Overview:
The successful candidate will support an interdisciplinary research team under the supervision of Prof. Oliver Marchart. The role of the research administrator arises from the award of an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council for a major research project on “Prefiguring Democratic Futures. Cultural and Theoretical Responses to the Crisis of Political Imagination” running from October 2022 to September 2027 and hosted by the Department of Political Science of the University of Vienna. The project brings together an interdisciplinary team composed of the Principal Investigator (PI), the research administrator, 2 PhD students and 3 Post-Docs. The successful candidate will assist the PI throughout the duration of the project and play a crucial role in project administration, communication and dissemination activities.
Role of the successful Candidate:
Working closely with the PI and his team, the post holder will be responsible for the daily operational, administrative and financial support for the project, internal and external communication activities, organization of project-related events and – where appropriate – assist with selected research support. The successful candidate will need to be well organised, meticulous and confident working with spreadsheets, web-based administrative and finance systems, and a variety of digital and social media. He/she will be able to work on his/her own initiative and within the team, self-managing a varied workload with competing priorities, deal calmly with difficult or pressured situations and prioritise his/her own workload to meet deadlines, with the flexibility to reorganise his/her workload at short notice to accommodate any changing priorities within the team.
The ability to interact positively and to communicate effectively with the research team members as well as with colleagues from the Department of Political Science and the ERC, with a commitment to providing a high standard of service, is essential.
The principal duties and responsibilities of the successful candidate will be:
- Assist the PI in the planning and monitoring of the project budgets in close collaboration with the Research Service of the University of Vienna to ensure all expenditure and procedures around contracts are processed efficiently through the University’s finance system.
- Organise project-related events, such as seminars, workshops and conferences.
- Manage the project’s calendar and the travels/meetings’ planning/agenda.
- Maintain records of project information and documentation and assist researchers in the storage and back-up of key data.
- Manage the project website, including regular updates, and assist the PI and his team in further dissemination activities (e.g. blogs, newsletter, contacts to media, social media).
- Maintain internal and external communication (e.g. with administrative staff of the Department, the Faculty and the Research Service of the University of Vienna).
- Eventually undertake small research tasks, such as collecting and managing literature/news on the main topics of the study or interviews’ transcription, depending on the project’s needs and his/her working schedule.
Start of employment: January 1, 2023
Duration of employment: until the project ends on September 30, 2027
Extent of employment: 20.00 hours/week
Classification according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement for University Staff: Article 54, salary group IIIa (Please take into account that the stated salary is gross for 40.00 hours/week)
Workplace: Vienna
Basic Requirements:
• 2+ years of research administration experience.
• Demonstrated organizational and administrative skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work in collegial, supportive manner with department, faculty and staff.
• Excellent prioritization skills, strong analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Excellent communication skills in German and English, both written and oral.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple assignments with tight, concurrent deadlines and with frequent interruptions.
• Proficient with MS Office applications (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and internet.
• Experience with electronic grants management systems.
• Experience in the area of public relations and communication.
• Experience in financial management/budget planning.
Preferred Qualifications:
• Experience in administration of EU funded projects.
• Designation of Certified Research Administrator.
• Designation of Certified Project management Skills (e.g. PMA D Level, EBCL).
• Interest in Political Science, Social Sciences, Cultural Sciences, Political Theory.
Application:
Applications should be sent electronically to admin.politikwissenschaft@univie.ac.at by November 2, 2022 and include the following documents in a single PDF file in English:
• Cover Letter outlining your motivation and how your expertise is linked to the project’s requirements (2-4 pages)
• Curriculum vitae
• Documents/certificates for proof of requirements and qualifications
• Reference letter
Selection & Next Steps:
Following the closing date, we will contact you by email to let you know whether or not you have been shortlisted to participate in the next stage of the selection process.
For informal enquiries about this job, contact the PI, Prof. Oliver Marchart, via email: oliver.marchart@univie.ac.at
The University of Vienna intends to increase the number of women on its faculty, particularly in high-level positions, and therefore specifically invites applications by women. Among equally qualified applicants women will receive preferential consideration.
About the Project:
Democracy is in a crisis of global scale. This crisis has variously been attributed to a loss of belief in political representation, the rising of technocratic ‘post-democracy’, or an authoritarian and populist turn. However, a narrow focus on the political system is inadequate. PREDEF starts from the assumption that the crisis of democracy is also a crisis of political imagination. As the infamous TINA-principle (‘There is no Alternative’) illustrates, it has become increasingly difficult to imagine genuine democratic alternatives to the status quo. PREDEF sets out to explore potentials for deepening and pluralizing democracy beyond the sphere of politics narrowly defined as the body of existing political institutions. The project will turn to the fields of culture, art and intellectual history, for these fields hold hitherto untapped potentials for extending our democratic imaginary and disclosing political alternatives. Located at the intersection between cultural research and democratic theory, PREDEF meets this challenge empirically and theoretically. Empirically, artistic and cultural counter-practices are investigated that champion democratization in the time-based arts (through theatrical occupations), international relations (through counter-summits) and law (through ‘mock’ tribunals). Theoretically, the project seeks to widen our democratic imaginary by searching the history of ideas for ‘forgotten’ institutions that hold untapped democratic potentials, and by elaborating a theory of democratic imagination.
