PhD Studentship: Putting Artificial Intelligence into Social Context: Developing Artificial Intelligence Agents that Enhance Cooperation within Organisations

Funding amount: 

Tuition fees (Home), and an annual tax-free stipend of £21,237/year

Applications are invited for a PhD studentship in the Department of Computer Science. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and psychology, by studying the impact of conversational agents in social interactions within different organizational structures. The PhD student will be hosted at the Artificial Intelligence Research Centre (CitAI) and work in collaboration with colleagues at the Department of Psychology.  

The project will examine how Artificial Intelligence (AI) impacts cooperation. To do so, novel AIs will be developed so that they can converse and interact within a specific social context. We will examine the central aspects of human-machine cooperation within these specific social-relational contexts, and how cooperation can be enhanced by influencing people and machines. The impact of such technology will be assessed in their effectiveness in promoting collaboration and with regards to the ethical and legal challenges that AI poses.

Eligibility and requirements 

The candidate should have a first or upper second-class BSc/MSc (or equivalent) degree in Artificial Intelligence. They should demonstrate aptitude for original research.

The candidate should possess a good understanding of Artificial Intelligence, conversational agents and large language models in particular. A candidate who demonstrates exceptional aptitude in one or more of these areas (as evidenced, for instance, through strong academic credentials or research papers in reputable, peer-reviewed journals/conferences) may be accorded preference. Ideally, the successful candidate should have proven skills in programming in Python. It would also be desirable that the candidates have some interest or background in psychology and/or social sciences.

A doctoral candidate is expected to meet the following pre-requisites for their PhD: 

• Demonstrate a sound knowledge of their research area.
• Achieve and demonstrate significant depth in at least a few chosen sub-areas relevant to their primary research area.
• Demonstrate the ability to conduct independent research, including a critical assessment of their own and others’ research.

Scholarship: The studentship is for 3 years and will provide an annual tax-free stipend of £21,237 and tuition fees (Home only). They will also have £4,000 for travel/conference attendance. Start date 1st October 2024

Additional income: Each student may also have the opportunity to earn around £2,200/year on an average (max. is around £4,300/year) through a teaching assistantship.

If you are interested in applying, I will be happy to address any initial informal enquiries. Please send an email to Prof Eduardo Alonso at [email protected] and cc Dr Andreas Kappes, [email protected] .

How to apply

Online applications should be submitted via the course webpage

For queries regarding the application process, please contact [email protected]

City, University of London is committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in all its activities, processes, and culture for our whole community, including staff, students and visitors.

We welcome applications regardless of age, caring responsibilities, disability, gender identity, gender reassignment, marital status, nationality, pregnancy, race and ethnic origin, religion and belief, sex, sexual orientation and socio-economic background. City operates a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants.