DC1 – Coping with the challenges of automated content in Public Interest Media

With more than 27,000 students, the University of Zurich (UZH) is Switzerland’s largest university and a globally recognized research institution. Founded in 1833 as Europe’s first university established by a democratic political system, UZH has a long tradition of academic excellence, reflected in the achievements of its twelve Nobel Prize–winning scholars. The Doctoral Candidate will be based in the Media & Internet Governance Division of the Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ), under the leadership of Prof. Natascha Just. IKMZ is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading communication science departments. At the forefront of research and teaching, it offers an intellectually vibrant environment engaged with cutting-edge topics such as platform and internet governance, media change and innovation, public communication and journalism quality, media usage and effects, political and science communication, computational communication science, and strategic communication. IKMZ has a strong track record in mentoring emerging scholars, having supported around 70 successful dissertations over the past decade.

The PhD project is titled: Coping with the challenges of automated content in Public Interest Media.

The Doctoral Candidate will investigate how automated content is used in Public Interest Media and assess the emerging potentials and challenges this creates. The project maps the extent and forms of automated content, with a specific focus on public interest media. It then examines four core challenge areas:

• Journalistic and editorial responsibility — including standards of objectivity, diversity, accuracy, and accountability;
• Legal issues — privacy, data protection, copyright, and intellectual property;
• Ethical concerns — transparency, credibility, bias, manipulation, misinformation, and risks of job displacement;
• Managerial implications for workflows and governance.

The expected outcome is an analysis comparing the opportunities automation offers with the challenges it introduces for journalism and organisational management.

The position requires relocation to Switzerland as the candidate will be enrolled in the University of Zurich’s PhD programme. The project is conducted under the supervision of Natascha Just, Professor of Communication at the University of Zurich, and Josef Trappel, Professor of Communication Policy and Media Economics at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (PLUS). It will involve close collaboration with other Doctoral Candidates in the RePIM doctoral Network Project, and an academic secondment of approximately 2 months at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria. The candidate will also carry out 3-month internship at the VRT, the Public Service Media organisation in Flanders, Belgium.

The PhD position is part of RePIM – Revisioning Public Interest Media, a four-year Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) Doctoral Network dedicated to reimagining the role and future of Public Interest Media in a data-driven, platform-dominated environment. RePIM brings together leading European universities, industry partners, and 12 Doctoral Candidates in an interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral training and research programme. The network investigates how Public Interest Media can remain relevant, sustainable, and impactful by transforming how content is produced, packaged, distributed, and supported organisationally and technologically. Through its focus on strategic innovation, organisational change, and media management, RePIM equips its doctoral researchers with advanced analytical and managerial skills to help reshape public interest media across diverse European contexts.

MSCA eligibility requirements

• At the time of recruitment, candidates must not already hold a doctoral degree.
• Applicants of any nationality are welcome to apply. However, researchers must not have lived or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the host country (in this case: Switzerland) for more than 12 months within the 36 months immediately preceding their recruitment date. Candidates must be willing to move to Switzerland for the duration of the PhD research.

Project-specific profile requirements

• Master’s degree in communication science or a related discipline in the social sciences
• Knowledge and strong interest in the fields of media policy and Internet governance; interest in media economics and media law of advantage
• Strong interest in further academic qualification
• Excellent knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methods and their applications; experience with statistical and other analysis software
• Strong team orientation
• Accurate and reliable work attitude
• Excellent time management, ability to take initiative and independent work attitude
• Proficiency in written and spoken English and German; additional foreign languages (Swiss national languages or Dutch) of advantage.

In this role, you will work with researchers at two prominent European institutions in media and communication research. You will collaborate closely with other researchers in a European consortium of leading studies institutes in the field, as well as conduct an industrial secondment with a relevant organisation in your field of research.

The planned starting date is 1 May 2026.

We offer an attractive compensation and benefits package, including the following:

• A full-time PhD scholarship for 36 months.
• A gross annual salary of approximately CHF 68,000, including a mobility allowance (or CHF 74,250 if a family allowance also applies).
• Work in an internationally highly successful department.
• A supportive, globally connected, research-oriented team.
• Excellent opportunities for further academic qualification and strong support for career development.
• An attractive work environment: the University of Zurich is Switzerland’s largest university. Zurich is a vibrant, cosmopolitan city that regularly ranks as one of the cities with the highest quality of life in the world.
• International mobility for academic secondment (at PLUS, Austria) and industry internship at VRT (Brussels, Belgium)..
• A wide range of training possibilities and participation in international conferences.

Applications closed.

Application process:

• Step 1: initial selection based on application file
• Step 2: first round of interviews with long-listed candidates (est. February–March 2026)
• Step 3: second round of interviews with short-listed candidates (March 2026)
• Starting date: est. 1 May 2026.