Teaching Fellow in Applied Social Data Science (x2)

School/Department:                School of Social Sciences and Philosophy/Department of Political Science 

Job Category and Level:         Teaching Fellow

Post Status:                               3-year Fixed Term Contract (x2)

The Purpose of the Role

The Department of Political Science, School of Social Sciences and Philosophy is seeking to appoint a Teaching Fellow in Applied Social Data Science, to commence on 1st August 2025. 

The Department of Political Science wishes to make a Teaching Fellow appointment with a special focus on contributing to the postgraduate programme in Applied Social Data Science. In particular, this includes full-time support for the modules in this programme in terms of lectures and tutorials, with a focus on research-led postgraduate teaching. The candidate will also be capable of further developing the quality of our research-led postgraduate teaching. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate strong experience, either as a teaching assistant or lead instructor. An ability to teach modules in research design, quantitative research methods, machine learning and quantitative text analysis at both undergraduate and postgraduate level is highly desirable. The Department is seeking to appoint an individual with vision and enthusiasm and a genuine commitment to the vital role of teaching. 

The priority teaching expectations for this position are to provide teaching support (tutorials, seminars, grading, etc) for six semester length modules (or module equivalents) offered as part of a postgraduate diploma on Applied Social Data Science (computer programming, machine learning, research design, advanced statistics, text analysis, forecasting). Depending on the applicant’s skills and Departmental needs, the postholder may be asked to teach modules as main instructor, on data science topics or as part of the Department of Political Science’s other offerings at undergraduate or postgraduate level. 

Appointment will be made on a 3-year fixed term contract.

Context 

The School of Social Sciences and Philosophy was formed in 2005 and comprises the Departments of Economics, Philosophy, Political Science and Sociology. With over 100 staff, the School has an international reputation in research and is committed to the dissemination of its knowledge and expertise to the benefit of the wider community. The School has a long-standing record of research scholarship and funding, housing significant research projects including ERC, IRC Laureate and Horizon Awards. 

The School, the third largest in the University, is also dedicated to excellence in teaching, being home to the undergraduate degree in PPES (Philosophy, Political Science, Economics and Sociology), the highly demanded Bachelor in Economic and Social Sciences (BESS) and offering undergraduate degrees via the Trinity Joint Honours Programmes in Economics, Philosophy, Political Science and Sociology. The School also offers eight taught postgraduate programmes across its disciplines and has vibrant postgraduate research programmes with over 80 graduate students across the School undertaking structured PhD programmes. Our faculty members are internationally recognized scholars, and our research contributes significantly to academic discourse and real-world policymaking. 

Our graduates are highly employable and much sought after; they populate leadership roles in Business, Industry, and the Public Sector, both in Ireland and abroad. Each of the Departments in the School is the top-ranked in Ireland, with Philosophy and Political Science ranked in the top 100 and Economics and Sociology in the top 150 worldwide (QS rankings 2025). The School of Social Sciences and Philosophy has a strong tradition of internationalisation both in terms of international exchanges for its own students and the admission of non-EU students into its full-time programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. The School also has a long history of outreach and engagement with Irish society. The distinguishing feature of the research undertaken in the School of Social Science and Philosophy is the combination of the important real-world questions, state-of-the-art conceptual models and cutting-edge methods and analytical tools.

Person Requirements 

The role-holder will require the following knowledge, skills and attributes for successful performance in the role. 

Qualifications 

• An excellent academic record and have recently completed or be close to completion of a PhD in a social science (Political Science, Economics, Sociology), data science, or related discipline.