Student for The Center for Tracking and Society

The Center for Tracking and Society, Department of Communication, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (UCPH) is seeking to recruit a student assistant for our “Power over Platforms?” project.

The project
The aim of this project is to understand how power is exercised over platform companies such as Google, Meta, and their competitors by actors who have neither raw economic nor formal regulatory means.

We research actors involved in trying to influence key decisions made by different platforms on key issues ­­— content moderation, privacy, and the use of generative AI for political information and speech — across four different jurisdictions: the US, UK, Germany, and Denmark, and across different platforms (primarily consumer-facing content platforms including Google, Meta, and emerging players such as Mastodon and BlueSky).

The project sets out to identify who seeks to influence platform governance, how they attempt to do so, and what the outcomes are across countries and across companies.

Work tasks

• Collaborate with the research team to map actors involved in influencing platform governance, including their issue focus and means of influence.
• Contribute to qualitative data collection, including secondary sources, interviews with key individuals inside and outside platform companies and producing interview transcripts.
• Assist in conducting qualitative coding and analysis of fieldwork, interview, and other secondary data.
• Participate in research literature reviews.
• Support planning, logistics, and documentation for fieldwork at conferences, workshops, and public events related to platform governance (travel opportunities included when appropriate).
• Help organize project-related public engagement activities, including events, panels, and outreach.

Qualifications
Essential

• Demonstrated interest in platforms, digital media, technology governance, or related fields.
• Excellent command of English; proficiency in German is a strong advantage.
• Strong organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and collaborate with a small, dynamic team.

Preferable

• Strong skills in qualitative research methods (e.g., interview, thematic coding, discourse analysis).
• Prior knowledge of platform regulations and/or digital rights issues.
• Experience working with civil society organizations, policy advocacy groups, or the civic tech ecosystem.
• Familiarity with computational or mixed-methods content analysis (e.g., LLM-assisted content analysis, or text-as-data approaches).
• Ability to work with large datasets.

What to expect

• Work closely with the Principal Investigator and the broader research team across all stages of the project, including data collection, analysis, and preparation of publications.
• Exposure to interdisciplinary research, platform policy debates, and cross-country comparative methods.
• Opportunity to participate in interviews, conferences, and fieldwork events related to platform governance.

Wage and working hours:
On average, you are expected to work 10 hours per week. The period of employment begins 1 February 2026 (or as soon as possible thereafter).

The employment is made in accordance with the Collective Agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Organisations of Public Employees – governmental institutions (the OAO-S collective agreement) and under the Professional Agreement for clerical employees, laboratory technicians and IT officers in the state. The minimum wage is DKK 142,97 (1 november 2025-level). Your salary will be based on seniority.

To be considered for the position, you must be enrolled as a student at university level and an active student.

The employment is limited to 31 December 2028.

The application process:
Interested applicants should submit a concise application, which includes a statement of interest, their CV and academic transcripts, using the link below.

All applications should be in English.

https://jobportal.ku.dk/administrative-og-forskningsunderstoettende-stillinger/studenterjobs (Click "SØG STILLINGEN" at the bottom).

The deadline for applications is January 12, 2026.

Interviews are expected to be held shortly after the expiration of the application deadline.

The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding society and invites all qualified applicants regardless of personal background to apply for the position.

Further information:
Should you require any further information regarding the position, please feel free to contact the Principle Investigator, Professor Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, [email protected].

As an applicant to the University of Copenhagen, you should be prepared to undergo a security screening related to international research collaboration as part of the recruitment process. The security screening will be conducted in cases where the University deems it appropriate based on an overall assessment.

Københavns Universitet giver sine knap 10.000 medarbejdere muligheder for at udnytte deres talent fuldt ud i et ambitiøst, uformelt miljø. Vi sikrer traditionsrige og moderne rammer om uddannelser og fri forskning på højt internationalt niveau. Vi søger svar og løsninger på fælles problemer og gør ny viden tilgængelig og nyttig for andre.

Info
Ansøgningsfrist: 12-01-2026

Ansættelsesdato: 01-02-2026

Afdeling/Sted: Department of Communication