Student Assistant (HiWi) f/m/div

The Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) conducts research to understand the principles of perception, action, and learning in natural and artificial systems that successfully interact with complex environments.

The Haptic Intelligence Department and the Organizational Leadership and Diversity Group at the institute’s Stuttgart site are looking for a capable new team member to support their collaborative Grassroots research project “Solving the Puzzle: a Multimodal Study of Diverse Leader Emergence” as a Student Assistant (HiWi).

About the project

This project investigates the dynamics of leader emergence and collaboration within diverse teams. By recruiting participants from varied backgrounds, the study focuses on how individuals interact, collaborate, and assume leadership roles in time-pressured puzzle-solving scenarios. Advanced technologies, including motion capture, physiological monitoring, and speech analysis, are employed to capture a wide array of data about the participants’ activities, from physical movements to emotional responses. They seek to understand the nuances of team dynamics, exploring how diverse teams communicate, handle stress, and allocate roles under pressure. By analyzing both the behavior and the physiological responses recorded in this study, they aim to model the process of leader emergence in diverse groups, providing valuable insights into the interplay of individual traits, team collaboration, and leadership in challenging environments.

Roles & Responsibilities

The primary responsibility of the student assistant will be to accurately annotate audio and video recordings from the study, using established coding methodologies and software to transform the collected raw data into meaningful insights. Additional possible tasks that the student assistant may have the opportunity to perform include:

• Recruitment of study participants
• Assistance in conducting the experiment
• Debriefing the participants after the experiment

The concrete position and tasks are subject to discussion with interested candidates. Selected candidates can start working as soon as they are hired.

Education & Experience

They are looking for a talented student pursuing a bachelor’s or master's degree in Management, Psychology, Economics, Human-centered Engineering Design, Computer Science, or related fields.

Applicants should:

• Have high motivation
• Have good oral and written communication skills in English
• Be currently enrolled at a university in Germany
• Want to work in an international and interdisciplinary research environment
• Be able to work on-site at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany

They are especially interested in applicants who have:

• Experience with data annotation
• Experience in participating in or conducting human-subject experiments
• Social skills combined with prominent empathy
• Interest in and/or experience with the topics of diversity and inclusion

Their offer

You can expect a modern workplace in an international environment with regular opportunities for further personal and professional growth.

Students without a bachelor degree will be paid 13.08€ per hour. Students with a bachelor degree will be paid 13.65€ per hour. Working time: up to 20 hours per week. The contract is given per semester.

Application

To apply, please submit a CV, a short motivation letter describing why you are interested in this position, and optionally other documentation to demonstrate your background. Please prepare these documents in English and upload them as one PDF file to their application portal.

For further questions, please email Mr. Arnaud Allemang-Trivalle at aat@is.mpg.de.

The position will be open until filled. The Max Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals. The Max Planck Society strives for gender equality and diversity. Furthermore, the Max Planck Society seeks to increase the number of women in its workforce in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply.