Vacant job

University of Gothenburg meets society's challenges with diverse knowledge. With 58,000 students and 6,800 employees, the university is a large and inspiring workplace. Strong research and attractive education attract researchers and students from all over the world. With new knowledge and new perspectives, the University of Gothenburg contributes to a better future.

The Department of Political Science is an international academic environment that welcomes students, researchers, and employees from around the world. Our research covers political institutions, elections, public opinion, and democracy, international and European politics, environmental policy, corruption, and political ideas. The Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg is ranked as the best in Sweden and as one of the top 10–15 in Europe in the subject area according to the ShanghaiRankings global subject ranking for 2025. Every year, we arrange a large number of research seminars and workshops within the department's various research areas. We offer education at all levels, in both Swedish and English. In total, approximately 1,400 people study with us, and the department has approximately 170 employees.

More information about the department can be found at https://www.pol.gu.se (https://www.pol.gu.se).

The Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg is now seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher in Political Science, 100% full-time, for a two-year position, with the possibility of extension by one year. The position is focused on research within the areas of political behavior and comparative politics, with a special focus on parenthood, health, pregnancy, and societal outcomes.

Responsibilities

The position of Postdoctoral Researcher aims to provide the employee with an early opportunity to develop their independence as a researcher after completing a doctoral degree, as well as to create conditions for further career advancement. The person employed as a Postdoctoral Researcher shall primarily conduct research. Teaching may be included in the responsibilities, but no more than one-fifth of the working time.

The work is carried out in close collaboration with the research group and may include responsibility for own sub-studies. The Postdoctoral Researcher is expected to independently develop theoretical and empirical ideas at the intersection of political science, health research, economics, register-based methods, and research on inequality.

The responsibilities include leading and contributing to the work on scientific publications, developing and conducting quantitative analyses, as well as preparing, linking, and analyzing register and survey data. This may, for example, involve data from the Pregnancy Register, the Neonatal Register, LISA, election registers, other Swedish administrative registers, and previous survey studies within PregDem. The work may also include ethics applications, documentation, measurement strategies, data preparation, project meetings, workshops, and international collaborations.

The position offers good opportunities for supervision and mentoring, conference participation, method and competence development, and, where relevant, additional data collection within the framework of the projects.

Qualifications

The assessment will primarily be based on scientific competence and the applicant's ability to conduct and develop research within the area of employment. Special emphasis is placed on the quality of the applicant's research output, ability to work independently, and potential to contribute to the projects.

The following qualifications are required:

• A doctoral degree in political science or a relevant related field at the latest by the time the employment decision is made.
• Documented research competence relevant to one of the research areas of the position.
• Good ability to independently produce high-quality scientific text.
• Very good knowledge of English, both spoken and written.

Qualifications in quantitative methods, especially causal or quasi-experimental research designs, as well as experience with register data, quality registers, longitudinal survey data, or other large-scale data sources, are meritorious. Experience with quantitative analysis in software such as Stata, R, or Python is also meritorious.

We welcome applicants with research experience in political participation, representation, gender and politics, health disparities, labor market outcomes, or social inequality. Scientific publications, high-quality manuscripts, interdisciplinary collaboration, project management, or responsibility for sub-studies are also meritorious.

The work involves using Swedish registers, documentation, and authority-related systems. Knowledge of Swedish is not a requirement, but the person employed must be prepared to orient themselves in the Swedish context and, if necessary, develop relevant language understanding during the employment.

To succeed in this position, you must be able to work carefully and independently, communicate well with researchers from different disciplines, and contribute constructively to a research group spanning political science, obstetrics, epidemiology, and related fields. Personal suitability for the position is highly valued, particularly teamwork skills, analytical independence, and the ability to take responsibility for research tasks within joint projects.

We make a holistic assessment, and the applicant who is assessed to have the best conditions to carry out and develop the responsibilities described above will be offered the position.

Application deadline: 2026-09-07

The University actively works for a working environment with equal conditions and values the qualities that diversity brings to the operations. The University applies individual salary setting. According to the National Archives' regulations, the University is required to keep application documents for two years after the appointment decision. If you, as an applicant, specifically request the return of your documents, they will be returned when the two years have passed; otherwise, they will be destroyed. To staffing and recruitment agencies and to you who are sellers: The University of Gothenburg uses a procured advertising agency in connection with the recruitment of staff. We kindly but firmly decline direct contact with staffing and recruitment agencies as well as sellers of job advertisements.