Junior Researcher as Doctoral Candidate 100% <br>Center for School Development

The Zurich University of Teacher Education actively shapes education, school, and teaching of today and tomorrow in teaching and research.

Within the framework of the international WEAVE program, the project « Co-creating Meaningful Edtech: An Investigation of Edtech Testbeds » is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation at the Center for School Development at PH Zurich.

The project investigates how so-called Edtech testbeds emerge and function. These are real testing environments in which digital educational technologies are developed and examined together with practice. The goal of the project is to bring transparency to this new research field and to gain critical insights that support education policy, schools, and future innovation projects.

As a doctoral candidate, you will participate in the collection and analysis of data and develop a personal dissertation project on a specific aspect of the project. You will pursue your doctoral studies at PH Zurich and enroll at a yet to be defined university authorized to award doctorates. The salary is based on the SNSF salary scales for doctoral candidates.

• Design and conduct a doctoral research project
• Apply the following methods (document and network analysis, platform analysis, hybrid ethnography, interviews)
• Contribute to research data management and school authority approval procedures
• Support the recruitment of research participants
• Analyze selected actor and governance constellations in the global Edtech testbed field
• Ethnographic research of selected testbed practices and comparative integration of analyses
• National and international scientific presentations and publications
• Participate in project meetings and workshops - both in the Zurich context and together with the German collaboration partner

• Master's degree in educational science, sociology, teaching, or political science
• Methodological knowledge of empirical educational or social research (data collection, evaluation, utilization) and initial application experience, for example in the context of a master's thesis
• High degree of self-organization and reliability as well as enjoyment of working in an international team  
• Experience in dealing with international and intercultural work contexts
• Interest in (re)designing educational technology and school development issues
• Confident handling of German and English research literature and corresponding language skills at publication level (at least C1)

• A multi-year opportunity to develop research in the fields of school development, governance, and critical Edtech studies
• Interdisciplinary collaboration with experienced researchers as well as excellent development and qualification opportunities
• Individual supervision and support for your dissertation project
• Collegial exchange within the doctoral candidate network of PH Zurich

The  PH Zurich  offers you more than a dynamic university environment, mobile working, and a centrally located workplace at Zurich main station with good employment conditions. What defines us can be found  here .

Please submit your complete application dossier by March 10, 2026, in German (and if possible also in English), exclusively via our online application platform. We prefer direct applications and ask for your understanding that we do not consider email applications.