Scientific project assistant postdoctoral Universität Wien

Job description:

At the University of Vienna almost 11,000 personalities work together towards answering the big questions of the future. Around 7,700  of them do research and teaching, around 3,000 work in administration and organisation. We are looking for a/an

Postdoctoral scientific project assistant

The FWF project “A Third Art History? All-Women Exhibitions as Art-Historiographical Interventions”, based at the Department of Art History at the University of Vienna and led by Ass.-Prof. Dr. Maria Bremer, invites applications for a postdoctoral scientific project assistant position. 

Research context:

Although second-wave feminist critique of gender-based oppression in the art field took shape through both writing and exhibition-making, scholarship has largely privileged textual production, leaving exhibitions of women artists understudied. Moving beyond their ambivalent reception as both instruments of visibility and vehicles for the reification and spectacularization of “women’s art,” this project offers the first systematic inquiry into all-women exhibitions as art-historiographical interventions. It traces the emergence, through this exhibition genre, of a possible “third art history” that challenged the male-dominated frameworks of universities and museums. By reconfiguring art history’s subjects, narratives, and classificatory systems, as well as its temporal and geographical frameworks, these exhibitions established exhibition-making as a feminist counter-model of art-historical knowledge production.

The project employs the term ‘women’ as a non-fixed category that acknowledges diverse gender experiences, including those not explicitly recognized during second-wave feminism. It brings together Ass.-Prof. Dr. Maria Bremer and two researchers, a postdoctoral and a predoctoral scientific project assistant, who are being recruited through separate calls. The project leader’s planned monograph shifts the focus from the Anglo-American sphere to the comparatively understudied context of 1970s Italy, where Vasarian ideals of male artistic genius and conceptions of artistic progress shaped by regional and national competition continued to inform art-historical discourse. The monograph examines how exhibitions of women artists negotiated and challenged these inherited models through engagement with transnational feminist networks and debates, particularly those circulating across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Complementing the project leader’s research and that of the predoctoral researcher, the successful postdoctoral candidate will develop an independent research project on one of the following or related themes:
•    Art-historiographical potential and epistemic authority of exhibition formats
•    History of art-historical gender studies in relation to the broader historiography of art history
•    Legacies of 1970s women’s exhibitions in contemporary queer and trans feminist struggles and amid resurgent authoritarianism

Job description:

•    Independent postdoctoral research within the project framework
•    Participation in project activities, including team meetings, guest lectures, and a workshop
•    Collaboration with the project leader on a publication resulting from the workshop
•    Management of project data

Required qualifications:

•    Completed PhD in art history or a related field, with an above-average academic record
•    Genuine interest in feminist art historiography, women’s art, and exhibition history
•    Proficiency in English
•    Excellent writing, analytical, and editorial skills
•    Ability to work collaboratively in a research team

Additional relevant qualifications:•    Knowledge of German and/or Italian•    Experience in exhibition practice, archival research, and digital humanities

What we offer:

Work-life balance: Flexible working hours and the possibility of working remotely part of the time.

Inspiring working atmosphere: Academic mentoring and close collaboration within an international team, fostering an open, collegial, and fair working atmosphere.

Good public transport connections: A workplace in the center of Vienna, easily accesible by public transport. 

Professional develepment & Research support: Access to over 600 free training courses, ongoing coaching, and partial funding for research trips and conference participation.

Fair salary: The basic salary is EUR 5,014.30 (14 times a year) and increases if relevant professional experience can be recognized. Limited contract until 29 Feb. 2028 with the possibility of a max. one-year extention. 

Get off to a great start in your new job: The  Welcome Compass helps you settle into your new role at the University of Vienna and life in Vienna.

Equal opportunities for all: We welcome new colleagues from diverse backgrounds and are committed to equal opportunities and an inclusive working environment.

Application documents:

• Cover letter (1 page)
• CV 
• PhD certificate
• Postdoctoral project proposal (max. 5 pages, plus a bibliography of max. 2 pages)
• Writing sample (e.g. a chapter from the doctoral thesis; max. 20 pages)
• Contact details for two referees (no reference letters required)
• Please submit your application in English, German or Italian as a single pdf via our job portal / Apply now - button. Applications via email or postal services cannot be considered.

If you have any content questions, please contact:

For further information about the position, please contact: Ass.-Prof. Dr. Maria Bremer

maria.bremer@univie.ac.at

We look forward to new personalities in our team! 
The University of Vienna has an anti-discriminatory employment policy and attaches great importance to equal opportunities, the advancement of women and diversity. We place particular emphasis on enhancing women’s representation among the academic and general university staff, particularly in leadership roles, and therefore expressly encourage qualified women to apply. Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to female candidates.

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Application deadline: 12/11/2026 mm/dd/yy

Apply now