Post-doctoral researcher position on Human – Centric Artificial Intelligence

Research Context

I. Knowledge – Infused Artificial Intelligence for Human-Technology Integration

The effective integration of data and knowledge in HCAI can be based on knowledge representations in the form of ontologies and knowledge graphs, while neuro-symbolic learning can be a powerful mechanism to drive knowledge-infused machine learning. The incorporation of domain knowledge is hardly achievable without the collaboration of multi-stakeholder teams, and therefore a co-creative and evaluative approach to shaping Knowledge-Infused Artificial Intelligence is needed. Your research will therefore be expected to take a multidisciplinary perspective, including both contributions in linked data and knowledge-driven AI, as well as in effective multi-stakeholder co-creative and evaluative approaches to harness domain-relevant expertise and knowledge. Pilot project-use cases will feed into the study and will offer a rich testbed for the validation of the developed approaches.

II. Human-Centred Digital Twins in Industrial Work Environments
Digital twins enjoy significant take-up in a wide range of industries and application domains. The live coupling of the physical and digital worlds in digital twins targets the near real time operation and control of physical systems, in a form of mixed physical-digital-human system. Recent research has targeted the development of Human-Centred Digital Twins, as the Digital Twinning of physical and digital entities in socio-technical systems, but with clear emphasis on the actual role, contribution, and benefit of the human operator. A human – centred Digital Twin would be more effective if it achieves a cognitive coupling between humans and machines. A starting point for such coupling is to develop context models for situation awareness. Overall, your project will research requirements, methods, tools, and their application in project uses cases, resulting in a proposed framework for sliding work sharing between human and non-human actors.

Your role
We offer an appointment for a Post-Doctoral researcher to contribute in the above areas, with an anticipated start as soon as possible, as part of the European collaborative research projects on HCAI HumAIne and AI4Work. The appointment will be for a 24-month period. Your role will be to conduct research in the above topics. You will be expected to contribute to and lead in some cases project research and technical reporting, dissemination activities, and experimental empirical investigation of machine learning on project-related data. You will also be expected to liaise with and support other researchers, especially PhD researchers working in the same projects. You will also engage in project regular meetings and workshops together with the project partners, demonstrating own initiative.

The Horizon Europe projects HumAIne and AI4Work
You will be part of highly dynamic and engaging teams within the consortia of the European collaborative projects HumAIne and AI4Work. You will work within the Department of Operations. The projects include technology providers (including AI providers), industry experts from multiple domains, academic & research institutions, and other organisations, offering the right partnership mix of stakeholders to integrate a multi-stakeholder viewpoint on the research.

HumAIne: Hybrid Human-AI Decision Support for Enhanced Human Empowerment in Dynamic Situations. The project will provide novel solutions for collective intelligence (including Active, Neuro-symbolic, and Swarm Learning) for decision making and human empowerment for important sectors (manufacturing, smart cities, healthcare, finance, energy.

AI4Work: Human-centric Digital Twin Approaches to Trustworthy AI and Robotics for Improved Working Conditions. The project will deliver human-centred digital twin solutions for effective collaboration between human and non-human actors in work environments, such as in logistics, construction, healthcare, and automation. The collaboration will be centred around the concept of Sliding Work Sharing, depending on the situational context.

About the University of Groningen
Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has enjoyed an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative centre of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Belonging to the best research universities of Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is truly an international place of knowledge.

Faculty of Economics and Business
The Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) has an inspiring study and working environment for students and employees. International accreditation enables the Faculty to assess performance against the highest international standards. It also creates an exciting environment of continuous improvement. FEB's programmes, academic staff and research do well on various excellence ranking lists.

Qualifications for postdoctoral researcher

• PhD in Management / Industrial Engineering, Computing/Data Science, or Engineering (completed or near completion)

Experience and competences

The desired experience and competences are the following:

• you should be a proactive, self-driven individual, with critical thinking, who can excel in an environment that offers collaboration options, within the supervising and organisation teams, but also within the extensive project partnership, able to perform within project timescales
• you should have project management skills demonstrable from previous project experience
• competences in data analytics, machine learning / AI (for example in Python and relevant machine learning libraries), as well as interest and ability to expand such competences
• experience with programming for data management and data integration would be an advantage
• excellent communication skills and proficiency (written and verbal) in English
• excellent technical and research report writing skills
• a relevant publications’ track record will be an advantage
• ability and interest in combining theory with experimental research
• excellent communication skills and proficiency (written and verbal) in English
• readiness and willingness to engage/collaborate with consortium partners and other researchers as a team player working in an interdisciplinary environment
• experience from working in the past in collaborative research projects will be an advantage
• a track-record of conducting high quality research with outcomes such as relevant publication(s), developed tools.

We offer you in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:

• a salary depending on qualifications and work experience, starting from a minimum of € 3,226 gross per month to a maximum of € 5,090 gross per month (salary scale 10) for a fulltime position
• we offer a research associate / post-doctoral appointments, for a duration of 24 months, starting as soon as possible. A post will be offered with a probation period of 4 months, when a go/no go decision will be made to conclude the contract within 6 months, or offer contract extension for the remaining period. Subject to funds availability and satisfactory progress, the contract may be extended beyond the 24-month period.
• a holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income and an 8.3% end-of-the-year allowance, as well as participation in a pension scheme for employees.