"Postdoctoral Position in Sapere Aude-project on ‘Imaginaries of Existential Risks’ (Re-advertisement)"

The Department of Digital Design and Information Studies within the School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University invites applications for a postdoctoral position affiliated with the Sapere Aude research project ‘Imaginaries of “Existential Risks”: Making, Governing, and Contesting Humanity’s Future’ funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark.

The postdoctoral position is a full-time and 2-year fixed-term position. The position begins on 1 November 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The School of Communication and Culture is committed to diversity and encourages all qualified applicants to apply regardless of their personal background.

Project

Since the beginning of the 21st century, scientists, policymakers, and social movements have been increasingly embracing a vision of the future in which ‘existential risks’ to humanity’s long-term survival figure as a central concern for social, economic, and political action in the present. The project investigates the production of existential risk imaginaries, their uptake in global governance, and their contestation through social movements. Grounded in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and in-depth, qualitative fieldwork at various sites where imaginaries of existential risks are mobilised, authorised, and essentialised, the project closes important gaps in critically assessing the politics of these new powerful forms of futuring.

Postdoctoral position

The successful applicant will be expected to carry out specific work package in the project, which seeks to understand the processes and politics of knowledge production in the making of existential risk imaginaries. To this end, the postdoc will map relevant institutions and actors involved in the construction of existential risk scenarios and inquire the methods and forms of knowledge mobilised by them. In particular, in-depth ethnographic fieldwork at selected institutions will provide insights into how knowledge of existential risks is being produced in Europe and the US. This will include, amongst others, interviews with academics, scientists, funders, and tech entrepreneurs as well as participatory observations at meetings, conferences, and events on existential risk analysis. The postdoctoral researcher is, moreover, expected to carry out a research stay (funded by the project) at one of our advisory board members’ institutions (Stanford University, University of Oxford, or L’institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement).

Teaching and supervision

As a postdoctoral researcher, your position is primarily research-based but will also involve a small degree of teaching and supervision. To that end, the successful applicant will be expected to participate in the department’s teaching and supervision activities and teach and supervise at BA and MA levels at the Department of Digital Design and Information Studies. Given the international focus of the degree programmes, the successful applicant will be expected to teach in English as well as Danish.