Postdoctoral Researchers in Computational Social Science

The Wesleyan Media Project (WMP), in collaboration with Wesleyan University’s Quantitative Analysis Center (QAC) and the Collaborative on Media and Messaging (COMM) for Health and Social Policy team at Wesleyan University, is seeking postdoctoral researchers in computational social science to join us at the forefront of advancing real-time analyses of political and health-related audiovisual and textual messages using computational methods. WMP leverages large-scale advertising and media messaging datasets applying theory and methods from political science, behavioral and communication science, computer science, data science and machine learning. Successful candidates will work on an NSF-funded project on digital advertising led by Dr. Erika Franklin Fowler (Political Science) and Dr. Sebastian Zimmeck (Computer Science) and on Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded projects tracking and analyzing messaging relevant to health and racial equity led by Dr. Fowler and Dr. Steven Moore (Political Science).The fellowship positions are for a one-year appointment beginning July 1, 2023 with an option for an additional second year contingent upon performance.The fellows will work closely with the PIs, WMP’s Associate Director, and QAC faculty and staff on the analysis of textual, visual, and video-based political and health messages from a variety of sources (political/insurance TV ads, digital/social/online ads, television news, etc.) and will be involved in collaborative publications on an interdisciplinary program to analyze the volume, content, and effect of media messaging on television and online in electoral and health policy contexts. As a fellow, the successful candidate will engage in original research, test and evaluate algorithms and have the opportunity to present and publish their work. The position will also contribute broadly both to computational analysis in the QAC and in the social sciences at Wesleyan by working with undergraduate students engaged in the lab’s research projects and by offering courses in the Quantitative Analysis Center. The teaching load is one course per year. We strongly encourage applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds, including those from groups that have been underrepresented in academia.

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