2026 CultureLab PhD Grant Call

Practical information

Application deadline : 29/05/2026
Starting date : 01/10/2026
Contract type : Temporary/Full-time
Duration : 3 years (36 months)
Gross salary : 2300 €

Work environment

CultureLab is a PSL-funded project aimed at supporting computational research in the humanities and social sciences across all relevant PSL laboratories.The project's main areas of research are :

1. Harvesting and annotating large scale cultural datasets (texts, images, …)
2. A theory-driven approach to computational HSS.
3. Inferring historical and social processes from data across multiple timescales
4. Social impact through computational analysis of cultural and heritage data.

Topics

These doctoral contracts are intended to support research projects in the computational humanities and social sciences and in cultural evolution, particularly those involving the following approaches:

• Modelling and analysis of the transmission of texts, ideas and cultural products
• Computational analysis of corpora of texts, images or objects
• Processing of massive or semi-massive data
• Artificial intelligence and heritage data

Eligibility

• The thesis supervisor must be a member of CultureLab (see below).
• The proposed projects must be in line with CultureLab's research areas.
• Previous experience in computational methods applied to the humanities and social sciences is an advantage.

Laboratories and members of CultureLab authorised to supervise theses
 

Centre Jean-Mabillon (ENC-PSL)	Jean-Baptiste Camps		Frédéric Duval	Katarzyna Anna Kapitan
Institut Jean-Nicod (ENS - PSL & CNRS)	Nicolas Baumard	Roberto Casati	Paul Egré	Alda Mari	Hugo Mercier	Olivier Morin
Centre de Recherche de Mathématiques Appliquées (Dauphine-PSL)	Madalina Olteanu			Fabrice Rossi
Langues, Textes, Traitements informatiques et Cognition (ENS - PSL, CNRS & Sorbonne Nouvelle)	Pascal Amsili		Sophie Prévost	Thierry Poibeau		Frédéric Landragin
Systèmes de Référence Temps-Espace (Observatoire de Paris - PSL & CNRS)	Matthieu Husson
Dauphine Recherches en Management (Dauphine-PSL)	Christophe Benavent
Archéologie & Philologie d’Orient et d’Occident (ENS–EPHE-PSL & CNRS)	Marc Bui			Peter Stokes		Anne-Marie Turcan-Verkerk
Centre de Recherche de Saint-Antoine (EPHE section SVT)	Daniel Stockholm

 

Application procedure

Applicants are invited to contact a research supervisor from the list above and, with his or her agreement, submit an application including:

– A detailed CV including a list of publications (2 pages).

– A research project (maximum 2 pages, excluding bibliography).

– A letter of support from the future thesis supervisor, stating that he/she is prepared to supervise the candidate and explaining why the thesis project is promising.

– A letter from the director of the future research unit, in which the latter undertakes to host the doctoral student during the period he/she will be preparing his/her thesis.

Applications must be sent before 30th May 2026 to recrutement@chartes.psl.eu as well as to jean-baptiste.camps@chartes.psl.eu and olivier.morin@ens.psl.eu.

Selected applications will be invited to participate to interviews (in English) online in June.