Lead AI postdoctoral research fellow position in Logic and Artificial Intelligence

• English

Through robust and close interaction with the world around us – globally, nationally and locally – we shall be instrumental in building a society based on knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Do you want to take part in shaping the future?

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At the Department of Information Science and Media Studies, there is a vacancy for a postdoctoral research fellow position within Logic and Artificial Intelligence. The position is associated with the departments research group for Logic and AI and is funded by the Faculty of Social Sciences. The position is four years and 25% of the time is allocated for teaching and administrative duties.

The position is open to either an incoming or an outgoing candidate, see LEAD AI mobility rules .

About the host research group and research theme

We are looking for an ambitious scholar who wants to advance the field of AI by focusing on the foundations of reliable, trustworthy and transparent AI by incorporating models of social interaction into logic-based knowledge representation and reasoning. The postdoc will become part of a dynamic, interdisciplinary, and inclusive team as a member of the department’s research group for Logic and AI. The postdoc will also be associated with the inter-departmental LEAD AI project at UiB, funded by The European Research Council.

The Logic and Artificial Intelligence (LAI) group studies the foundations of reasoning about information in socio-technical systems of interacting  agents. We consider interactions both with people and with computational agents. Our work finds applications in several different sub-areas of Artificial Intelligence and Multi-Agent Systems particularly including logic-based knowledge representation and reasoning.  Key interests of our research include pure and applied modal logic (in particular epistemic and strategic), machine ethics and normative systems, aggregation of information, judgments and preferences, reasoning about social networks, and networks of text and people. Our research is highly interdisciplinary, combining work on formal logic from computer and information science, mathematics and philosophy with models and concepts from the social sciences such as game theory, social choice theory, social network analysis and formal ethics, applied to problems in artificial intelligence such as knowledge representation and machine reasoning.

Your application must include a strong research project proposal on the frontier in AI-related research themes in the LAI group. The most relevant of the LEAD AI pillars is the first one, possibly in combination with the second. Of particular interest would be theoretical research on formal verification as a foundation for reliable, trustworthy and transparent AI, and research on combining machine reasoning with models of social interaction from the social sciences (e.g., social network analysis).

Applicants are advised to familiarize themselves with the research profile of the LAI research group .

About the LEAD AI fellowship programme

LEAD AI is the University of Bergen's career and mobility fellowship program for training 19 postdoctoral fellows in artificial intelligence. The program has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 101126560.

The Lead AI programme offers high-quality inter- and transdisciplinary research and training opportunities in the area of artificial intelligence supported by a dedicated supervision and mentoring, encouraging inter-sectoral exposure, in particular

• academic freedom
• benefits from knowledge and skills transfer between disciplines, organisations and sectors
• structured skill-based training
• high-quality working conditions
• personal career support
• equal opportunities

For more information see the LEAD AI webpage or send an email to [email protected]

• Applicants must hold a Norwegian PhD or an equivalent degree within computer and/or information science or must have submitted his/her doctoral thesis for assessment prior to the application deadline. It is a condition of employment that the PhD has been awarded.
• Applicant should have a genuine interest in AI, and the research proposal must be related to artificial intelligence.
• Applicants cannot previously have been employed as a postdoctoral fellow at UiB and they cannot be employed by another institution for the time of the fellowship.
• Experience with AI-related research and/or innovation is an advantage.
• The LEAD AI mobility rules must be followed
• Outgoing fellowships require a continuous stay in the outgoing host country of minimum 12 months and have to be back at the University for 12 months afterwards.
• Applicants must be able to work independently and in a structured manner, and have the ability to cooperate with others.
• Applicants must have excellent skills in oral and written English (self-assessed in the CV and demonstrated in the application).
• The application and relevant documents must be in English.

Personal and relational qualities will be emphasized. Research experience, ambitions and potential will also count when evaluating the candidates.

Special requirements for the position

The University of Bergen is subjected to the regulation for export control system . The regulation will be applied in the processing of the applications. 

The postdoctoral position is a fixed term position with the primary objective of qualifying the appointee for work in top academic positions. The fixed term period for this position is 4 years.

