Doctoral Researcher in spatial data management (SDC-36)

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 in Cologne, 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

Excellent English language skills

Our Benefits:

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

Contact

For further information concerning the tasks please contact Stefan Jünger via E-Mail (). If you have questions about the application process, please contact Christine Laßmann via E-Mail ().

Interested?

Please apply by submitting a motivation letter, a CV, and a writing sample via our online-application portal until October 2, 2026.

Our reference number is: SDC-36

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