Postdoctoral Scholarship in Political Science (University of Antwerp)

Department: Department of Political Science Regime: Full-time (100%) Location: University of Antwerp, Stadscampus Start Date: 15 November 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter About the University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp is a dynamic, forward-thinking European university. We offer innovative academic education to over 20,000 students, conduct pioneering scientific research, and provide essential services to society. With more than 6,000 employees from 100 different countries, we are one of the largest, most international, and most innovative employers in the region. Through top scientific research, we push boundaries and set a course for the future—a future you can help shape. Position Overview The Department of Political Science in the Faculty of Social Sciences is seeking a full-time postdoctoral scholarship holder in the field of computational political science. Responsibilities: Assist in the ongoing DEMO-LIES project on the link between political representation and political disinformation, funded by the European Research Council Develop and apply NLP methods (e.g., neural network–based models for relation extraction, entity identification, classification, and semantic analysis) to detect and categorize accusations of political disinformation in large corpora of parliamentary debates across 20 democracies Build a relational dataset mapping accusers, accused, topics, and linguistic forms of disinformation accusations for comparative and longitudinal analysis Generate novel insights into the prevalence, variation, and strategic use of political disinformation accusations and contribute to high-impact publications Collaborate with other project members (PhDs, postdocs, principal and co-investigators) Participate in internal seminars, international conferences, and workshops Perform limited teaching and research support tasks for the Department of Political Science Project Description The postdoctoral position is part of the DEMO-LIES project (“Deception in Democracy: Political Lying Accusations and Their Effects on Democratic Citizenship”) led by Prof. Dr. Maurits Meijers. Funded by an ERC Starting Grant, this five-year project (2025–2030) investigates: How political elites use accusations of lying and disinformation How citizens perceive such accusations Effects on democratic attitudes and behaviours The project uses a mixed-method approach, combining: Quantitative text analysis, particularly NLP methods including large language models (LLMs) Qualitative focus groups, cross-sectional surveys, and survey experiments This approach enables analysis of both elite-driven and citizen-driven dynamics of political disinformation and provides evidence-based insights to strengthen democratic resilience. Candidate Profile PhD in political science, computational social science, linguistics, computer science, or related field (or obtained by start date) Research qualities in line with faculty and university research policies Teaching competencies aligned with University of Antwerp’s educational vision Motivated to apply computational methods to substantive political science questions Strong skills in automated text analysis and NLP (machine learning including neural networks, relation/entity extraction, classification, topic modeling) Comfortable with R (tidyverse, reticulate, tidymodels) and Python (spaCy, scikit-learn, Transformers, TensorFlow, PyTorch) Experience collecting, cleaning, and annotating large text corpora Excellent command of English (spoken and written) Advantages: experience with parliamentary debate data, comparative politics, political communication, democratic theory, multilingual NLP, publishing in leading journals, strong teamwork skills, experience with Linux systems What We Offer Full-time postdoctoral scholarship for 1 year, renewable for up to 2 additional years after positive evaluation Dedicated high-performance workstation for large-scale NLP and machine learning experiments Monthly scholarship according to pay scales for Contract Research Staff (BAP) Benefits: ecocheques, internet allowance, bicycle allowance or full reimbursement for public transport Work in a dynamic and stimulating environment at Stadscampus, Antwerp Application Process Deadline: 16 October 2025 (midnight, Brussels time) Apply through: University of Antwerp’s online job application platform Required attachments: Motivation letter Academic CV Two samples of academic or scientific work (published articles, reports, PhD dissertation, working papers, or computational outputs such as code repositories or software tools) Selection process: Applications reviewed after the deadline Candidates notified of decisions promptly Shortlisted candidates may be asked to perform a task in preparation for interviews Contact Information: Online application questions: jobs@uantwerpen.be Job-specific inquiries: maurits.meijers@uantwerpen.be Diversity and Inclusion The University of Antwerp has received the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award. We are a sustainable, family-friendly organization that invests in employees’ growth. We value diversity and inclusivity and encourage applications from individuals of all genders, disabilities, races, ethnicities, religions, beliefs, sexual orientations, and ages. If you apply for this position please say you saw it on Academicoxy

Department: Department of Political Science
Regime: Full-time (100%)
Location: University of Antwerp, Stadscampus
Start Date: 15 November 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter

About the University of Antwerp

The University of Antwerp is a dynamic, forward-thinking European university. We offer innovative academic education to over 20,000 students, conduct pioneering scientific research, and provide essential services to society. With more than 6,000 employees from 100 different countries, we are one of the largest, most international, and most innovative employers in the region. Through top scientific research, we push boundaries and set a course for the future—a future you can help shape.

