Student Assistant for “A World of Wannabe Leapfrogs? Competitiveness Strategies in the Global Tech Race.” - Köln

The Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG) conducts basic research on the governance of modern societies.

We currently have an immediate opportunity for a bachelor’s or master’s student who is enrolled at a university in Germany and interested in working around 8 hours per week as a Student Assistant to Prof. Dr. Regine Paul in her research project “A World of Wannabe Leapfrogs? Competitiveness Strategies in the Global Tech Race.” The position is to be filled as of June 1, 2026.

Your role:

• Collecting, organizing, and analyzing relevant national strategies, policies, and funding programs for artificial intelligence and related technologies across the globe
• Performing quantitative and qualitative text analysis with MaxQDA
• Providing assistance on related projects

You will have the opportunity to develop your coding and analytical skills in the qualitative data analysis software MaxQDA. Working with the project lead, you will also gain experience in all stages of designing and writing scientific papers, from formulating a research question to searching and structuring existing empirical materials, to analyzing the material and critically discussing the findings.

What we offer:

You will work at a renowned research institute in an international environment, with access to the MPIfG’s data and library resources and the opportunity to participate in Institute events. As part of a fixed-term employment contract (WissZeitVG), we offer remuneration in accordance with the Max Planck Society’s guidelines on support for junior scientists; the current rates are 13.90 euros per hour for bachelor’s students and 14.40 euros per hour for master’s students.

A collaborative and collegial working environment is integral to the MPIfG. Starting from the application process, we are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for all our employees. The compatibility of career and family is one of our key concerns, as is the employment of people with disabilities.

How to apply:

Please upload your full application documents (cover letter, CV, copies of diplomas and current proof of enrolment) as a single PDF to our online application portal. We regret that we cannot consider applications by post or email. The closing date for applications is April 17, 2026.