Job description:
The University of Vienna is a community of over 10,000 individuals, including approximately 7,500 academic staff members, who passionately pursue answers to the profound questions that shape our future. They represent individuals driven by curiosity and a relentless pursuit of excellence. With us, they find the space to try things out and unfold their potential. Are you inspired by their passion and determination? We are currently seeking a/an
University assistant predoctoral
53 Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy Startdate: 01.10.2025 |
Working hours: 30 |
Collective bargaining agreement: §48 VwGr. B1 Grundstufe (praedoc)
Limited until: 30.09.2029
Reference no.: 4670
Among the many good reasons to want to research and teach at the University of Vienna, there is one, which has convinced around 7,500 academic staff members so far. They see themselves as personalities who need space for their continuous striving and curiosity to be able to be scientifically successful. Does that sound like something for you? Welcome to our team!
Your personal sphere of play:
There is a growing need at the University of Vienna for a central point of contact for geo-data management and visualization. Many research projects across the university generate valuable geodata, but these data are often processed in isolation, resulting in lost synergies and limited long-term usability. The university aims at establishing a Geo-Help-Desk (GHD) as part of a broader GeoCommunication Hub initiative (similar to other international Centers for Spatial Studies). This hub should act as a central geospatial competence center to provide targeted support for research projects to bring spatial thinking, (novel) spatial analysis, and spatial communication skills to all corners of our campus. This initiative enables the sustainable (re)use, standardization, and visualization (e.g., mapping) of geo-data, supports FAIR principles-based science, and promotes interdisciplinary collaboration.
For this first phase our goals include:
- Establishment of a sustainable spatial data infrastructure (SDI) for the long-term (re)use and archiving of research results across campus
- Provision of customized geo-tools analytical and communication (e.g., mapping) services across disciplines
- Optimization of geo-communication through innovative analysis and visualization approaches
- Create synergies through centralized development and provision of geo-data solutions
- Consulting and (semi-automatic) quality control to ensure geo-data products such as Web maps and future generative GeoAI results released at the University of Vienna meet geocommunication requirements and international geo-data standards (e.g., OGC and W3C)
- Integration of the GHD into a future center for long-term anchoring, promotion of interdisciplinary cooperation, and strategic development in the area of (spatial) data science
As a PhD student (PraeDoc) you will work in the Spatial Data Science and GeoCommunication group lead by professor Krzysztof Janowicz consisting of international researchers including PhD students, postdocs, faculty (Karel Kriz, Andreas Riedl), scientific programmers, and other project personnel with a diverse set of backgrounds and expertises including geo-communication, GeoAI, geo-visualization, research data management, geo-semantics, knowledge graphs, geographic information retrieval, and social sensing.
You will collaborate closely with the University Library’s Research Data Management (RDM) team and the Data Stewards as well as with the Central IT Services (ZID). Together, you will support researchers in handling geospatial data according to FAIR principles and university-wide RDM policy. You will have the opportunity to be involved in our interdisciplinary research, e.g., via the Data Science Network.
As an ideal candidate, your interest would be in filling the GHD and hub with life, promote spatial thinking and spatial analysis techniques across campus, be passionate about geo-communication and research data management (FAIR, SDI, semantic technologies), novel spatial analysis and GeoAI methods, and be a team player able to interact with university’s library and central IT services.
Your future tasks:
You actively participate in research, teaching, and administration, which means:
- Develop and complete a PhD dissertation (within field such as spatial data science, GeoAI, geo-research data management, and geo-communication)
- Participation in research projects/research studies
- Participation in publications/academic articles/presentations
- Assist in establishing the GHD and the broader vision behind it (see above)
- Participation in teaching and independent teaching of (English and optionally also German) courses as defined by the collective agreement.
- Involvement in the organization of meetings, conferences, and symposiums. This may involve international travel.
- Communicate and collaborate with international partners including industry, government agencies, and NGOs.
- In addition to developing and completing your PhD dissertation, you will contribute to the establishment of the GHD and related university-wide services.
- This includes in particular:
- Supporting researchers with geospatial data questions via the RDM helpdesk, in close cooperation with the library's RDM team.
- Designing and delivering training sessions, workshops, and materials for researchers and students on geospatial data management.
- Actively participating in the university-wide RDM Working Group to support the strategic development of RDM and geospatial data services.
This is part of your personality:
What we offer:
Work-life balance: Our employees enjoy flexible, family-friendly working hours. Working from a domicile in Austria is possible up to a certain extent upon agreement.
Inspiring working atmosphere: You are a part of an international academic team in a healthy and fair working environment.
Good public transport connections: Your workplace in the center of beautiful Vienna is easily accessible by public transport.
Internal further training & Coaching: Opportunity to deepen your skills on an ongoing basis. There are over 600 courses to choose from – free of charge.
Fair salary: The basic salary of EUR 3,714,80 (on a full-time basis, 14x per year, amount for 2025) increases if we can credit professional experience.
Duration of contract: The employment duration is 4 years. Initially limited to 1.5 years, the employment relationship is automatically extended to 4 years if the employer does not terminate it within the first 12 months by submitting a non-extension declaration.
Equal opportunities for all: We are an interdisciplinary and intercultual team.
It is that easy to apply:
- With your scientific curriculum vitae
- A 2-page letter (written by you, not AI) explaining your motivation and research interests and explicity relating them to recent work done by the Spatial Data Science and GeoCommunication research group at Uni Vienna
- Degree Certificates
- List of publications (if available)
- Via our job portal/ Apply now - button
If you have any questions, please contact:
Krzysztof Janowicz
krzysztof.janowicz@univie.ac.at
We look forward to new personalities in our team!
The University of Vienna has an anti-discriminatory employment policy and attaches great importance to equal opportunities, the advancement of women and diversity. We lay special emphasis on increasing the number of women in senior and in academic positions among the academic and general university staff and therefore expressly encourage qualified women to apply. Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to female candidates.
University of Vienna. Space for personalities. Since 1365.
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Application deadline: 10/03/2025
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