Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Heidelberg University invite applications for a two-year post-doctoral fellowship, starting 1 October, 2026, or as soon as possible thereafter. The post-holder will spend the first year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the second year at Heidelberg University. Remote work is not possible. Suitable candidates will have a specialization in philosophy of emotion and political philosophy, as well as experience in using empirical methods. That said, we encourage candidates to apply even if they only roughly meet these requirements.

The post is associated with, and made available through, a research grant from the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), “Political Anger and Democracy: A Philosophical-Empirical Study” (Principal Investigators: Oded Na'aman, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Nora Heinzelmann, Heidelberg University).

A short description of the research project: With populist movements rising worldwide, democratic erosion has accelerated. Yet while research links inequality, anger, polarization, and democratic decline, the relationship between different types of anger and democracy remains poorly understood. Superficially similar expressions of political anger may have opposite democratic implications: some defend democratic accountability, others undermine legitimate authority. The project develops a normative-empirical matrix that systematically distinguishes between types of political anger and their implications for democratic stability. It integrates philosophical theories of anger with experimental methods from moral psychology: through qualitative interviews, pilot studies, and large-scale validation in both Germany and Israel, the project develops novel measurements of what different expressions of anger are about—their “fitting objects”—and examines how specific anger types relate to democratic attitudes across political contexts. The aim is to provide tools for distinguishing anger that strengthens democracy from anger that undermines it.

The fellowship carries an average yearly salary of approximately 62,000 EUR before tax.

To be eligible, applicants must have received their PhD no more than five years before the start of the position, that is, on or after 1 October, 2021. Candidates who have not yet completed their PhD may apply, provided the degree is conferred before the position begins.

Applications should include a cover letter that explains the relevance of the candidate’s background to the project, a CV, a list of publications, the names and contact details of three referees (whom we may contact for letters of recommendation later in the process), and a sample of written work (a chapter from a monograph or doctoral dissertation or a recent journal article).

All materials should be sent to [email protected] as one pdf.  Informal inquiries should be sent to [email protected]. The deadline for receiving applications is August 15, 2026.

Heidelberg University stands for equal opportunities and diversity. Persons with severe disabilities will be given preference if they are equally qualified. Information on job advertisements and the collection of personal data is available at www.uni-heidelberg.de/en/job-market.