Research Assistant (m/f/d): Ensuring Data Quality in the historical Humanities and Cultural Studies

At the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe – Institute of the Leibniz Association, in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences (THM), a position is available as soon as possible 

position for the assurance of data quality in the field of the historical humanities and cultural studies, E 13 TV-H, 65%, reference number DQHIS2026 for a fixed term of three years.

The Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe in Marburg focuses on the history and culture of East Central Europe. It conducts its own research based on its extensive collections, including projects in the field of history and collection-related cultural studies. The position is located in the Digital Research and Information Infrastructures Department. In addition to cross-cutting tasks in the development of in-house research infrastructures and consulting activities, this department also carries out third-party funded projects.

The position serves to develop approaches for improving data quality in historical online databases and, in this sense, has an independent research profile. The position holder will

work closely with Task Area 1 - Data Quality of the NFDI consortium 4Memory, which is co-led by the Herder Institute.

Possible areas of focus could include:

• the analysis and improvement of existing data models, workflows, and validation mechanisms,
• the translation of data quality criteria into interface design proposals.

Due to the independent research profile, the position allows for the development of a doctoral thesis on the topic.

Your profile includes:

• Successfully completed academic university degree (master's, diploma) in the field of computer science, data science, digital humanities, business informatics, and/or comparable disciplines with a strong focus on computer science.
• In-depth experience with programming languages and data processing pipelines (e.g., Python).
• Knowledge of data modeling.
• Interest in working with multifaceted and high-dimensional datasets as well as typical challenges in the humanities and cultural studies, such as semantic opacity, vagueness, variance, and fuzziness.
• Good analytical skills.
• Enjoyment of interdisciplinary work with the humanities and an interest in Eastern Central Europe.
• Independent, structured, and responsible way of working.
• Very good verbal and written communication skills and high level of text competence (in German and English).

We offer:

• A varied role at the intersection of computer science and digital humanities.
• The opportunity to obtain an academic qualification (cooperative doctorate) in the context of the project.
• An innovation-oriented workplace in the field of information services at a non-university research institute.
• A committed and friendly working environment.
• Opportunity for location-flexible working and flexible working hours.

The Herder Institute pursues the goal of professional equality between women and men. We therefore strongly encourage qualified women to apply. Severely disabled applicants will be given special consideration if they are equally qualified. The Herder Institute has been certified with the Total E-Quality label for equal opportunities since 2010, demonstrating the Institute's commitment to an equitable and appreciative personnel policy, including through the active promotion of gender equality and the prevention of discrimination in accordance with the criteria of the General Equal Treatment Act. The Herder Institute sees itself as a family-friendly institution. Applicants with children are welcome. We offer flexible working hours, the option of location-flexible working, and a parent-child room, for example.

Additional information can be found on our website https://www.herder-institut.de. 

For inquiries do not hesitate to reach out to Prof. Dr. Christin Kreutz (christin.katharina.kreutz@mni.thm.de) or Dr. Simon Donig (simon.donig@herder-institut.de).

Please send your application with the usual documents (CV, motivation letter, certificates), quoting the above reference number, exclusively by email in the form of a single PDF file by February 13, 2026 to the administration of the Herder Institute (bewerbung@herder-institut.de). To prevent discrimination, we kindly ask that you refrain from including photos with your application. The interviews are expected to take place in calendar week 10 of 2026.