The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) is an internationally respected
research institute of the Max Planck Society (MPG) with currently two research departments,
several research groups, and a graduate school. At the MPIWG, around 150 scholars from all over
the world investigate the sciences past and present, working together on a collective,
collaborative, and transdisciplinary basis. The MPIWG is renowned worldwide as a hub for
reflection on the role of the sciences in politics and society. It is located in southwestern Berlin,
close to the campus of the Free University Berlin and other research institutions.
The Digital Humanities team seeks to appoint a
Student Assistant with a focus on Machine Learning or Data Science (m/f/d)
up to 19 hours per week
starting October 1st 2026.
The Digital Humanities team in the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) is
composed of 4 digital humanities researchers working on numerous projects across the different
departments and research groups of the institute.
The Digital Humanities team aims to conduct cutting-edge digital and computational humanities
scholarship while utilizing established standards for data representation and exchange. We strive
to stay on the frontier of integrating digital humanities, data science, and software development.
Projects are expected to build on and contribute to a common digital research infrastructure,
producing sustainable digital research outputs that can be reused and shared openly.
- supporting digital humanities projects by implementing computational or machine
- possibility to contribute in archiving and digital preservation of legacy data and digital
projects, including documentation and contributing to the development of interactive
- possibility to contribute in applying data science tools to analyze existing data sets, e.g.
bibliometric studies, images, text, as well as assisting in data mining and network analysis
- possibility of coding and contributing to various digital humanities projects that range
from building databases, data pipelines, utilizing machine learning methods, to generating
data visualizations for historical insights on the basis of either textual or visual materials
Your profile
- student in digital humanities, computer science, data science, machine learning or a
related discipline currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s program (in at least your second
- language skills (in English and/or German)
- basic familiarity of Digital Humanities technologies for digital transcriptions and related
- optional: relational database management, semantic web technologies (such as RDF and
SPARQL); coding and software development experience, such as Python or Javascript;interest in data and machine learning pipelines; interest in the history of alchemy or data
- the ability to work both independently and in a team, good communication skills, a
- an interest in research and enjoyment of work in an international research institution
- remuneration at the student employee rates of the MPG support for junior scientists and
scholars: currently € 16.50 per hour for Bachelor’s students and € 17.17 for Master’s
- working hours to align with your studies
- work in an international setting with staff and guests from more than forty countries
- close contact with all research and research-support units and the opportunity for direct,
- promotion of your professional interests and research interests
- use of the on-site reference library
- access to the wide range of training courses offered by the MPG’s Planck Academy
- occupational health management: weekly in-house yoga classes; regular information on
- a student representative for equal opportunities.
The Max Planck Society is an equal opportunity employer that strives to foster an inclusive
workplace. As an institute of the MPG, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
supports a working community for all free from discrimination and harassment. We explicitly
encourage applications from qualified individuals who belong to groups that are often
underrepresented in the workplace due to age, disability, ethnicity, family status, gender,
nationality, race, sex, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, or religion.
Please follow the links to find out more about the MPIWG’s policies on gender equality and
hiring practices for people with disabilities, as well as Germany’s anti-discrimination laws as
outlined in the General Equal Treatment Act.
Your application:
Please submit your application with complete documents, preferably without a photograph,
through our application portal. Include cover letter, curriculum vitae, copies of qualifications (in a
single PDF file) and relevant employment references if available(in a single PDF file).
Applications must be received by August 23rd 2026 (23:59 CEST).
Please note that we can only accept electronic applications submitted through the portal.
For any questions about the position or the application process, please contact Sarah Lang
[slang@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de].
Further information on the MPIWG can be found at .
