Postdoctoral Researcher in anthropology, law, science and technology studies, ethics, or philosophy

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

The Cluster of Excellence "Machine Learning - New Perspectives for Science" at the University of Tübingen offers several postdoc positions in our Norms & Practices Lab to be filled as soon as possible. The positions will be filled by highly qualified researchers who investigate machine learning from ethical, philosophical, anthropological or legal perspectives.

The aim of the Norms & Practices Lab of the Cluster of Excellence is to investigate from an interdisciplinary perspective how the advent of transformative machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies changes the norms and practices of science, drawing on a rich set of methodological approaches and theoretical frameworks from philosophy, digital anthropology, science and technology studies, and law. The lab places a particular emphasis on creating synergies between these disciplinary approaches and connecting them with computer science perspectives and insights. Research could for example investigate the transformation of epistemic norms and practices in scientific domains, study data journeys from the perspective of legal norms and scientific practices, or explore interdisciplinary perspectives on quantitative evaluation metrics such as algorithmic fairness paradigms.

Applicants should hold a PhD in philosophy, law, cultural anthropology, or (qualitative) social science. The positions are fixed-term (6 years with an interim evaluation after 3 years), with a salary according to the German public sector (100%, E13 TV-L).

Tübingen is a leading place for research in machine learning. The Research Fellows will be embedded in the lively and interactive environment of the Cluster of Excellence “Machine Learning: New Perspectives for Science” at the University of Tübingen (www.ml-in-science.uni-tuebingen.de). Also on our campus are the Tübingen AI Center, the Max Planck Institute for intelligent Systems, and the Ellis Institute.

Please send the usual documents (cover letter, curriculum vitae, copies of certificates, list of publications, 2-3 names of referees) together with a 1 page pitch on a planned research project outlining research objectives and how you want to achieve them. Please submit all documents as a single PDF (not exceeding 5 MB) to the Central Office of the Cluster of Excellence (ml-in-science@uni-tuebingen.de) by November 30, 2025. Questions can also be directed to the Central Office.

The University aims to increase the proportion of women in research and therefore urges suitably qualified women scientists to apply. Qualified international researchers are expressly invited to apply. Disabled persons with equal aptitude will be given preferential consideration. Staffing will be conducted by the central administration of the University of Tübingen.