The Department of Social and Historical Sciences has a vacancy in the Laboratory for Empirical Reception Research (LitLab - Prof. Dr. Thomas Weitin, Department of German Studies - Digital Literary Studies) starting October 1st, 2022 for a

Research Assistant (all genders) 

in a temporary employment contract for a period of two years. We are looking for an employee to carry out the project "Evidence-based literary comprehension in German lessons" funded by the Excellence Programme of the State of Hesse (LOEWE).

Project description

German lessons should inspire enthusiasm for literature and teach pupils to form independent judgements and be empathetic. However, empirical evidence for such literary effects is disputed. The project aims to examine whether there is a level of emotionality that is optimal for understanding literary texts. It combines emotion-oriented methods of text analysis with the measurement of emotional reactions during reading. The aim is to provide specific orientation aids for German lessons in the upper secondary school.

Qualification

- You have completed a university degree (Master) in empirical literary studies, empirical aesthetics, experimental linguistics or cognitive science

- You have experience in designing and conducting experiments, e.g. with a setup of eye-tracking and peripheral physiology or with EEG

- You have experience in creating and evaluating questionnaires with a statistical analysis software such as R, Python, MATLAB or a comparable program

- You enjoy working in a research team

- You have a strong interest in interdisciplinary research questions

Your tasks

- Collaboration in the conceptualisation, preparation, implementation and evaluation of experiments on literature comprehension in German classes

- Collaboration in data analysis and modeling

- Assistance with project-relevant laboratory administration

We offer

- A diverse set of tasks and a motivated research group

- Participation in national and international conferences

- Co-authorship of project-relevant publications in international journals

- Support in the development and implementation of an own research profile following the research tasks worked on

- An interdisciplinary environment and opportunity for exchange

The fulfillment of the duties likewise enables the scientific qualifications of the candidate. 

The Technische Universität Darmstadt intends to increase the number of female employees and encourages female candidates to apply. In case of equal qualifications applicants with a degree of disability of at least 50 or equal will be given preference. Wages and salaries are according to the collective agreements on salary scales, which apply to the Technische Universität Darmstadt (TV-TU Darmstadt). Part-time employment is generally possible. 

For questions regarding content, please contact Prof. Dr. Thomas Weitin: thomas.weitin@tu-darmstadt.de.

Please send your application with the usual documents in the form of a pdf file (maximum 5 MB), quoting the identification number, by 20.09.2022 to: sprachli@linglit.tu-darmstadt.de.