Predoctoral scientific project assistant:
At the University of Vienna almost 11,000 personalities work together towards answering the big questions of the future. Around 7,700 of them do research and teaching, around 3,000 work in administration and organisation. We are looking for a/an

40 Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies

Job vacancy starting: 03/01/2027 mm/dd/yy | Working hours: 30.00 | Classification CBA: §48 VwGr. B1 Grundstufe (praedoc)

Limited contract until: 02/28/2029

Job ID: 6345

The FWF project “A Third Art History? All-Women Exhibitions as Art-Historiographical Interventions”, based at the Department of Art History at the University of Vienna and led by Ass.-Prof. Dr. Maria Bremer, invites applications for a predoctoral scientific project assistant position.

Research context:
Although second-wave feminist critique of gender-based oppression in the art field took shape through both writing and exhibition-making, scholarship has largely privileged textual production, leaving exhibitions of women artists understudied. Moving beyond their ambivalent reception as both instruments of visibility and vehicles for the reification and spectacularization of “women’s art,” this project offers the first systematic inquiry into all-women exhibitions as art-historiographical interventions. It traces the emergence, through this exhibition genre, of a possible “third art history” that challenged the male-dominated frameworks of universities and museums. By reconfiguring art history’s subjects, narratives, and classificatory systems, as well as its temporal and geographical frameworks, these exhibitions established exhibition-making as a feminist counter-model of art-historical knowledge production.

The project employs the term ‘women’ as a non-fixed category that acknowledges diverse gender experiences, including those not explicitly recognized during second-wave feminism. It brings together Ass.-Prof. Dr. Maria Bremer and two researchers, a predoctoral and a postdoctoral scientific project assistant, who are being recruited through separate calls. The project leader’s planned monograph shifts the focus from the Anglo-American sphere to the comparatively understudied context of 1970s Italy, where Vasarian ideals of male artistic genius and conceptions of artistic progress shaped by regional and national competition continued to inform art-historical discourse. The monograph examines how exhibitions of women artists negotiated and challenged these inherited models through engagement with transnational feminist networks and debates, particularly those circulating across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Complementing the project leader’s research and that of the postdoctoral researcher, the successful predoctoral candidate will develop an independent dissertation project on one of the following or related themes:
• Exhibitions initiated by second-wave feminist art historians across different geographical contexts
• Exhibitions organized in conjunction with feminist demonstrations in the 1970s: exhibition-making as history-making
• Historical models and genealogies of women’s exhibitions in the 1970s
• Women artists’ trajectories and exhibition practices in understudied global contexts, including Italy’s former colonial sphere

The dissertation project will be supervised by Ass.-Prof. Dr. Maria Bremer, Tenure-Track Professor of Museum Studies.

Job description:
• Independent doctoral research within the project framework
• Participation in project activities, including team meetings, guest lectures, and a workshop
• Maintenance and updating of project website content, including a co-edited annotated bibliography of research literature and primary sources as well as digital exhibition reconstructions
• Management of project data

Required qualifications:
Completed Master’s degree or Diploma in art history or a related field, with an above-average academic record
Genuine interest in feminist art historiography, women’s art, and exhibition history
Proficiency in English
Excellent writing, analytical, and editorial skills
Ability to work collaboratively in a research team

Additional relevant qualifications:
Knowledge of German and/or Italian
Experience in exhibition practice, archival research, and digital humanities
What we offer:
Work-life balance: Flexible working hours and the possibility of working remotely part of the time.

Inspiring working atmosphere: Academic mentoring and close collaboration within an international team, fostering an open, collegial, and fair working atmosphere.

Good public transport connections: A workplace in the center of Vienna, easily accessible by public transport.

Professional development & Reserch support: Access to over 600 free training courses, ongoing coaching, and partial funding for research trips and conference participation.

Fair salary: The basic salary is EUR 3,776.10, 14 times a year (based on full-time employment, to be adjusted to a 30-hour workweek) and increases if relevant professional experience can be recognized. Limited contract until 28 Feb. 2029, with the possibility of a max. one-year extention.

Get off to a great start in your new job: The Welcome Compass helps you settle into your new role at the University of Vienna and life in Vienna.

Equal opportunities for all: We welcome new colleagues from diverse backgrounds and are committed to equal opportunities and an inclusive working environment.

Application documents:
Cover letter (1 page)
CV
Master's or Diploma certificate
Doctoral project proposal (max. 5 pages, plus a bibliography of max. 2 pages)
Writing sample (e.g. a chapter from the Master’s thesis; max. 20 pages)
Contact details for two referees (no reference letters required)
Please submit your application in English, German or Italian as a single pdf via our job portal:
https://jobs.careercenter.univie.ac.at/job/scientific-project-assistant-predoctoral-156945

If you have any content questions, please contact:
For further information about the position, please contact: Ass.-Prof. Dr. Maria Bremer
maria.bremerunivie.ac.at

We look forward to new personalities in our team!
The University of Vienna has an anti-discriminatory employment policy and attaches great importance to equal opportunities, the advancement of women and diversity. We place particular emphasis on enhancing women’s representation among the academic and general university staff, particularly in leadership roles, and therefore expressly encourage qualified women to apply. Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to female candidates.

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Application deadline: 12/11/2026 mm/dd/yy