Meet ApplyKite Twin, the application assistant that learns with you
Meet your Twin, it learns with you
Your Twin learns with you
Launch week codes:30% off annual Pro20% off monthly Pro
Ends in00h00m00s
Ends in00h00m00s
Pascale Willemsen
6 days ago
Two Postdoctoral Research Positions in Moral and Experimental Philosophy University of Zurich in Switzerland
Degree Level
Postdoc
Field of study
Psychology
Funding
The positions are fixed-term, 60–100% research appointments for two to three years, with salary according to the standards of the Canton of Zurich and the Swiss National Science Foundation. The offer includes funding for travel, conference attendance, and experimental studies. The roles provide dedicated research time with no mandatory teaching duties and flexible work arrangements, including up to two remote-work days per week.
Deadline
Nov 20, 2026
Country
Switzerland
University
University of Zurich
Apply for this position
Keywords
Suggested positions
About this position
The Department of Philosophy at the University of Zurich is recruiting two postdoctoral researchers for the SNSF-funded projects Shining Light on Praise and The Social Power of Praise. The projects sit at the intersection of moral philosophy and experimental philosophy, examining the nature, mechanisms, and social impact of moral praise.
The Zurich positions are dedicated to empirical and experimental research. Postdoctoral researchers will conduct high-quality research on moral praise, co-author articles for leading international peer-reviewed journals, and contribute to international conferences, workshops, and project events. The work may engage with moral responsibility, praise and blame, social cognition, moral psychology, philosophy of language, pragmatics, feminist philosophy, oppression, epistemic injustice, social norms, and experimental linguistics.
Researchers will work closely with Prof. Dr. Pascale Willemsen and the Zurich project team, as well as with Prof. Dr. Leonhard Menges and collaborators at the University of Salzburg. The teams share research questions, collaborate on publications, and meet online or in person, providing an international and interdisciplinary research environment.
Potential approaches include linguistic inference, cancellability and projection tests, economic games such as dictator or ultimatum games, corpus-based and computational methods, and quantitative analysis using R or Python. The appointments are pure research positions with dedicated research time and no mandatory teaching duties, based at the Department of Philosophy in Zurich.
Funding details
The positions are fixed-term, 60–100% research appointments for two to three years, with salary according to the standards of the Canton of Zurich and the Swiss National Science Foundation. The offer includes funding for travel, conference attendance, and experimental studies. The roles provide dedicated research time with no mandatory teaching duties and flexible work arrangements, including up to two remote-work days per week.
What's required
Applicants must hold a PhD in Philosophy, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Linguistics, Behavioral Economics, or a related field by the start date, although completion is not required at application. Demonstrated experience in empirical and/or experimental philosophy, proficiency with quantitative research methods, and an international peer-reviewed publication record appropriate to career stage are required. Strong competencies in one or more relevant areas are expected. English fluency in speaking and writing is required; German is not required. Desirable qualifications include relevant experimental paradigms, advanced statistical skills in R or Python, open-science experience, collaborative international research experience, prior research on praise, blame, moral responsibility, or evaluative language, and experience organizing academic events. Candidates with purely theoretical backgrounds and no empirical or experimental-methods experience cannot be considered for the Zurich positions.
How to apply
Submit a single PDF by November 20, 2026, containing a CV, publication list, up to three relevant publications, and the names and contact details of two academic referees. Email the application to [email protected] with the reference line “Application for Postdoc PoP & PRAISE.”
Make your next move.
Prepare your application
Review drafts and confirm requirements with the university.
Professors
Assistant Professor of Philosophy (SNSF), Principal Investigator
Switzerland
Research Interests
Cognitive Science
Social Cognition
Moral Psychology
Linguistics
Psychology
Professor
Switzerland
Research Interests
Social Cognition
Moral Psychology
Linguistics
Philosophy
Philosophy Of Languag
Make your next move.
Prepare your application
Review drafts and confirm requirements with the university.