Postdoctoral and Doctoral Researcher Positions In Evidence-Based Online Gifted Mentoring
- Employer
- University of Regensburg, Department of School Research, School Development, and Evaluation
- Location
- Germany
- Salary
- Not specified
- Date posted
- Sep 15, 2017
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- Position Type
- Faculty Positions, Education, Other Education, Social & Behavioral Sciences, Other Social & Behavioral Sciences, Psychology
- Employment Level
- Post-Doc
- Employment Type
- Full Time
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).
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