Postdoctoral Position in Policy Analysis and Political Economy (m/f/d)

Term limitation: 4 years

Beginning:

Location: Kaiserslautern

Scope: Full time

Remuneration: E 13 TV-L

Faculty: Social Sciences

With about 17,000 students, more than 300 professorships and around 160 degree programs, the RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau is the technical university of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. As a place of top international research, it offers excellent working conditions and career opportunities. Those who study, research or work at RPTU experience a cosmopolitan environment and shape the future.

Your area of responsibility

This position is embedded in the ERC Starting Grant project “Climplexity”: Climate Policy Integration—A Complexity Trap? (grant number: ). The project starts from the puzzle: as climate policies multiply, they do not necessarily become more coherent. In fact, they often contradict each other. Climplexity addresses this puzzle by treating climate policy not as a set of isolated measures, but as a complex and evolving system. It develops new theories and methods to understand how policies interact over time through trade-offs and synergies.

The postdoctoral researcher will join an international project team consisting of two PhDs, student assistants and the PI. The position includes:

• A full-time postdoctoral position (100%, TV-L E13) for a duration of four years
• An anticipated start date of 1 August 2026
• A leading role within the project
• Funding for conference participation and academic dissemination
• Research with transdisciplinary relevance and political impact

Your requirements profile

Applicants must hold an advanced academic degree (e.g., a master’s degree) and a Ph.D. in political science, public policy or computational social science, or neighboring disciplines. The postdoc profile lies at the intersection of political science and computational social science. We welcome candidates with expertise in the following domains:

• Political science, public policy
• Complex systems
• Advanced/inferential network analysis and/or quantitative social science methods
• Legal networks
• Computational science, natural language processing, machine learning or AI-supported methods
• Excellent command of academic English; proficiency in German is an asset

We offer

• Health promotion
• Family Service Center
• Vocational Training
• Flexible working hour and home office
• Jobticket
• Retirement provision
• Sport & Fitness programms
• Culture & Leisure offers
• Local recreation in the Palatinate Forest

RPTU stands for diversity among all employees. We welcome applications from all interested parties, regardless of their ethnic and social origin, age, religion, gender, disability and sexual orientation or identity. Preference will be given to severely disabled persons and persons equivalent to them if they have the appropriate qualifications and suitability.

The RPTU aims to increase the proportion of women in areas where women are underrepresented. Applications from researchers from abroad are expressly encouraged. The position can also be filled on a part‑time basis.