Assistant Professor Interactive Intelligence

Change the world: Incorporating human values and motivations in AI-driven innovations.

When developing AI, technology often takes the centre stage. However, to make a real and lasting impact, people should be at the centre stage of technological developments. Only when intelligent agents understand the values and motivations of humans, they can effectively support and collaborate with humans. As an assistant professor at TU Delft, you will develop your vision and research with a clear emphasis on human-AI collaboration. Such a collaboration has potential applications in many domains, including healthcare (e.g., supporting lifestyle changes), digital democracy (e.g., in helping minorities participate in democratic processes), business (e.g., in helping business negotiations), and media (e.g., in helping readers find multiple perspectives on a topic).

You may bring your own research topic, or choose from a wide range of topics, such as decision support, behaviour change support or conversational agents. Depending on your research line, you may work closely with, for example, government authorities, medical professionals. To realise your research, you will write research proposals and attract funding, for which we will gladly support you. You will build your team of PhD students, whom you will supervise to completion. In addition, you will teach and coach bachelor and master students, write scientific papers, and speak at conferences.

Your home base will be the internationally diverse and gender-inclusive team of the Interactive Intelligence group. We are a highly driven team of 35 academic staff, PhD students and postdocs. Combining methods from AI and social sciences, we share an ambition to create hybrid intelligence for everyone. We foster a friendly and supportive culture in which you are valued for who you are, and actively encourage people from under-represented groups to join us. Being an interdisciplinary group, we collaborate closely, share knowledge and learn from each other. You will get all the training and coaching you need to evolve and develop your academic career.

Learn more about the Interactive Intelligence Group

• You have a PhD in a relevant subject, as well an MSc in Computer Science, AI or equivalent.
• You thrive on research in which you develop technology to collaborate with and benefit people.
• You are genuinely interested in other people and their opinions and are keen to collaborate with experts from other disciplines, such as psychology and computational linguistics.
• You use your communication skills to inspire and convince partners of your research proposals, and to collaborate with fellow researchers to achieve meaningful team results.
• You are committed to teaching and engaging with students, while growing your own competencies.
• You have a good command of spoken and written English, as you’ll be working in an internationally diverse community. You are willing to learn the language or already have a good command of Dutch.

This position is offered as an Academic Career Track position (0.8 – 1.0 FTE). During the Academic Career Track, we expect you to grow towards an Associate Professor position within a maximum of eight years, for which a position will be available. With other Academic Career Track colleagues, you will participate in the Academic Career Track Development programme, where you are offered ample opportunities to develop yourself in the areas of Education, Research, Societal Impact & Innovation, and Leadership & Organisation. You will regularly discuss your development and results with senior staff based on a personalized development plan and performance criteria agreed upon at the start of your Academic Career Track. You will start with a temporary contract that will be converted to a permanent contract no later than 12 -18 months after a positive evaluation, based on continuous confidence in your development potential and fit in the organisation.

Inspiring, excellent education is our central aim. We expect you to obtain a University Teaching Qualification (UTQ) within three years if you have less than five years of teaching experience. This is provided by the TU Delft UTQ programme as part of the Academic Career Track Development programme.

TU Delft sets high standards for the English competency of the teaching staff. The TU Delft offers training to improve English competency. If you do not speak Dutch, we offer courses to learn the Dutch language within three years.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities. The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged and you can work partly from home.

For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service . This service addresses the needs of new international employees and those of their partners and families. The Coming to Delft Service offers personalised assistance during the preparation of the relocation, finding housing and schools for children (if applicable). In addition, a Dual Career Programme  for partners is offered. The Coming to Delft Service will do their best to help you settle in the Netherlands.

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values  and we actively engage  to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) brings together three scientific disciplines. Combined, they reinforce each other and are the driving force behind the technology we all use in our daily lives. Technology such as the electricity grid, which our faculty is helping to make completely sustainable and future-proof. At the same time, we are developing the chips and sensors of the future, whilst also setting the foundations for the software technologies to run on this new generation of equipment – which of course includes AI. Meanwhile we are pushing the limits of applied mathematics, for example mapping out disease processes using single cell data, and using mathematics to simulate gigantic ash plumes after a volcanic eruption. In other words: there is plenty of room at the faculty for ground-breaking research. We educate innovative engineers and have excellent labs and facilities that underline our strong international position. In total, more than 1000 employees and 4,000 students work and study in this innovative environment.

Click here  to go to the website of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science.

For more information about this application please send an e-mail to Anita Hoogmoed: [email protected].     

Are you our new assistant professor in interactive intelligence?

Upload your motivation letter and CV using the application button below before May 25 2024. Please address your application to Catholijn Jonker, head of the Interactive Intelligence section. We are particularly interested in what drives you and who your role model is: who provides you with motivation, inspiration and support, and why?

The initial interviews will take place in the last week of June / first week of July.

• A pre-employment screening can be part of the selection procedure.
• You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.
• Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.