Position Overview

The Department of Political Science in the Faculty of Social Sciences is seeking a full-time postdoctoral scholarship holder in the field of computational political science.

Responsibilities:

Assist in the ongoing DEMO-LIES project on the link between political representation and political disinformation, funded by the European Research Council
Develop and apply NLP methods (e.g., neural network–based models for relation extraction, entity identification, classification, and semantic analysis) to detect and categorize accusations of political disinformation in large corpora of parliamentary debates across 20 democracies
Build a relational dataset mapping accusers, accused, topics, and linguistic forms of disinformation accusations for comparative and longitudinal analysis
Generate novel insights into the prevalence, variation, and strategic use of political disinformation accusations and contribute to high-impact publications
Collaborate with other project members (PhDs, postdocs, principal and co-investigators)
Participate in internal seminars, international conferences, and workshops
Perform limited teaching and research support tasks for the Department of Political Science

Project Description

The postdoctoral position is part of the DEMO-LIES project (“Deception in Democracy: Political Lying Accusations and Their Effects on Democratic Citizenship”) led by Prof. Dr. Maurits Meijers. Funded by an ERC Starting Grant, this five-year project (2025–2030) investigates:

How political elites use accusations of lying and disinformation
How citizens perceive such accusations
Effects on democratic attitudes and behaviours

The project uses a mixed-method approach, combining:

Quantitative text analysis, particularly NLP methods including large language models (LLMs)
Qualitative focus groups, cross-sectional surveys, and survey experiments

This approach enables analysis of both elite-driven and citizen-driven dynamics of political disinformation and provides evidence-based insights to strengthen democratic resilience.

Candidate Profile

PhD in political science, computational social science, linguistics, computer science, or related field (or obtained by start date)
Research qualities in line with faculty and university research policies
Teaching competencies aligned with University of Antwerp’s educational vision
Motivated to apply computational methods to substantive political science questions
Strong skills in automated text analysis and NLP (machine learning including neural networks, relation/entity extraction, classification, topic modeling)
Comfortable with R (tidyverse, reticulate, tidymodels) and Python (spaCy, scikit-learn, Transformers, TensorFlow, PyTorch)
Experience collecting, cleaning, and annotating large text corpora
Excellent command of English (spoken and written)
Advantages: experience with parliamentary debate data, comparative politics, political communication, democratic theory, multilingual NLP, publishing in leading journals, strong teamwork skills, experience with Linux systems

What We Offer

Full-time postdoctoral scholarship for 1 year, renewable for up to 2 additional years after positive evaluation
Dedicated high-performance workstation for large-scale NLP and machine learning experiments
Monthly scholarship according to pay scales for Contract Research Staff (BAP)
Benefits: ecocheques, internet allowance, bicycle allowance or full reimbursement for public transport
Work in a dynamic and stimulating environment at Stadscampus, Antwerp

Application Process

Deadline: 16 October 2025 (midnight, Brussels time)
Apply through: University of Antwerp’s online job application platform

Required attachments:

Motivation letter
Academic CV
Two samples of academic or scientific work (published articles, reports, PhD dissertation, working papers, or computational outputs such as code repositories or software tools)

Selection process:

Applications reviewed after the deadline
Candidates notified of decisions promptly
Shortlisted candidates may be asked to perform a task in preparation for interviews

Contact Information:

Online application questions: jobs@uantwerpen.be
Job-specific inquiries: maurits.meijers@uantwerpen.be

Diversity and Inclusion

The University of Antwerp has received the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award. We are a sustainable, family-friendly organization that invests in employees’ growth. We value diversity and inclusivity and encourage applications from individuals of all genders, disabilities, races, ethnicities, religions, beliefs, sexual orientations, and ages.

If you apply for this position please say you saw it on Academicoxy

Apply

All Jobs