Full-time Research and Data Engineer for the creation of the Digital Benin online platform

The Museum am Rothenbaum (foundation under public law)is hiring a Full-time Research and Data Engineer for the creation of the Digital Benin online platform for the duration of two years at the earliest possible date

The Museum am Rothenbaum promotes the appreciation of world cultures and arts. It is concerned with contemporary social debates centred on issues such as colonial heritage, living together in a globalised society and opening museums to a broader public. As a museum with world-encompassing collections and related archives, it is currently developing an innovative programme of exhibitions and events and focussing its research on the intertwined histories and the transcultural forms of creativity represented by the collections.

Within the framework of the project Digital Benin. Reconnecting Royal Art Treasures, financed by the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung, the MARKK is opening an international project office to bring together digitally information about the globally scatteredworks of art from the former Kingdom of Benin. As an unparalleled forum of knowledge about these pieces, Digital Benin will, within the next two years, associate object data with diverse forms of documentation from collections worldwide, thus providing the long-sought overview of the court artworks looted in the 19th century. The aim is to create a thorough and sustainable inventory catalogue of the history, cultural significance and provenance of the works. The project lead by German, Nigerian, European and American experts is financed by the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung. The launch of the website is planned for 2022.

Responsibilities and tasks include:

  • Overall coordination of the digital project in close cooperation with the Digital Humanities Team and the leading core team of the project as well as the MARKK
  • Researching and obtaining data on Benin’s object, archive and photographic holdings of institutions worldwide and maintaining the corresponding communication
  • Close cooperation with the Nigerian project staff and support in theprocessing of their research results and surveys, including working trips to Nigeria
  • Preparation and standardisation of the data collected, coordination, possible entry into the database in close consultation and cooperation with the technical data developer to prepare the online publication.
  • Supervision/administration of the project budgetRequirements:
  • University degree (preferably doctorate) in social and cultural anthropology (ethnology), global art history, global history, or African studies. Ideally with research experience on art/culture/history of the Kingdom of Benin.
  • Experience in working with databases
  • Experience in object and archive research
  • Working experience in research projects
  • Interest in Digital Humanitiesand experience in digital communication. Familiarity with processes of digital cataloguing of collections, starting from multiple user perspectives
  • Confident handling of common office applications; knowledge of technical concepts such as markup, JSON,etc. desirable
  • Excellent communication and teamwork skills
  • Excellent written and spoken English and German language skills

We are offering:

  • A salary in accordance with EG 13 TV-AVH (Hamburg city’s remuneration plan)
  • A varied and future oriented participation in an exemplaryDigital Humanities project. Work in a diverse team during a crucial period of restructuring and repositioning of the museum.
  • a contribution to the HVV-Profi-Card

The Museum am Rothenbaum welcomes applications from people of all nationalities, from People of Color and applicants with a refugee or family migration history. Applicants with disability will be given priority if they are equally suitable (the location is only partially accessible).

Please send your written application with cover letter and curriculum vitae as a single PDF file by email to (please note the possible maximum data size of 20 MB) or by post to the Museum am Rothenbaum, attn. Ms. Lapidus, Rothenbaumchaussee 64, 20148 Hamburg, Germany, until 24.06.2020.

If you have any questions, please contact the director Prof.Dr. Barbara Plankensteiner, Tel. 040 428879-501

We would like to point out that we do not return application documents. If you wish to receive them back, please enclose a stamped and self-addressed envelope.

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