Research Group Leader for the Research Area C: Power – Violence – Trauma

is looking to fill the following position with effect from 1 January 2027, on a fixed-term contract until 31 December 2032:

Research Group Leader for the Research Area C:

Power – Violence – Trauma

The BCDSS, a German Research Council-funded “Cluster of Excellence”, offers excellent opportunities for interdisciplinary and comparative research of different forms of Strong Asymmetrical Dependencies (SADs) across time periods and world regions. During its first phase (2019–2025), the BCDSS successfully developed the concept of SAD as a comprehensive analytical framework to understand how power imbalances have been shaped in the past, and continue to influence, societies around the world today. In its second funding phase (2026–2032), the BCDSS will investigate the underlying causes and mechanisms that contribute to the persistence of SADs across historical and contemporary contexts. We aim to anchor Historically Informed Dependency Studies (HIDS) as a key interdisciplinary field in the humanities, encouraging scholars across the humanities and social sciences to systematically integrate the analysis of SADs into the study of social, economic, and cultural phenomena.

Our research focuses on five Research Areas :

Transitions and Transformations of SADs,

Economies of SADs,

Power – Violence – Trauma,

Cultural Heritage – Transitional Justice – Memory Cultures,

Alternative Archives and Life Writing.

The successful candidate will lead a Research Group in the BCDSS Research Area C “Power – Violence – Trauma”, design and conduct independent projects in the field of Historically Informed Dependency Studies (HIDS) that closely relate to the Research Areas research goals. Topics can be of a wide variety – from micro studies to wide scale approaches, in any historical period or geographical region. A Research Group at the BCDSS is an independent research unit led by an early-career researcher to pursue an original research agenda while supervising a small team of researchers. The successful candidate will recruit two doctoral researchers for the research group and collaborate closely with colleagues from the BCDSS, in particular the cluster professor for Trauma Studies/ History of Violence. Furthermore, the successful candidate will be part of the interdisciplinary and international research community.

Your tasks:

Developing the research profile of the Research Group on the historical relationship between violence, trauma, and coercion within the field of Historically Informed Dependency Studies (HIDS),

Recruiting and supervising two doctoral researchers,

Providing academic leadership and strategic development of the Research Group and Research Area C,

Conducting an independent research project leading to a second monograph or equivalent work,

Developing innovative theoretical and methodological approaches to analyse SAD,

Organizing and contributing to international workshops, seminars, and conferences,

Building national and international research networks.

Your profile:

At least three years of postdoctoral experience and an excellent academic track record in one or more of the following fields: the history of violence, trauma studies, historical psychology (excluding the history of psychoanalysis), or a related discipline represented at the BCDSS (e.g. Anthropology, Archaeology, Art History, History, Law, Regional Studies, Sociology, or Theology),

Publications relevant to the BCDSS research agenda in general and Research Area C in particular,

Native or near-native proficiency in English,