Postdoctoral Researcher Position Digital Humanities Approaches to Deep Collaborative Work

The Amsterdam School for Historical Studies (ASH) invites applications for a fully funded postdoctoral researcher position (3 years, 0.8ft). This position is part of the ERC Synergy-funded research programme BLOCKADE, which explores the two global blockades of the First and Second World Wars, and their aftermaths.

A cooperation between the universities of Trondheim, Hamburg, Freiburg and Amsterdam, BLOCKADE sets out to prove that these blockades are crucial to understanding not only the way the world wars were fought but also their globality and totality, their immediate effects and their long-term global repercussions. More information can be found on the project website: https://blockades.eu/

Join our team!
Key to our collaborative efforts is a common source base. This enables deep collaborative work, as individual projects and entire work packages gain access to data they could not otherwise have accessed or understood, and is vital to tackle a global subject over a longer time-period. As postdoctoral researcher, you will enrich collected data by developing machine learning-assisted (1) OCR/HTR-postcorrection models and (2) multilingual entity linking. You will employ natural language processing and network analysis to extract potentially meaningful organisational, spatial, rhetorical patterns. A basic project database, based on Paperless/NGX (https://docs.paperless-ngx.com/) has already been set up.

As a postdoctroral researcher you will work closely with the University of Amsterdam-based PI, Samuël Kruizinga, as well as the other BLOCKADE PIs, professors Alan Kramer (Hamburg), Elisabeth Piller (Freiburg) and Jonas Scherner (Trondheim), with project Expert Partner professor Julia Noordegraaf, and with the other PhDs and postdoctoral researchers of the project. The postdoctoral researcher will be embedded with CREATE (https://aihr.uva.nl/humanities-labs/create/about-create.html) and benefit from its infrastructure and collegial support, as well as those of the other Humanities Labs at the University of Amsterdam.

This is what you will be doing
Required:

• designing and conducting research under the guidance of the project leader, resulting in at least two peer-reviewed academic publications in (inter)national scientific journals, edited volumes, and/or monographs, including one chapter in the project’s blockade handbook;
• contributing to the development of the blockade database as outlined above, ideally by building on the foundations provided by the Paperless/NGX system;
• actively participating in the research and outreach activities of BLOCKADE project, including its reading groups, workshops and conferences;

Optional:

• organizing (or co-organizing) expert meetings and a symposium;
• participating in committees and working groups, as well as performing administrative tasks.

This is what we ask of you
Required:

• a PhD in history or a related field within the humanities or social sciences;
• excellent oral and written presentation skills in English (equivalent to at least level B2);
• proven experience working in digital humanities project related to forms of distant reading, ideally including either forms of topic modelling or named entity recognition;
• relevant programming experience;
• advanced knowledge of quantitative and/or qualitative humanities research methods;
• a strong cooperative attitude and willingness to engage in collaborative research.

Optional:

• a strong interest in BLOCKADE’s research topic;
• enthusiasm for communicating academic research to non-academic audiences;
• excellent social, communication, and organizational skills; • good command of Dutch.

This is what we offer you

• a researcher 4 (postdoc) contract for 0,8fte for three years, starting in September or October 2025.
• experience in an exciting, multi-location international research project;
• generous travel and conference funds and opportunity to invite guest scholars;
• opportunity for intellectual growth and career advancement, including a wide variety of training, mentoring and professional development offerings available at the university;
• open, inclusive and supportive work environment with committed colleagues;
• excellent possibilities for further professional development and education;
• an inspiring academic and international work environment in the heart of Amsterdam;
• an enthusiastic and professional academic team.
• the opportunity to collaborate with leading researchers at research institutes that - partly as a result of their interdisciplinary approach - are world renowned.

This is where you will be working
At the Amsterdam School of Historical Studies (ASH) of the University of Amsterdam you will benefit from an international, creative and independent work environment, as well as excellent terms of employment. Your place of work will be the vibrant city centre of Amsterdam as part of an internationally orientated history department. The project you will be working on is an essential part of the wider BLOCKADE project, bringing together four universities, 18 project members, and four project leaders, in an interdisciplinary working environment with the ambitious goal to rewrite the history of the World Wars and their aftermaths.

As part of your application, please submit the following:

• a letter of motivation detailing your prior experience and your fit for the project (1 page max.);
• research plan (2-4 pages);
• a full academic CV;
• Up to 3 academic works - published or unpublished – or relevant code samples;
• Name and contact information of two referees to be contacted for references.

You can apply until 11 May 2025. If you have any questions, please contact Samuël Kruizinga: s.f.kruizinga@uva.nl. Interviews for this position will be held online in June 2025.

32 hours per week

Kloveniersburgwal 48