Research and Teaching Associate (Universitätsassistent*in prae doc)

You want to understand how things are connected and make a fundamental impact? We offer an environment where you can realize your full potential. At one of Europe’s largest and most modern business and economics universities. On a campus where quality of work is also quality of life. We are looking for support at the

Institute for Spatial and Social-Ecological Transformation (ISSET)
Part-time, 30 hours/week
Starting September 01, 2026, and ending after 24 months ISSET focuses on theoretically grounded empirical analyses. It aims at understanding contemporary transformations with a focus on their spatial and social-ecological dimensions. Contemporary ecological (e.g., climate change and biodiversity loss), geopolitical and geoeconomic (e.g., rise of the Global South and militarization) and socio-political transformations (e.g., crises of liberal democracy, inequality and social cohesion) are always time-space specific. They shape and are shaped by context-sensitive forms of policies, multi-level governance, regulations, institutions, and discourses. ISSET explores innovative governance models for “transformation by design” by investigating democratic forms of multi-level planning that link top-down and bottom-up approaches. In cooperation with the International Karl Polanyi Society, it aims at contributing to an inter- and transdisciplinary social science of economics by linking economics and other social sciences. Researchers at the institute endorse a broad understanding of economies as social-ecological provisioning systems and economics as a discipline that investigates the production, distribution, and consumption of infrastructures, services, and commodities that satisfy, primarily, human needs. This position will be allocated to the research unit “Multi-Level Transformations”. This research unit aims at understanding contemporary transformations by investigating long-term changes with a focus on their spatial and social-ecological dimensions. Contemporary ecological transformations (e.g., climate change and biodiversity loss), geopolitical and geoeconomic transformations (e.g., rise of the Global South and militarization) and socio-political transformations (e.g., crises of liberal democracy, inequality and social cohesion) manifest themselves in context-sensitive forms of policies, multi-level governance, regulations, institutions, and discourses. From multiple perspectives, but mainly from international and global political economy and political ecology, the research unit investigates contemporary transformations with a particular focus on uneven development, especially in places and territories in the Global South and the European periphery, as well as their entanglements with places and territories in the Global North. The research objects of this research unit are power- and gender-sensitive analyses of multi-scalar structures and diverse forms of collective agency that reproduce and/or transform uneven dynamics of biophysical systems, social-ecological provisioning, international relations, trade, and finance. The unit has a strong interest in economic planning, due to the importance of context-sensitive forms of “transformation by design” that have to link top-down and bottom-up approaches. While the successful candidate will be open to multiple theoretical perspectives, we seek candidates with a background in heterodox economics (e.g. social-ecological economics, feminist economics, or political economy) or related social science disciplines. Candidates are expected to be interested in, open to, and able to connect their research with other researchers in the research unit, as co-publications are envisaged and the emerging research unit is intended to be shaped collaboratively.

What to expect

The Teaching and Research Associate will pursue a PhD in line with the overall orientation of the research unit on “Multi-Level Transformations” at ISSET and should cover all of the following research competences:

• Polanyian Transformation Research
• Anti-fascist economics
• Multi-level Foundational Economy

You will support teaching at the bachelor level (WUPol), engage in the supervision of bachelor theses, and contribute to the submission of research proposals in the field of Polanyian transformation research.

You will be investigating your research topic and spending a third of your working hours on writing your dissertation.

What you have to offer

• You have a diploma/master’s degree in heterodox economics or related social science disciplines that qualifies you for enrollment in a doctoral program at WU.
• You demonstrate commitment to theoretically grounded and methodologically sophisticated research in the above-mentioned fields and are willing to collaborate with peers in the research unit.
• You have strong communication and writing skills in