Two 3-year post-docs in Operationalizing AI Ethics at TU Delft

[ISHPSS]

From: Stefan Buijsman Dear colleagues,

TU Delft has openings for two 3 year post-docs, one in philosophy and one in computer science, to work on a topic of choice in AI Ethics as part of the Digital Ethics Centre and Digital Society Program: https://www.tudelft.nl/2022/tbm/digital-ethics-centre/two-post-docs-in-operationalizing-ai-ethics-at-tu-delft. You can apply until January 22nd, as described in the full text below.

Artificial Intelligence is used more and more in society, from healthcare to government decisions and recruitment. Along with the rapid increase of AI adoption come increased concerns about the inherent shortcomings of such technologies (e.g., robustness) and the social, and ethical implications. To create AI systems that can properly serve humans, it is crucial to put humans at the centre of the process such that the outcome system behaves in a way that fits the values and needs of people. This poses new challenges both to philosophical work on values and to (responsible) technological development. What (ethical) requirements should these systems adhere to? What does such ‘adherence’ mean and how can we demonstrate and validate claims regarding adherence? How to build AI systems that can be understood by humans and that can align their behaviour with human values? Tackling these challenges requires bridging the gap between philosophy and computer science within AI Ethics. 

TU Delft has world-leading expertise in the operationalization of AI Ethics and now looks to strengthen this by hiring two three-year post-docs, one in philosophy and one in computer science, that will be closely collaborating on topics within AI Ethics of their choice.

The philosophy post-doc is embedded in the TU Delft Digital Ethics Centre which focuses on translating philosophical values into design requirements. Here, research is done on the methodology of embedding values, as well as on the specification of moral and epistemic values: tudelft.nl/digitalethics. The computer science post-doc is embedded in the Web Information Systems (WIS) group, a world-class research group on data management, human-centered AI, information retrieval, and user modeling. The post-doc will work independently on research that can be well embedded in WIS; they will also contribute to the management of AI projects.Both post-docs are also connected to the activities of the TU Delft AI Initiative and the national Digital Society program.

There are strong interdisciplinary connections already present, with joint supervision and publications already taking place. The joint research of the post-docs will furthermore be supported by dr. Jie Yang (computer science) and dr. Stefan Buijsman (philosophy) as well as Prof. dr. ir. Geert-Jan Houben (computer science) and Prof. dr. Jeroen van den Hoven (philosophy). 

Practical Information:

2 Post-docs for 3 years

Salary €2.960,00 - € 4.670,00

Requirements: a PhD in a field related to the topic of the post-doc, so either related to philosophy or to computer science and the willingness to work in interdisciplinary teams
Apply before January 22nd by sending your CV and a motivation letter that briefly describes why you apply for this position, your research interests, and your fit to the two groups.

For the computer science position, send this to Dr. Jie Yang: j.ya...@tudelft.nl 

For the philosophy position, send this to Dr. Stefan Buijsman: s.n.r.b...@tudelft.nl

Best wishes,

Stefan Buijsman