Postdoctoral Researcher, Social Media Observatory

About the role

The Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) at the University of Oxford is hiring up to two postdoctoral researchers for the Social Media Observatory (SMO), a research unit directed by Dr. Andreu Casas and funded by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. The SMO studies how social media platforms shape political information environments and public opinion. The posts are fixed-term for two years, available from 1 September 2026. Salary: £39,424 to £46,476 per year (Grade 7). Application deadline: 23 June 2026 at 12:00 noon UK time.

Responsibilities

• Design and lead research projects on political communication, platform dynamics, and information diffusion using large-scale social media datasets.
• Apply computational methods, including text analysis, machine learning, and causal inference, to study platform-level phenomena and their political effects.
• Write and submit articles to peer-reviewed journals and present at major political science or computational social science conferences.
• Contribute to grant reporting and maintain the SMO’s research infrastructure (data pipelines, code repositories).
• Help supervise junior research assistants and DPhil students working within the Observatory.

Requirements

• PhD in political science, communication, computational social science, or a closely related field must be completed before 1 September 2026.
• Track record of peer-reviewed publications or working papers on social media, political communication, or information environments.
• Proficiency in Python or R for large-scale text data analysis.
• Experience working with social media datasets (API data, web-scraped content, or platform-provided archives).
• Fluent written and spoken English for research output and DPhil student supervision.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with causal inference methods commonly used in political science: difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity, or synthetic control.
• Experience with natural language processing beyond basic classification, such as topic models, transformers, or stance detection.
• Prior engagement with policy audiences, think tanks, or media organizations on platform governance or disinformation.

How to apply

Apply online via the DPIR vacancies page at the link above. Upload a CV, a supporting statement (max 2 pages explaining fit with the SMO’s research agenda), and 2 writing samples (published papers, working papers, or dissertation chapters). Two referees must email confidential letters directly to vacancies@politics.ox.ac.uk by 23 June 2026 at 12:00 noon UK time. Quote reference 186458 in all correspondence. Interviews are scheduled for 17 July 2026.