PostDoctoral position on the collective uses of the individual rigth of access to personal data (H/F)

To do so, and in collaboration with civil society organizations, DATARights will first precisely establish applicable rules regarding the right of access to personal data, based on the latest case law, and evaluate how these rules are implemented by data controllers. A field study will then be conducted to document the concrete steps and potential difficulties involved in filing access requests by a panel of research participants. The retrieved data may be voluntarily shared, in full compliance with the GDPR, to collectively analyze their structure and potential uses - both for the data subjects themselves and for academic research.EXPECTED TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE PhD in humanities or social sciences (information and communication sciences, Science and Technology Studies, political science, law, digital humanities...) or in computer science (provided the doctoral research involved strong interdisciplinary engagement with the social sciences), ideally with a focus on topics related to privacy and data protection, Expected skills · At least C1 level in both French and English,· Ability to work collaboratively in an interdisciplinary research environment,The University of Paris 8 is an institution of higher education with 22,500 students, 1,200 research professors and approximately 650 administrative staff. The university carries out training and research missions. Its activities are mainly focused on human and social sciences, arts and digital technology. As far as research is concerned, it has 26 research units and 7 mixed research units.The hired postdoctoral researcher will join the Centre d’Études sur les Médias, les Technologies et l’Internationalisation (CÉMTI), which brings together more than 50 colleagues working on topics related to culture, media, and digital technologies. They will have access to the facilities of the Maison de la Recherche on the Paris 8 campus in Saint-Denis. At a time when new research access procedures are being developed under the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA), this project seeks to develop qualitative and quantitative research methods that make use of datasets retrieved from platforms, while accounting for legal and ethical obligations related to data protection.The selected candidate is expected to propose an original research field, on a topic of their choice, that makes use of the collective exercise of the right of access for research purposes. - Tasks to be performedThe postdoctoral researcher will be expected to contribute to the following tasks:· He/she will help in developing the use of the right of access to personal data as a research method in the social sciences, based on a case study of their own choosing,· Participate in participatory research workshops (as part of open science events) and contribute to their organisation,· Conduct, transcribe and help analyse qualitative interviews,· Contribute to the organisation of the DATARights seminar as well as to the production of deliverables, such as reports and academic papers. - Expected resultsThe postdoctoral researcher will contribute to the production of academic publications and presentations on the uses and non-uses of the right of access to personal data, and will play an active role in disseminating the results of the DATARights project. - Provisional timetablePreferred starting date: November/December 2025. Fixed-term contract of 24 months.· Solid knowledge of computer science applied to social science research would be an asset.The DATARights project is being developed in close collaboration with other research institutions, including the CNRS Research Network on Internet, AI and Society, as well as civil society organizations (ISOC France, Personaldata.io, etc.).Research activities, tasks and expected results-  Name of the project: DATARights - Right of Access, Algorithmic Transparency, and the Rights of Data Subjects (project number: ANR-24-CE53-2287-01)- Research activities / Content of the research project Online platforms play an increasingly central role in the circulation of information and in the shaping of power asymmetries that characterise surveillance capitalism. However, accessing the data needed to study these platforms is complex, as they largely function as black boxes. Several recent academic publications have advocated for for the collective use of the individual right of access to personal data - granted by Article 15 of the GDPR - as a way to open up these black boxes. The project thus aims at operationalising this largely theoretical proposition across various fields, such as online audiovisual services, platform workers, or the study of how young people use of social networks.