Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Researcher in Computational Social Sciences (R2)
Barcelona Supercomputing CenterSpain2 days ago
ContractResearch, Analyst +1
Job Reference

664_25_CSSH_CSS_R2

Position

Researcher in Computational Social Sciences (R2)

Closing Date

Friday, 28 November, 2025

Reference: 664_25_CSSH_CSS_R2

Job title: Researcher in Computational Social Sciences (R2)

About BSC

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries.

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We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured.

We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.

If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.

Context And Mission

CONTEXT AND MISSION

The Computational Social Science and Humanities program envisions preparing the social sciences and humanities for the era of data, artificial intelligence (AI), and Exascale supercomputing. Our mission is to foster collaboration between social scientists and computer scientists, making high-performance computing (HPC) accessible to all researchers in the field. Through innovative approaches, we aim to apply social science and humanities research to contribute valuable insights for informed policy making. In our pursuit, we focus on a wide range of key societal research areas such as Equity and Welfare, Education, Social Services and Labor Market, Public Opinion and Political Communication in (Social) Media, Social-Ecology, Science and Technology Studies, Archived History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage. Employing a mixed of advanced AI/ML models, including Large Language Models (LLMs), Agent-Based Modeling (ABM), and Social Network Analysis (SNA), we use high-performance computational methods to a wide range of large datasets, such as official statistics, surveys, social media, web-tracking data, news, laws, bibliometric data, historical archives, current data archives, archaeology data, citizen volunteered data, and public administration and industry data.

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher with strong methodological skills in quantitative methods and experience in large-scale data analysis to join the computational social science group. The candidate will be expected to play a pivotal role in advancing cutting edge research on social scientific phenomena such as opinion dynamics and polarization. The candidate will report directly to Max Pellert, PhD.

We lay special emphasis on increasing the number of women in our team. Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to female candidates.

Key Duties

  • Conduct innovative research on phenomena like opinion dynamics and polarization using advanced computational methods (ML/AI, LLMs, SNA, ABM).
  • Assistance with tasks of data collection, cleaning, pre-processing and analysis.
  • Writing and submitting project proposals of high scientific quality to seek competitive financial support at the national and European level.
  • Collaboration with the rest of the research group and other members of the CSSH program.
  • Exchanges and creation of synergies with other social science as well as technical disciplines to advance research and knowledge transmission.

Requirements

  • Education
    • PhD in computer science, cognitive science or quantitative social sciences
  • Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience
    • Experience in quantitative empirical analysis and computational methods (data mining, ML/AI, text analysis, network analysis, agent-based modeling).
    • Programming skills and ability to work with code in multiple languages (e.g. R, Python), with different statistical software, packages and notebook environments
    • Experience in adhering to open science practices
    • Data visualization skills
  • Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience
    • Strong prior work in network science is considered a plus
    • Willingness to learn how to use cutting-edge language technologies in research
    • Previous experience with international collaboration and community building
    • Interest in disseminating results to the general public
  • Competences
    • A scientific mindset, the capacity of working independently, strong affinity for cooperative collaboration, project management skills
    • Analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities
    • A motivated thinker and quick learner
    • Excellent presentation and written skills in English
    • A team player and a kind colleague, especially to junior scholars
Conditions

  • The position will be located at BSC within the Directors Department
  • We offer a full-time contract (37.5h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures
  • Duration: Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration
  • Holidays: 23 paid vacation days plus 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement
  • Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona
  • Starting date: asap

Applications procedure and process

All applications must be submitted via the BSC website and contain:

  • A full CV in English including contact details
  • A cover/motivation letter with a statement of interest in English, clearly specifying for which specific area and topics the applicant wishes to be considered. Additionally, two references for further contacts must be included. Applications without this document will not be considered.

Development of the recruitment process

The selection will be carried out through a competitive examination system ("Concurso-Oposición"). The recruitment process consists of two phases:

  • Curriculum Analysis: Evaluation of previous experience and/or scientific history, degree, training, and other professional information relevant to the position. - 40 points
  • Interview phase: The highest-rated candidates at the curriculum level will be invited to the interview phase, conducted by the corresponding department and Human Resources. In this phase, technical competencies, knowledge, skills, and professional experience related to the position, as well as the required personal competencies, will be evaluated. - 60 points. A minimum of 30 points out of 60 must be obtained to be eligible for the position.

The recruitment panel will be composed of at least three people, ensuring at least 25% representation of women.

In accordance with OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for each vacancy at the beginning of the process. After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will begin the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview. At a minimum, a personality questionnaire as well as a technical exercise will be conducted during the process.

The panel will make a final decision, and all individuals who participated in the interview phase will receive feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.

At BSC, we seek continuous improvement in our recruitment processes. For any suggestions or comments/complaints about our recruitment processes, please contact [email protected].

For more information, please follow this link.

Deadline

The vacancy will remain open until a suitable candidate has been hired. Applications will be regularly reviewed and potential candidates will be contacted.

OTM-R principles for selection processes

BSC-CNS is committed to the principles of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission and the Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment principles (OTM-R). This is applied for any potential candidate in all our processes, for example by creating gender-balanced recruitment panels and recognizing career breaks etc.

BSC-CNS is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by applicable state or local law.

For more information follow this link

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