Postdoc "EU AI Diplomacy Towards China"

The UvA department of political science is looking for a post-doctoral researcher embedded in the RegulAite project led by Prof. Dr. Daniel Mügge.

RegulAite investigates how the European Union regulates artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of global geopolitical, economic, and technological competition. Its core premise is that to minimise the potential risks from AI and maximise its benefits for society, EU AI regulation will have to accommodate the global force field in which it unfolds and will be implemented. Project details and background can be found on the RegulAite website .

Financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) through a Vici grant, the RegulAite project in turn is hosted by the PETGOV (Political Economy and Transnational Governance) programme group in the political science department.

What are you going to do

This post doc project investigates the interaction between the EU and China as a leading power in global (digital) politics and AI development (see subproject III ). In EU policy discourse, China is frequently held up as a negative example of government abuse of AI for oppressive aims. And in the current geopolitical climate, China is increasingly portrayed as the primary competitor of an American-European alliance.

At the same time, global standards agreement in the AI field will also require Chinese buy-in. Equally, bilateral trade in AI-powered devices will require some level of shared standards or regulatory agreements. The goal of the project is to understand how the EU interacts with China in the field of AI standard setting, and why so. Based on that, it assesses alternative future scenarios for such engagement and their relative merits and ancillary effects.

Embedded in the RegulAite project, the successful candidate will be part of a larger team studying issues of EU AI regulation, but with their own dedicated field of inquiry - for example by concentrating a particularly relevant subset or aspect of the dynamics mentioned in the project description.

You will/tasks

• Complete at least two scientific articles in leading academic journals on the topic outlined above;
• Aid the dissemination of research results through widely accessible formats;
• Actively contribute to the RegulAite project's activities and outreach;
• Contribute to collective academic publications, as appropriate.