whole. There is plenty of space for good ideas!
The public technology will likely cover the following dimensions:
- a community lab component focused on urban and rural everyday life and how it is transformed in multiple ways by technologies, with a view towards diverse public engagement and deliberation formats, potentially including digital or mobile formats that could be deployed across Germany
- a regulatory science component focused on questions of governance of transformative technologies in relation to policy stakeholders, aligned with the TUM ThinkTank (www.tumthinktank.de).
- an educational component together with the K12 schools programme of the Deutsche Museum in Munich, Europe’s largest museum of science (www.deutsches-museum.de), potentially including other elements of science communication
They are looking to put together a creative and enthusiastic team. The team as whole – not each member of the team – needs to reflect
- German language capabilities;
- the heterogeneity of late modern societies, including diverse social and political positionalities;
- different degrees of professional experience (from early doc to senior researcher and experienced practioners);
- different methodological and conceptual proficiencies (across the social sciences and humanities);
- interest and expertise in different technological domains.
What do they have to offer?
TransforM aims to become one of Europe’s foremost centres for social science research on transformative technologies. TransforM is hosted by the Technical University of Munich, Europe’s highest ranked university. We thus offer an extremely vibrant and well-resourced research and teaching environment. TransforM comprises 25 principal investigators from across the social sciences and humanities. It is a highly inter- and transdisciplinary environment presenting tremendous opportunities for ambitious early- and mid-career researchers to move their ideas forward in Germany, in Europe, and worldwide.
Pay grades in the team can vary from 75% E13 for entry level graduate students to 100% E14 for senior researchers. Contracts will typically last for 3.5 years in the first instance. TransforM is funded for seven years initially. Details are negotiable and depend very much on the person and what they will bring to TransforM.
About TransforM
TransforM is closely connected to the Department of Science, Technology and Society (STS) at the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology, which is dedicated to understanding the larger social, political, ethical and legal dimensions of science and technology. Embedded in TUM’s unique innovation ecosystem, we are committed to society-centred innovation, i.e. enabling a more responsible and sustainable engagement with science and innovation through social science research, teaching and public dialogue – ocen in collaboration with partners from technical fields. The TUM STS community strives to provide new intellectual and practical resources for dealing with the challenges of highly technologised societies, and to train future leaders with a unique sensibility for the critical interface between science, technology and society. The STS Department was founded in 2021 and expands the institutional groundwork laid by the Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS) since 2012 to put society at the heart of the TUM mission. As one of Europe’s largest hubs for STS, we are a lively intellectual community of 70+ researchers from numerous disciplines and fields of specialisation. As a department, we deliver 2 Master’s programs and design STS content for the School’s PhD program. We offer regular public lectures and symposia, weekly discussion groups, and visiting researcher programmes. We maintain close collaborative ties to other parts of TUM as well as to leading STS centres in Germany and around the world. We are located in the city centre of Munich.
If you have any questions, please contact: joerg.niewoehner [at] tum.de
How to apply?
Please send your application in a single pdf document (surname_transform.pdf) containing a cover letter, a one-pager with your idea(s) for the Public Technology Lab and an informative CV of less than three pages, including – if applicable – a list of your three most generative publications (not the publications themselves) to karolina.knittel [at] tum.de.
Deadline: 31st of January 2026, but we will start to speak to suitable candidates immediately to begin to shape a team.
TUM is committed to increasing the proportion of women in its academic workforce and explicitly encourages applications from qualified women. The position is suitable for disabled persons. Disabled applicants will be given preference in case of generally equivalent suitability, aptitude and professional performance.
Note on data protection: As part of your application, you provide personal data to be processed at Technical University of Munich (TUM). Please note our data protection information in accordance with Art. 13 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the collection and processing of personal data in the context of your application. By submitting your application, you confirm that you have taken note of TUM's data protection information.
