Student assistant for Digital History Research Project

MELICA (‘Modeling Everyday Life in Cold-War Aarhus: The Plan and the Reality of Civil Defense’) project is looking for 1-2 student assistants for the remainder of 2024 in order to assist with (a) field verification, mapping, and documentation of the remaining civil defense structures in Aarhus, and (b) creation, annotation, and analysis of machine-readable text, structured, multimedia, and spatial data relating to Cold War civil defense infrastructure in Aarhus.

As our assistant, you will see one of the fastest-growing subfields in history evolve under your fingertips. You will become affiliated with a genuinely digital history project, work in a team, report to the PIs, liaise with the Aarhus City Archive, fire brigade and Cold War Association. You will get trained in the use of specialized applications and workflows (digital annotation in CATMA, data collection and processing in FAIMS, etc.), and hone your digital analytical skills. 

On average, you will be expected to work 4 - 8 hours a week, but the workload is flexible and can vary from week to week. Starting date is June 3, 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter. The job will terminate on December 31, 2024.

The tasks will be some of the following (subject to negotiation and interest):

Visit shelter locations and document them following an established workflow

Annotate scanned OCRed texts with tags established by the project

Georeference scanned maps and digitize features 

Report issues, assist with testing and troubleshooting of the digital platforms 

Help organize project events and manage participants

Test and develop scripts to visualize and analyze texts or spatial data arising from the project. Or assist with the development of agent-based model for shelter-drills

Selected candidates should be reliable and well organized. The work demands both flexibility and accuracy. The ideal candidate should fulfill the following qualifications:

Have an interest in Cold War, landscape archaeology, or urban history (see bibliography)

Have beginner to intermediate computational skills (Data Carpentry or an equivalent training is a good start) and be interested in learning more 

Good English and Danish communication skills, both oral and written, esp when reporting on problems

Team player with a results- and problem-solving-oriented spirit

Proactive, motivated and enthusiastic

For further questions about the job description and qualifications, please contact Adéla Sobotková ().

Applications addressing the qualifications must be written in English and accompanied by a CV and a reference 

Bibliography

Casper Sylvest (2018) ’Atomfrygten og civilforsvaret’, Temp - Tidsskrift for Historie, 8:16, 16–39 (offers a general introduction to civil defense in Denmark)

Rosanna Farbøl (2021) ‘Urban civil defence: Imagining, constructing and performing nuclear war in Aarhus’, Urban History, 48:4, 701-723 (a study of local civil defense in Aarhus)

Joseph Masco (2009), ‘Life Underground: Building the Bunker Society’, Anthropology Now, 1:2, 13-29 (reflections on bunkers, shelters and militarization)

Galaty, Michael, Sharon R. Stocker, and Charles Watkinson. 2000. “Beyond Bunkers: Dominance, Resistance and Change in an Albanian Regional Landscape.” Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 12:2. (Cold war civil defense from landscape archaeology perspective - a parallel from Albania)

Salary and terms of employment

In accordance with the current collective agreement between the Ministry of Taxation and HK.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

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The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.