Our mission statement: We provide a forum for reflecting on law. We explore its theory and history in a comparative and global perspective. We address societal challenges by contributing to a deeper understanding of law.
The Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory in Frankfurt/Main is a world leading research institute with a staff of more than 150. Its three departments with more than 70 scholars, the unrivalled collections of its specialized library and its numerous national and international co-operations make it the central research hub for a global scientific community investigating the past, present and future of legal regimes.
The Department ‘Historical Regimes of Normativity’ is looking to recruit, from 1 October 2026, or as soon as possible thereafter,
One Researcher in Digital Humanities (m/f/d)
for the research project ‘Normative knowledge in the praxis of the Congregation of the Council. The production of normative categories and models for the post-Tridentine world’ headed by Prof. Dr. Benedetta Albani.
Over the course of a decade, the digital humanities have grown to play a key role in the Institute’s research activities. We are involved in the development of extensive digitisation projects aimed at building digital source corpora and collections of legal-historical images, as well as work on digital source editions. We wish to expand these activities in the future.
Your role
Together with members of the research group and colleagues from academia, the library and IT, you will develop concepts and define requirements for digital tools to carry out various projects within the research project. You will contribute to the design and implementation of data models and ontologies designed to support the various projects and ensure full semantic interoperability between the systems. You will evaluate existing technical solutions for their applicability in the specific project context and adapt them as needed. If no adequate solutions are currently available for existing requirements, you will specify the software architecture and implement the specification into a functional system. You will contribute to the research and further development of issues and methods in the Digital Humanities and apply your theoretical and practical knowledge to the work of the research group. You will actively contribute your knowledge to the academic discourse and have the opportunity to participate in and help shape academic conferences and seminars! Further information on the research projects can be found on the page https://www.lhlt.mpg.de/albani.html or by contacting the project leader, Prof. Dr Benedetta Albani: albani@lhlt.mpg.de.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Developing knowledge graphs of historical data (data modelling / ontology design, query and analysis methods using SPARQL).
- Further developing academic user interfaces (interactive web apps using R / Shiny, innovative publication formats) to link knowledge graphs, transcriptions, and image and map material.
Your profile
You hold a university degree (Master’s, MA or German ‘Diplom’) in relevant disciplines with proven experience in the field of Digital Humanities / Computational Humanities. We expect strong collaborative and organisational skills, as well as an independent and goal-oriented approach to work. You have an excellent command of English, both written and spoken.
Our offer
- A fixed-term full-time appointment (39 hours per week); a part-time appoint is theoretically possible.
- We offer an attractive research environment with unparalleled facilities and a good working atmosphere.
- 30 days of holiday per year; starting 2027: 31 days.
- Mobile working and flexible work hours in accordance with our works agreement
- Good public transport connections and a subsidy towards the Deutschland-Job-Ticket; possibility of on-campus parking.
- Occupational health management
- Work-life balance (including childcare at the Kairos Riedberg).
The salary is based, depending on your qualification, on the German Civil Service Collective Agreement (TVöD) up to salary group E13; the social benefits for public workers are awarded, including a pension plan (‘VBL’). Previous work experience is taken into account in determining the pay level.
The Max Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals. Furthermore, the Max Planck Society seeks to increase the number of women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply. The Max Planck Society strives for gender equality and diversity. We welcome applications from all backgrounds.
Have we sparked your interest?
We look forward to receiving your application via our online application portal. Please submit your application along with your supporting documents (cover letter, detailed CV, proof of educational and professional qualifications, and references). Applications sent by email or post cannot be considered.
Following an initial review of the documents, selected candidates will be invited to interviews at the Institute in Frankfurt or in another format to be agreed upon.
