Postdoctoral and Doctoral Researcher Positions In Evidence-Based Online Gifted Mentoring

With over 21,000 students from around Germany and the world and a wide variety of majors and departments, the University of Regensburg is an innovative and interdisciplinary research university located in the heart of the state of Bavaria, in southern Germany. For a joint research project focused on the evidence-based investigation and conceptualization of an international online mentoring program for gifted and talented youth in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)—involving the Department of School Research, School Development, and Evaluation at the University of Regensburg (Prof. Heidrun Stoeger), the Department of Educational Psychology and Excellence Research at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Prof. Albert Ziegler), and the Hamdan Award for Distinguished Academic Performance (Dubai)—there will be, as of 1 November 2017, at the University of Regensburg

Three positions as postdoctoral or doctoral researchers with the opportunity to work towards German postdoctoral university researcher accreditation (Habilitation) or towards a PhD.

The paid positions are either fulltime (40.1 hrs. per week) for the postdoctoral positions or part time for the doctoral positions and run until 31 October 2021. Salary and benefits (including access to family healthcare options in the German healthcare system) are according to the German pay scale TV-L 13 (West).

Description of the Research Project

The overall goals for the entire research team—which will include an IT specialist—are (1) the evidence-based development of an international online mentoring program in which gifted and talented youth from all continents will have the chance to be mentored by well educated, highly successful leading professionals in STEM fields. To this end, researchers will conduct needs studies with various groups of experts (e.g., STEM experts in academia and industry as well as experts on mentoring, online learning, and didactics) and gifted and talented students, all of whom will be recruited from around the world. Existing research findings on relevant topics will also be systematically reviewed and synthesized. In accordance with the conclusions of both areas of inquiry, an (2) online mentoring platform with appropriate communications tools and educational offerings in STEM will be conceptualized and realized. Optimization of the platform design will be achieved via a series of extensive usability studies. Furthermore, (3) cooperative relationships will be forged, on all continents, with various organizations in STEM (e.g., research institutes, universities, companies, and organizations) and with organizations providing gifted and talented services. These relationships will be used for recruiting the first internationally representative cohort of mentors and mentees for the online gifted and talented mentoring program. Finally, the project will (4) develop and initialize a long-term program of accompanying research that (a) monitors and evaluates the effectiveness of all program initiatives, (b) makes recommendations for program optimization, and (c) investigates a variety of other germane research questions. Team members will be encouraged to integrate their own research agendas into this context. The Project Director will actively support team members in creating synergies between the goals of the research project and their own professional research agendas. Postdoctoral researchers will be given the opportunity to work towards German postdoctoral researcher accreditation (Habilitation); doctoral researchers will be given the opportunity to work towards a PhD.

In addition to the qualifications implied by the project description, the following general qualifications are expected of all postdoctoral and doctoral applicants:

• For doctoral applicants: A degree at the Master’s level (Level 7 in the ISCED 2011 categorization) or higher with (a) relevance for the project as described above (e.g., psychology, education, other relevant social-sciences fields, a STEM field, scientific writing) and (b) evidence of above-average post-secondary educational accomplishments

• For postdoctoral applicants: A completed PhD or equivalent academic achievement (Level 8 in the ISCED 2011 categorization) with (a) relevance for the project as described above (e.g., psychology, education, other relevant social-sciences fields or a STEM field) and (b) evidence of above-average post-secondary educational accomplishments

• Good command of widespread research methodologies and statistics

• Excellent English writing and speaking skills

• Interest in working with people from heterogeneous cultural and social backgrounds

• Experience with and the ability to enjoy intensive, high-commitment teamwork on outcomes with deadlines

• Excellent public speaking and communications skills

• Prior experiences involving scientific writing and academic publishing

For all applicants, previous scientific work in research related to gifted and talented identification and education or expertise research is a plus, but not a requirement.

Please submit copies of all university-level and high school transcripts when applying. Should you be offered a position, you will be required, on short notice, to then provide certified copies (or sealed original records) of all supporting documents.

Please also note the following provisions:

• The University of Regensburg is a family-friendly employer
• (see http://www.uni-regensburg.de/chancengleichheit).

• Should applicants with and without disabilities be equally qualified, the applicants with disabilities will be given priority. Please provide official documentation of a recognized disability in your application.

• Should you be selected for an interview, please note that we are not obliged to cover your expenses. However, at our full discretion, we may offer to provide some financial support to defray travel costs and/or to conduct interviews via online video conferencing.

Please direct all inquiries and applications (including, but not limited to, cover letter, CV, high school and university transcripts) to Prof. Dr. Heidrun Stoeger (heidrun.stoeger@ur.de).