Postdoctoral Researcher in Automating Semantic Policy Compliance

22 May 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

Dublin City University

Department

Human Resources

Research Field

Other

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

Ireland

Application Deadline

10 Jun 2024 - 23:59 (Europe/Dublin)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Full-time

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

H2020

Reference Number

#002429

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

Research Centre                                              ADAPT Centre, School of Computing

Post Title                                                             Postdoctoral Researcher in Automating Semantic Policy Compliance

Level on Framework                                       Level 1

Post Duration                                                    Two Year Fixed Term Contract

 

Dublin City University

Dublin City University (DCU) is a leading innovative European University, proud to be one of the world’s leading Young Universities. DCU is known as Ireland’s University of Impact, with a mission to ‘transform lives and societies’ and focuses on addressing global challenges in collaboration with key national and international partners and stakeholders. 

DCU has over 20,000 students in five faculties spread across three academic campuses in the Glasnevin-Drumcondra area of North Dublin. Thanks to its innovative approach to teaching and learning, the University offers a ‘transformative student experience’ that helps to develop highly sought-after graduates. DCU is currently No. 1 in Ireland for Graduate Employment Rate, and for graduate income (CSO). 

DCU is a research-intensive University and is home to a number of SFI-funded Research Centres. The University participates in a range of European and international research partnerships. DCU is also the leading Irish university in the area of technology transfer as reflected by licensing of intellectual property.

As a ‘People First’ institution, DCU is committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion - a University that helps staff and students to thrive. The University is a leader in terms of its work to increase access to education, and is placed in the world’s Top 10 for reducing inequalities in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings.

 

Overview of the Department 

ADAPT is the world leading SFI research centre for AI Driven Digital Content Technology hosted by Trinity College Dublin. ADAPT’s partner institutions include Dublin City University, University College Dublin, Technological University Dublin, Maynooth University, Munster Technological University, Athlone Institute of Technology, and the National University of Ireland Galway. ADAPT's research vision is to pioneer new forms of proactive, scalable, and integrated AI-driven Digital Content Technology that empower individuals and society to engage in digital experiences with control, inclusion, and accountability with the long-term goal of a balanced digital society by 2030. ADAPT is pioneering new Human Centric AI techniques and technologies including personalisation, natural language processing, data analytics, intelligent machine translation human-computer interaction, as well as setting the standards for data governance, privacy and ethics for digital content. 

Since launching, ADAPT’s researchers have signed 43 collaborative research projects, 52 licence agreements and oversee 16 active commercialisation funds and 52 commercialisation awards. ADAPT has won 40 competitive EU research projects and obtained €18.5 million in non-exchequer noncommercial funding. Additionally, six spinout companies have been formed. ADAPT’s researchers have produced over 1,500 journal and conference publications. Nearly 100 PhD students have been trained. 

ADAPT’s breakthrough technologies and research applications AI for Media Interaction, Digital Humanities, Health, Data governance, and Fintech are being applied across multiple industry domains, expertly facilitated through the ADAPT Design and Innovation Lab (dLab) to deliver product and service innovation. ADAPT's Start-up & Development team fosters and steers collaborations between researchers and AI entrepreneurs from start-up to successful spinout.

 

Role Profile

The ADAPT Centre seeks to appoint a Post-Doctoral Researcher to work on a project involving the creation and utilisation of machine-readable semantics to assist with policy documentation, discovery, and enforcement workflows using LLMs. This project is a collaboration between ADAPT and an industry partner, and the Researcher will be mainly based in the ADAPT Centre within Dublin City University. The Researcher will work on a project involving developing a Machine-readable Data Policy Specification based on standards (RDF, ODRL), exploring its use to represent data policy workflows (e.g. under GDPR), explore the use of LLMs to assist in generating structured information, and to develop tools and techniques for policy enforcement (e.g. ensure workflows align with data processing agreements).

