Research Assistant (Part Time, Fixed Term)

This is an exciting opportunity for you to join the team at The Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) to work on the AI in the street: Scoping everyday observatories for public engagement with connected and automated urban environments project.

AI in the Street is a group project with scholars in the Universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Warwick, King's College London, and with the non-profit, Careful Industries. Working with city-based AI innovation partners across sectors (automated mobility, smart cities, AI governance, art-science), each organisation will set up and trial a place-based, digital, and embodied intervention within an 'AI Street Observatory' to make situated effects of AI innovation visible to everyday publics. The Cambridge AI Street Observatory will trial Access Data Walks, an ethnographic action research method, to assess frictions and opportunities in how 'connected and automated mobility' (CAM) in the 'smart city' of Cambridge meets the accessibility standards of disabled people. Working with the Greater Cambridge Partnership, a collaboration between local councils in the area, the Cambridge project will use Access Data Walks to investigate individuals' interaction with the built environment to understand what makes CAM 'responsible' in its rollout. The appointment will be for 6 months in the first instance and is based in Cambridge.

CFI is a highly interdisciplinary research centre addressing the challenges and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence (AI). Funded by the Leverhulme Trust, CFI is based at the University of Cambridge, with partners in the University of Oxford, Imperial College, and UC Berkeley. The Centre also has close links with industry, policymakers, and many academic disciplines.

You should have, or be studying for, a postgraduate qualification in a Social Sciences and Humanities field with an interest in Critical AI/Critical Data studies, Urban Studies, Accessibility, Disability Studies, Design, or some combination of these. Applicants should be able to support the research leads through the life cycle of a participatory, qualitative, action research project that also has public and policy engagement elements. You should demonstrate motivation in line with the goals of the project, as well as capacity to work independently to organise events and liaise with partners. You will be supporting Dr Maya Indira Ganesh and Dr Louise Hickman (Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, University of Cambridge).

More information about the project can be found in the Further Particulars.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 6 months in the first instance.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Please ensure that you upload your:

• Curriculum Vitae (CV), which should include contact details of two referees,
• a covering letter of no more than 500 words outlining your interest and aptitude for the position
• a sample of professional writing of no more than 5000 words.

If you have any questions about this vacancy, please contact Dr. Maya Indira Ganesh [email protected] , or if you have questions about the application process, please contact [email protected] .

Please quote reference GO40029 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

Further information
Apply online