For all LEAD AI fellows, a Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP) is to be developed jointly by the fellow, supervisor, and co-supervisor by the end of Month 3 of the fellowship, including a plan for the individual research budget, and information on additional funding where applicable.

It is a requirement that the project is completed in the course of the period of employment.

• An engaged and professionally challenging working environment within a dynamic and inclusive research group
• Position as postdoctoral fellow (code 1352 in the basic collective agreement) and a gross annual salary of NOK 615 700 (equivalent to pay grade 63) upon appointment. Further increases in salary are made according to length of service in the position. A higher salary may be considered for a particularly well-qualified applicant.
• Welfare benefits* and social benefits including pension-saving in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund, occupational injury insurance, full salary during sick leave for 52 weeks, and paid parental leave**.
• Extension of the position term (work contract) due to sick leave and parental leave.
• Norwegian language courses free of charge.
• High standards for working hours, holidays, place of work, health, and safety
• Access to specific training activities exclusively provided within the framework of the LEAD AI programme

*) Subject to membership in the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme . For non-EU outgoing fellows, individual benefit agreement must be considered.

**) Right to paid parental leave requires 6 months paid work before first day of leave. See full requirements .

Before starting the online application process, please familiarise yourself carefully with our application requirements in the Guide for Applicants and Application templates . It is essential that all required attachments (see next section) are uploaded via our electronic recruiting system JobbNorge. Before uploading any documents in the portal (to minimise repetition of information):

• In the ‘JobbNorge-application field’: Only write your name.
• In the ‘JobbNorge-CV form’: Only fill in your 1) personal details, 2) information about your PhD-degree (in the field ‘Academic qualifications’) and 3) recent relevant work experience.
• You do not need to fill in any other sections in the JobbNorge form, as all the information we need will be provided by you when attaching the mandatory elements listed in the next section.

• A brief account of the applicant's motivation for applying for the position.
• A research proposal outlining your contribution towards the thematic area and host research group described above.
• CV with list of any works of a scientific nature (publication list)
• Mobility declaration
• Ethics and security issues: self-assessment form
• An initial self-assessment of opportunities for mandatory and recommended open science practices.
• Only for outgoing fellowships: Match declaration signed by outgoing host institution
• Names and contact information for two referees. One of these should be the main PhD supervisor.
• Letters of recommendation from the graduating university or previous employers are encouraged but not mandatory.
• Transcripts and diplomas. If you have not yet completed your PhD degree, please submit a statement from your institution confirming that the thesis has been submitted.
• Relevant certificates/references

The application and appendices with certified translations into English must be uploaded at JobbNorge

Evaluation

We anticipate the whole evaluation procedure to take approximately 4 months from application deadline. Eligible applicants will be evaluated by three internationally renowned experts and assessed against criteria addressing excellence, impact, implementation, quality of the researcher and training, knowledge transfer (outgoing only), and networking opportunities (outgoing only). Details are stated in the Guide for applicants .

For further details about the position, please contact:

Professor Thomas Ågotnes, Department of Information Science and Media Studies, [email protected].

For HR related questions contact:

Advisor Pernille Hole, Faculty of Social Sciences, [email protected].

The state labour force shall reflect the diversity of Norwegian society to the greatest extent possible. Age and gender balance among employees is therefore a goal. People with immigrant backgrounds and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply for the position.

We encourage women to apply. If multiple applicants have approximately equivalent qualifications, the rules pertaining to moderate gender quotas shall apply.

The University of Bergen applies the principle of public access to information when recruiting staff for academic positions.

Information about applicants may be made public even if the applicant has asked not to be named on the list of persons who have applied. The applicant must be notified if the request to be omitted is not met.

Further information about our employment process can be found here .

The University of Bergen is a renowned educational and research institution, organised into seven faculties and approximately 54 institutes and academic centres. Campus is located in the centre of Bergen with university areas at Nygårdshøyden, Haukeland, Marineholmen, Møllendalsveien and Årstad. 

There are seven departments at Faculty of Social Sciences. Read more about the faculty and departments . 

21st May 2024

University of Bergen

Bergen

Scope

Fulltime (1 positions) Fulltime (%)

Fixed Term

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