The open position corresponds to the work on one or more of the following topics:

Developing a machine-readable policy specification based on semantic web standards

Exploring potential of LLMs to assist with creation and verification of policies

Developing a policy enforcement tool to apply the developed specification

 

Duties and Responsibilities

• Manage and conduct the research under the leadership of the Principal Investigator
• Disseminating outcomes of research through project reports as well as peer-reviewed academic publications, technical reports, industry and public events, and other channels.
• Assist in the further development of research potential by pursuing external funding.
• Where relevant to the research topic, and within the bounds of DCU policies, assist in co-supervising graduate and postgraduate research students.
• Administrative and management tasks associated with the project.
• Carry out any other duties within the scope and purpose of the job as requested by the PI.
• Comply with all ADAPT and DCU policies and regulations, including those in relation to Research Ethics and Health and Safety.

 

Qualifications, Skills and Experience Required

The ideal candidate will demonstrate the appropriate mix of knowledge, experience, skills, talent and abilities as outlined below:

Knowledge and Experience

• A PhD in Computer Science or equivalent (essential)
• A strong background in use of semantic web, developing ontologies and applications that use querying (e.g. SPARQL), reasoning, and validation (e.g. SHACL) (essential)
• Knowledge or awareness of privacy and data protection regulations such as GDPR (ideal)
• Knowledge of ODRL and Data Privacy Vocabulary (DPV) (ideal)
• Experience in using and developing applications with LLMs designing and developing (ideal)
• Evidence of a research profile and publication record (essential)
• Knowledge of research techniques and methodologies (essential)

Skills, talents & abilities

• Capability for demonstrable high-quality research (essential)
• Experience working on collaborative projects (ideal)

 

Essential Training

The postholder will be required to undertake the following essential compliance training: Orientation, Health & Safety and Data Protection (GDPR). Other training may need to be undertaken when required.

 

Salary Scale:

IUA Postdoctoral Researcher Salary- Point 1 €43,908 – Point 7 €51,677. Pleaserefer to DCU Payscales for the applicable payscale.

Appointment will be commensurate with qualifications and experience and in line with current Government pay policy.

 

Closing date: Monday 10th June 2024

 

Pilot Remote Working Policy

DCU is currently operating a pilot remote working policy for staff which consists of 1 day a week and 2 days a week for a period of up to 21 weeks per year. Such weeks are determined by the Head of each Unit in conjunction with HR and will take cognisance of the academic calendar, business needs and the service provision of the particular area. The terms of the pilot remote working policy will apply.

 

For more information on the Adapt Centre, please visit: https://www.adaptcentre.ie/

 

Informal Enquiries in relation to this role should be directed to:

Dr Harshvardhan Pandit, ADAPT Centre, Dublin City University.

Email: [email protected]

Please do not send applications to this email address, instead apply as described below.

 

Application Procedure:

Please submit your application through the online system. In order to be considered for the role to which you are applying for, you must upload:

1)  Curriculum Vitae

2)  Cover Letter

3)  Completed application form (blank forms can be downloaded from the bottom of the Vacancy).

 

Please note, if all items are not uploaded, the application will be deemed incomplete, and will not be processed.

 

Dublin City University is an equal opportunities employer. 

In line with the Employment Equality Acts 1998 – 2015, the University is committed to equality of treatment for all those who engage with its recruitment, selection and appointment processes.  

The University’s Athena SWAN Bronze Award signifies the University’s commitment to promoting gender equality and addressing any gender pay gaps.  Information on a range of university policies aimed at creating a supportive and flexible work environment are available in the DCU Policy Starter Packs

 

Requirements

Research Field

Other

Education Level

PhD or equivalent

Additional Information
Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

Dublin City University

Country

Ireland

Geofield

Where to apply

Website

https://www.dcu.ie/hr/vacancies-employment-opportunities-human-resources

Contact

City

Dublin

Website

http://dcu.ie

Street

Glasnevin

Postal Code

Dublin 9

STATUS: EXPIRED