Postdoctoral Researcher: NOLAI Technical Aspects of AI in Education at the Donders Centre for Cognition

Employment

0.8 - 1.0 FTE

Gross monthly salary

€ 3,974 - € 5,439

Required background

PhD

Organizational unit

Faculty of Social Sciences

Application deadline

02 January 2023

Apply now

Are you a scientist with an interest in education, research and intelligent technologies and do you want to work for an organization that is of social significance? At the National Education Lab for Artificial Intelligence (NOLAI in Dutch), we develop intelligent technologies aimed at improving the quality of primary and secondary education. Over the next ten years, NOLAI teams up with schools, universities and companies to create new innovations with AI for education. As a postdoctoral researcher on technical aspects of AI in education, you will contribute to NOLAI's goals in our scientific programme.
The new National Education Lab AI (NOLAI), located at Radboud University in the Netherlands, is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to study the technical aspects of AI in education. You will be part of the technical aspects of AI team in the lab's scientific programme.
The scientific programme supports the co-creation programme and creates the preconditions necessary for a successful dialogue with schools discussing the innovative use of AI in education and developing new innovations with AI in co-creation between schools, scientists and researchers.
The aim of the scientific programme is to gain insight into the pedagogical, social, technical, and ethical consequences of innovations with intelligent technologies in education. It examines the opportunities and risks of intelligent technologies from the augmentation perspective that views AI as a potential tool for teachers and students.
The scientific programme consists of four focus areas:

1. Pedagogical-didactical principles of AI in education.
2. Technical aspects of AI in education.
3. Ethical aspects of AI in education.
4. Technical infrastructure and data.
You will work together with two other postdocs associated with these focus areas and the NOLAI professors. The focus area 'Technical aspects of AI' is led by Prof. Johan Jeuring (Utrecht University) and Dr Serge Thill. This focus area focuses on developing the necessary AI knowledge to meet the needs of education in the educational field.
You will work closely with teachers in primary and secondary education and developers and edtech companies. Together with the co-creation partners, a design-based approach is followed for the development of innovative intelligent technologies for educational challenges. You will be responsible for ensuring that these developments are based on the existing state-of-the-art scientific knowledge in the field of Artificial Intelligence.
Profile

• You should hold a PhD in a relevant field (e.g. artificial intelligence, data science or computer science), and have an understanding of the various technologies that are used in AI in education.
• You have expertise in state-of-the-art ML and AI algorithms.
• You have expertise in developing and deploying technological solutions to societal challenges.
• You are able to translate questions from teachers and pupils into applications that make use of particular AI technologies.
• You have experience in interacting with stakeholders and end-users to understand requirements.
• You are able to perform experiments with various approaches to using AI in education.
• You have extensive experience in writing scientific publications.
• You possess good cooperation skills.
• You have a good command of the English language, both oral and written.
• Dutch language skills are an advantage, but not strictly required.

We are

The Dutch Education Lab for Artificial Intelligence (NOLAI ) is a consortium including schools, universities and companies, which aims to develop innovative intelligent technologies that will help improve the quality of primary and secondary education over the next ten years. With the help of these innovations, the increasing demand for responsible innovation with intelligent technologies in the public sector education will be met. NOLAI is organisationally embedded in the Faculty of Social Sciences of Radboud University and consists, on the one hand, of a scientific programme (where researchers and data-scientists work), and on the other, of a co-creation programme (in which education, science and business work collaboratively on projects). In total, about 30 to 40 people will be working at NOLAI and many more people will be involved in carrying out the co-creation projects.
Your position will be embedded in the Donders Centre for Cognition, part of The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. This is a world-class interfaculty research centre that houses more than 700 researchers devoted to understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of the human mind. Research at the Donders Institute is focused around four themes: 1. Language and communication, 2. Perception, action and decision-making, 3. Development and lifelong plasticity and 4. Natural computing and neurotechnology. Excellent, state-of-the-art research facilities are available for the broad range of neuroscience research that is being conducted at the Donders Institute. The Donders Institute has been assessed by an international evaluation committee as 'excellent' and recognised as a 'very stimulating environment for top researchers, as well as for young talent'. The Donders Institute fosters a collaborative, multidisciplinary, supportive research environment with a diverse international staff. English is the lingua franca at the Institute.
At the Faculty of Social Sciences  we immerse ourselves in the behaviour, feeling and thinking of people. People and society are the focus of our work. Within that context, we look at themes such as human behaviour and psyche, education and upbringing, communication, society and culture. The faculty offers education to 6,000 students and employs 700 staff.

Radboud University
We want to get the best out of science, others and ourselves. Why? Because this is what the world around us desperately needs. Leading research and education make an indispensable contribution to a healthy, free world with equal opportunities for all. This is what unites the more than 24,000 students and 5,600 employees at Radboud University. And this requires even more talent, collaboration and lifelong learning. You have a part to play!
We offer

• It concerns an employment for 0.8 - 1.0 FTE.
• The gross monthly salary amounts to a minimum of € 3,974 and a maximum of € 5,439 based on a 38-hour working week, depending on previous education and number of years of relevant work experience (salary scale 11 ).
• You will receive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• It concerns a temporary employment for 3 years.
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Care Services . Our Dual Career and Family Care Officer can assist you with family-related support, help your partner or spouse prepare for the local labour market, provide customized support in their search for employment and help your family settle in Nijmegen.
• Working for us means getting extra days off. In case of full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the legally allotted 20.

Additional employment conditions
Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions . You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.
Would you like more information?
For questions about the position, please contact Inge Molenaar, director of NOLAI, at +316 31 13 21 97 or inge.molenaar@ru.nl . Alternatively, you can contact Serge Thill, Associate Professor, at serge.thill@donders.ru.nl .
Practical information and applying
You can apply until 2 January 2023, exclusively using the button below. Kindly address your application to Inge Molenaar. Please fill in the application form and attach the following documents:

• A letter of motivation.
• Your CV.

The first round of interviews will take place on Tuesday 10 January. You would preferably begin employment as soon as possible.
We can imagine you're curious about our application procedure . It offers a rough outline of what you can expect during the application process, how we handle your personal data and how we deal with internal and external candidates.
Apply now Application deadline 02 January 2023

We would like to recruit our new colleague ourselves. Acquisition in response to this vacancy will not be appreciated.

Dr Molenaar, I. (Inge)
director of NOLAI
inge.molenaar@ru.nl +316 31 13 21 97
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You are an internal candidate if you:

• Work at Radboud University (i.e. have an employment contract with Radboud University).
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Last modified: 24 November 2022
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