Postdoctoral position in human-robot interaction with focus on gender-sensitive social robots and autonomous agents

Published: 2023-03-20

Uppsala University is a comprehensive research-intensive university with a strong international standing. Our ultimate goal is to conduct education and research of the highest quality and relevance to make a long-term difference in society. Our most important assets are all the individuals whose curiosity and dedication make Uppsala University one of Sweden’s most exciting workplaces. Uppsala University has over 54,000 students, more than 7,500 employees and a turnover of around SEK 8 billion.

The Department of Information Technology has a leading position in research and education. The Department currently has about 300 employees, including 120 teachers and 110 PhD students. More than 4000 students study one or more courses at the department each year. You can find more information about us at the web page of the department of Information Technology .

This position is one of four postdoc positions on the topic of equal opportunities aspects in IT. 

The position is hosted by Uppsala Social Robotics Lab, Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University.

The Uppsala Social Robotics Lab aims to design and develop robots that learn to interact socially with humans and bring benefits to the society we live in, for example in application areas such as education and assistive technology.

The Lab’s focus is on natural interaction with social artefacts such as robots and embodied virtual agents. This domain concerns bringing together multidisciplinary expertise to address new challenges in the area of social robotics. State of the art robots are used, including the Pepper, Nao and Furhat robotic platforms.

The postdoctoral project will be supervised by Ginevra Castellano and Didem Gürdür Broo.

Read more about our benefits and what it is like to work at Uppsala University

Duties
The postdoc position is part of the “Gender fairness and gender-sensitive design in social robots and autonomous agents” project, funded by the Department of Information Technology of Uppsala University, and will be focused on developing and evaluating methods for algorithmic fairness and gender-sensitive design to counteract gender biases in social robots and autonomous systems. In addition to these research duties, the position will also involve teaching duties (in the area of human-machine interaction) up to 20% of full-time employment. 

Requirements
PhD degree in human-robot interaction or related areas relevant to the postdoc topic or a foreign degree equivalent to a PhD degree in human-robot interaction or related areas relevant to the postdoc topic. The degree needs to be obtained by the time of the decision of employment. Those who have obtained a PhD degree three years prior to the application deadline are primarily considered for the employment. The starting point of the three-year frame period is the application deadline. Due to special circumstances, the degree may have been obtained earlier. The three-year period can be extended due to circumstances such as sick leave, parental leave, duties in labour unions, etc.

Good programming skills and willingness to work in an interdisciplinary team are required. Good communication skills in English, both spoken and written, are required. 

Personal characteristics, such as thoroughnessand a structured approach, are also a requirement.

Additional qualifications
Experience with programming robots, machine learning and/or conducting experimental user studies is an advantage. The postdoc position is highly interdisciplinary such that an interest in human-centered design, social sciences and psychology would be advantage. An interest in the social and ethical consequences of AI and robotics would be particularly appreciated.

Application
The application should include a description of yourself, your research interests, reasons for applying for this particular postdoc position and past experience (max. 3 pages), a CV, copies of relevant university degrees, links to relevant publications and your PhD thesis (or a summary in case the thesis work is ongoing) and other relevant documents. Candidates are encouraged to provide contact information to up to 3 reference persons. We would also like to know your earliest possible date for starting. Please note that applications can only be accepted via the web interface link below (and not via email).

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position of 2 years according to central collective agreement. Scope of employment is 100 %. Starting date 1 September 2023 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala.

For further information about the position, please contact: Ginevra Castellano, e-mail address: ginevra.castellano@it.uu.se orDidem Gurdur Broo, e-mail address: didem.gurdur.broo@it.uu.se .

Please submit your application by 2 May2023, UFV-PA 2023/974.

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Submit your application through Uppsala University's recruitment system.

Placement: Department of Information Technology

Type of employment: Full time , Temporary position

Pay: Fixed salary

Number of positions: 1

Working hours: 100%

Town: Uppsala

County: Uppsala län

Country: Sweden

Union representative: Seko Universitetsklubben seko@uadm.uu.se
ST/TCO tco@fackorg.uu.se
Saco-rådet saco@uadm.uu.se

Number of reference: UFV-PA 2023/974

Last application date: 2023-05-02