Uni-Tübingen

Cluster of Excellence HUMAN ORIGINS

Bewerbungsfrist : 06.04.2026

The Cluster of Excellence "HUMAN ORIGINS" at the University of Tübingen is looking for an

Independent Junior Group Leader for the Ethics Laboratory
(m/f/d, E14 TV-L, 100%).

The position should start on 01. July 2026 and is limited until 31.12.2032 (project duration).

The HUMAN ORIGINS Cluster of Excellence researches the last five million years of human history and combines scientific, archaeological, and humanities approaches.
The Independent Junior Group Leader Ethics Laboratory will build and lead the Cluster’s Ethics Laboratory, which will take a central role within the Cluster. Its goal will be to develop ethical standards and best practices for research in human origins. The Ethics Laboratory will contribute to framing the ethical discourses on critical topics for human origins studies. It will also play an integral role in the Cluster’s outreach and communication strategies.

Duties and responsibilities will include:

• Conducting own research projects. Possible research topics include but are not limited to the Ethics of Science, Research Ethics, Ethics of Metascience, History of Human Origin Studies, Philosophy of Science, etc.
• Advise on ethical aspects of planned research
• Develop ethical guidelines and best practices in human origins research.
• Contribute to capacity building activities for students and researchers from countries where our research will be conducted.
• Secure research approvals in ethics committees.
• Facilitate contact between the HUMAN ORIGINS PIs, local stakeholders and communities.
• Establish contacts and reciprocal, collaborative interactions with Indigenous and local communities to integrate local knowledge in the framing of research questions and results interpretation.
• Participate in communication strategy involving local partners and communities.
• Collaborate closely with the University of Tübingen’s International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW), the department of philosophy, and collaborators beyond the university.
• Organize regular workshops and lecture series.
• Supervise one postdoctoral researcher.

The requirement profile:

• PhD in a relevant research field.
• Well-rounded experience in research ethics and ethics of science, especially welcome are experiences with the topics of repatriation, decolonization, interactions with local communities, etc.
• International publications in a relevant research field.
• Scientific creativity and drive to address fundamental ethical questions of human origins research.
• Working experience in multidisciplinary teams .
• Excellent communication skills in English, both written and spoken.
• Supervisory experience .

The University of Tübingen is committed to equity and diversity and actively promotes equal opportunities. Equally qualified candidates with disabilities will be given preference in the hiring process. The University of Tübingen is committed to increasing the percentage of women in research and teaching and thus encourages women with adequate qualifications to apply.

Please submit applications as a single PDF file (max. 10 MB) to Dr. Annika Thiem admin.human- origins spam prevention @ifu.uni-tuebingen.de by 6th April 2026.

Further information on the Cluster of Excellence can be found here:
?url=https%3A%2F%2Funi-tuebingen.de%2Fen%2Fresearch%2Fcore-research%2Fcluster-of-excellence-human-origins%2F&module=jobs&id=212983" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> ?url=https%3A%2F%2Funi-tuebingen.de%2Fen%2Fresearch%2Fcore-research%2Fcluster-of-excellence-human-origins%2F&module=jobs&id=212983" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/research/core-research/cluster-of-excellence-human-origins/

In your application, please refer to myScience.de and reference JobID 212983 .