This is an exciting opportunity to start an academic career by joining an interdisciplinary team investigating some of the most pressing questions about AI and its persuasive dynamics.

We are delighted to invite applications for these two fully funded PhD positions and look forward to welcoming talented and curious researchers to this project.”

We are seeking two highly motivated PhD candidates to join an exciting new SNSF-funded research project investigating the persuasive power of communicative AI (comAI) in the everyday lives of adolescents and families across Europe.

The Project
Chatbots, virtual assistants, and AI writing tools are becoming a normal part of daily life for young people across Europe. Yet we know surprisingly little about how these technologies actually influence adolescents — their attitudes, decisions, and relationships — in the context of everyday family life. This four-year cross-national ethnographic study investigates the persuasive power of comAI among adolescents aged 13–18 and their families across Switzerland, Germany, France, and Italy. It examines AI influence along three dimensions: the interpersonal dimension, exploring how young people perceive AI as a social actor and navigate questions of agency and relationship; the social and cultural dimension, focusing on how families respond to AI-generated disinformation, bias, and errors; and the technical dimension, examining how families understand emotional design, data profiling, and manipulative by-design features in comAI. Findings will inform AI regulation and digital literacy programmes across Europe.

The DOK Programme
Successful candidates will be enrolled in the PhD Programme in Organisation Studies and Cultural Theory (DOK) at the University of St. Gallen. The DOK programme integrates the university's core and contextual subjects in an interdisciplinary form of doctoral studies, bringing together organisational research and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS). The programme is particularly suited to research that engages with complex social, cultural, and technological questions from multiple disciplinary perspectives, making it an ideal home for this project.

What We Offer

A fully funded PhD position (100%) for four years supervised by Prof. Veronica Barassi, starting in September 2026.
Enrolment in the DOK programme at the University of St. Gallen, one of Europe's leading universities.
Integration into the Media & Culture research unit (=mcm3) at the Insitute of Media and Communications Managament Institute, a dynamic, international, and interdisciplinary research team. See more information about us here: https://mcm.unisg.ch/en/das-institut/lehrstuehle-und-forschungsbereiche/mcm3/.
Access to a growing network of researchers through the PersuasiveAI Futures Network

Your Profile

• Master's degree in communication sciences, social sciences, political sciences, or a related field.
• Proficiency in English and fluency in at least one or two of the project languages (German, French, or Italian) is mandatory.
• Willingness and ability to spend extended periods conducting fieldwork in one of the following cities: Berlin, Paris, or Milan.
• Knowledge of qualitative and ethnographic research methodologies is a strong advantage.
• Curiosity, intellectual independence, and a genuine interest in the social impacts of comAI.

How to Apply: 

Application must be submitted by 4 May. In person interviews will be held by 15 June, with decisions communicated by the end of that month.

Please send along: 

A cover letter explaining who you are, your background, and why you are interested in the PhD position, including your level of language knowledge and your connection to one of the ethnographic areas.
A one-page document outlining your potential PhD project.
Your CV.
A writing sample (MA thesis, article, etc.), if available but not mandatory.

The MCM Institute is an internationally recognized center for research, education, and consulting in media and communication management. Since 1998, we have been addressing the digital transformation and the resulting challenges for businesses and society with a forward-looking perspective