Call for Applications AxPo Research Assistant/Postdoc

AxPo Research Assistant/Postdoc Application 2026

AxPo Research Assistant/Postdoc Application 2026

Research Assistant job application for Research Group on Social Group Splits at AxPo, Sciences Po, Paris

Application deadline: June 26, 2026

Position: Research Assistant for a research project on social group splits.

Requirements: PhD (post-doc) or research master (pre-doc) in sociology, economics, political science, network science, anthropology, ethology, or history. The candidate should have mastery of either quantitative or qualitative methods, or both, and should be able to engage with a variety of literatures and disciplines.

Contract duration: 1 year
Contract dates: September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027

Salary depending on qualifications:
Pre-doc (master's level) applicant: Sciences Po standard annual gross salary for a research assistant, approximately €28,800.
Post-doc applicant: The annual gross salary will be approximately €42,500.

Employment in France guarantees full access to healthcare and other social security benefits. (Post-doc applicants, if selected, may dedicate 20% of their time to their own research project.)

As a research assistant, you will assist professor Olivier Godechot in developing his research program on social group splits. Whether called separations, spin-outs, splits, scissions, schisms, or secessions, splits occur frequently in social groups and contribute to transforming social structures. While the "fission-fusion" phenomenon is extensively studied among animal groups, it remains under-explored in modern human societies. Olivier Godechot is developing a research program on this topic, focusing on outcome-oriented fissions such as team moves in the labor market, particularly in finance and business law firms, for which he has collected both quantitative and qualitative data. To contrast with more value-oriented fissions, he has also collected data on party splits in France in the 2010s. The project aims to study both the mechanisms causing (or preventing) social group splits and the consequences of these fissions for the splitting subgroups as well as for various stakeholders.

Within the research project, you will help Olivier Godechot: 1) write research proposals for funding agencies, 2) analyze already collected data, and 3) collect new types of data to explore various facets of this phenomenon.

Applicants are asked to complete an online Google Form and submit, through this application portal, a single PDF file containing the following:

1. Cover letter

2. CV

3. 1-page proposal: Suggest an additional empirical case (e.g., a domain, dataset, or field) to study social group fission, and outline your investigative approach.

4. Writing sample (around 30 pages): job market paper, most relevant published/working paper, or most relevant thesis chapter

5. Names, email addresses, and affiliations of 2 academic referees.*

*Please send your letter-writers the link to the Google Form here and ask them to submit their reference letter (with attached letter) by July 3, 2026, 23:59 EST: 

https://forms.gle/M3kSVJ6g9CFb1ofMA

Candidates shortlisted for an interview will be informed at the end of June 2026. Interviews are expected to take place on Zoom in early July 2026.

Made possible with generous support from the AXA Research Fund.

The online Research Assistant/Postdoc application form is available here: 

https://forms.gle/FPrnB8iD48LGrxpd9

AxPo Observatory of Market Society Polarization at Sciences Po in Paris follows an equal opportunities policy.