With the PostdocLab, the College for Social Sciences and Humanities has established a funding programme for postdoctoral researchers from the University Alliance Ruhr. It is designed to foster intensive cross-university collaboration in the social sciences and humanities and support early-career researchers in further developing their academic profiles and networks.
The programme PostdocLab | College UA Ruhr enables postdoctoral researchers from the University Alliance Ruhr to build up to three cross-university collaborative working groups, each working on a research topic of their own choice. Funded for a period of 1.5 years, the working groups are provided with financial resources for academic activities that allow aspiring postdocs to further develop their academic profiles and promote the establishment of sustainable academic networks within the Ruhr region and beyond. The PostdocLab is fundamentally open for both discipline-specific and interdisciplinary working groups.
The PostdocLab working groups consist of two to three members, representing at least two of the member universities of the University Alliance Ruhr. They will integrate scholars from abroad into their research activities. Considered associate members of the College, the working groups can use the facilities in Essen for meetings and events.
Three working groups were selected for the funding period from 15 October 2024 until 14 April 2026.
The AICOS lab explores the role of generative AI in science communication. The working group aims to understand how AI-generated content affects recipients' trust, perceptions, knowledge acquisition, and communicative resistance, as well as how AI tools influence stereotypical conceptions of scientists. With an interdisciplinary approach, the group members integrate qualitative and quantitative methods from education and communication studies.
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The Civic Education Research Lab (CERL) aims to shed light on civic education and political socialisation processes using innovative research methods for secondary data analyses. Specifically, the working group is interested in the prerequisites and characteristics of successful civic education and seeks to elucidate how formal and informal civic learning processes at schools and beyond as well as individual pre-conditions and institutional contexts contribute to outcomes of civic education.
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The objective of the working group is to explore the role that property plays in urban conflicts over the use of urban space. General conflicts and recent developments suggest that urban societies are challenged by a variety of urgent issues, such as housing shortages, land use conflicts, and sustainability transformation. The group's focus is on the interests and goals that drive and motivate actors in practical settings, reflecting policy frameworks and doctrines.
