RESEARCHER IN COMPUTATIONAL POLITICAL COMMUNICATION (R2) - AI4S

About BSC The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain.
It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe.
The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress.
BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over staff from 60 countries.
Look at the BSC experience.
BSC-CNS YouTube Channel Let's stay connected with BSC Folks! We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research.
In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured.
We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.
If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer.
We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.
Context And Mission The Computational Social Science and Humanities program envisions preparing the social sciences and humanities for the era of data, artificial intelligence (AI), and Exascale supercomputing.
Our mission is to foster collaboration between social scientists and computer scientists, making high-performance computing (HPC) accessible to all researchers in the field.
Through innovative approaches, we aim to apply social science research to contribute valuable insights for informed policymaking.
In our pursuit, we focus on a wide range of key societal research areas such as Population and Household changes, Democratic Quality, Social Media, Public Opinion and Political Communication, Equity and Welfare in Education and Labor Market, legal systems and Legislation, Social-Ecology, Science of Science, and History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage.
Employing a mixed of advanced statistical models, AI/Machine Learning, Large Language Models (LLMs), Agent-Based Modeling (ABM), Social Network Analysis (SNA), high-performance computational methods are applied to a wide range of large datasets from official statistics, surveys, social media, news, laws, historical archives, current data archives, archaeology data, citizens & volunteered and web-scraping data, and public administration and industry data.
We are seeking for a postdoctoral researcher with strong skills in data science to join the Communication and Social Behavior research team.
The candidate will be expected to play a pivotal role in advancing cutting edge research on communication and public opinion dynamics by applying advanced computational methods (ML/AI, LLMs, ABM, SNA…).
You will report directly to Dr Ana S.
Cardenal, Professor of Political Science BSC-UUC, and Dr Mercè Crosas, Head of the Computational Science Programme at BSC.
The funding for these actions/fellowships and contracts comes from the European Union Recovery and Resilience Facility - Next Generation, within the framework of the General Invitation by the public business entity Red.
s to participate in the talent attraction and retention programs within Investment 4 of Component 19 of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan.
For more information, please check.
https://www.
sc.
s/join-us/excellence-career-opportunities/ai4s "La financiación de estas actuaciones/becas y contratos, procede del Mecanismo de Recuperación y Resiliencia de la Unión Europea-Next Generation, en el marco de la Invitación General de la entidad pública empresarial Red.
s para participar en los programas de atracción y retención del talento dentro de la Inversión 4 del Componente 19 del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia.
Para más información.
https://www.
sc.
s/join-us/excellence-career-opportunities/ai4s " Key Duties Conduct innovative research on communication, public opinion dynamics and related areas using advanced computational methods (ML/AI, LLMs, SNA, ABM).
Assistance in tasks of data collection, cleaning, pre-processing, and analysis.
Writing and submitting project proposals of high scientific quality to seek competitive financial support at the international and European levels.
Coordination and assistance in setting up an Internet Observatory.
Collaboration with the rest of the research group and members from other CSS departments.
Exchanges and creation of synergies with other social science disciplines to advance research and knowledge transmission.
Requirements Education PhD in hard sciences (e.
., Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science) or social sciences (e.
.
Economics, Political Science).
Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience Experience in quantitative empirical analysis and computational methods (data mining, ML/AI, text analysis, network analysis, agent-based modeling).
Programming skills and eagerness to work in multiple languages and code (e.
.
R, Python), with different statistical softwares, packages, notebook environments.
• Interest in researching in political communication, with a focus on elites’ communication strategies, media strategies and uses and public opinion dynamics.
An economic approach to these subjects will be highly valued.
Willingness to move to Barcelona and eagerness to travel internationally to engage with relevant scientific communities.
Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience Fluency in English is essential.
Proficiency in Spanish and other European languages would be advantageous.
Experience with server management and data donation tools is an advantage.
Previous experience with international collaboration and community building.
Competences Ability to work in a team and in a multi-cultural environment.
A scientific mindset, the capacity of working independently, strong affinity for cooperative collaboration, project management skills.
Analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
A team player and a kind colleague, especially to junior scholars.
A motivated thinker and quick learner.
Conditions The position will be located at BSC within the Computational Social Science and Humanities Program.
We offer a full-time contract (37.
h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance Duration.
4 years Holidays.
23 paid vacation days plus 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement Salary.
€.
Additional Expenses Grant.
Each fellowship will be associated with a grant for additional expenses, such as IT equipment, travel, training, stays, etc.
Starting date.
asap - the incorporation for this vacancy must be before the 16th of December Applications procedure and process All applications must be submitted via the BSC website and contain.
A full CV in English, including contact details.
A cover/motivation letter with a statement of interest in English, clearly specifying for which specific area and topics the applicant wishes to be considered.
Additionally, two references for further contacts must be included.
Applications without this document will not be considered.
Development of the recruitment process The selection will be carried out through a competitive examination system ("Concurso-Oposición").
The recruitment process consists of two phases.
Curriculum Analysis.
Evaluation of previous experience and/or scientific history, degree, training, and other professional information relevant to the position.
- 40 points Interview phase.
The highest-rated candidates at the curriculum level will be invited to the interview phase, conducted by the corresponding department and Human Resources.
In this phase, technical competencies, knowledge, skills, and professional experience related to the position, as well as the required personal competencies, will be evaluated.
- 60 points.
A minimum of 30 points out of 60 must be obtained to be eligible for the position.
The recruitment panel will be composed of at least three people, ensuring at least 25% representation of women.
In accordance with OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for each vacancy at the beginning of the process.
After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will begin the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview.
At a minimum, a personality questionnaire as well as a technical exercise will be conducted during the process.
The panel will make a final decision, and all individuals who participated in the interview phase will receive feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.
At BSC, we seek continuous improvement in our recruitment processes.
For any suggestions or comments/complaints about our recruitment processes, please contact recruitment [at] bsc [dot] es.
For more information, please follow this link.
Deadline The vacancy will remain open until a suitable candidate has been hired.
Applications will be regularly reviewed and potential candidates will be contacted.
OTM-R principles for selection processes BSC-CNS is committed to the principles of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission and the Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment principles (OTM-R).
This is applied for any potential candidate in all our processes, for example by creating gender-balanced recruitment panels and recognizing career breaks etc.
BSC-CNS is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion.
We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by applicable state or local law.
For more information follow this link This position is reserved for candidates who meet the requirements and have the legal status of disabled persons with a degree of disability equal to or greater than 33%.
In case there are no applicants with disabilities that meet the requirements, the rest of the candidates without declared disability will be evaluated.