Lead AI postdoctoral research fellow position in Logic and AI

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Lead AI postdoctoral research fellow position in Logic and AI

At the Department of Informatics, there is a vacancy for a postdoctoral research fellow position in Logic and AI. 

The position is for a fixed termof 3 years and is associated with TMF-grant Algorithmic Foundations of Trustworthy AI. 

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

About the project/work tasks

The postdoc position is available within the "Algorithmic Foundations of Trustworthy AI" project. This collaborative endeavor, spanning the Department of Informatics and the Department of Information Science and Media Studies, aims to develop novel theories for understanding, developing, and designing socially aware algorithms. Successful candidates will actively contribute to research on reconciling social parameters and algorithmic efficiency, as well as the development and application of formal social models. In particular, they will develop formal models, formal logic-based specification languages, and formal verification techniques, that combine social and ethical concepts with algorithmic and computational models. Such concepts include, e.g., fairness, privacy, justice, safety, bias, accountability, transparency, responsibility, morality, legality, safety, privacy, trust, interpretability, explainability, manipulability, epistemic properties (knowledge, belief), deontic properties (obligations, permissions, violations) as well as properties of social networks.

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, organisationsand 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 leadai@uib.no

Qualifications and personal qualities

• Applicants must hold a Norwegian PhD or an equivalent degree within Computer Science, Information Science, AI or Mathematics, 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.
• Experience of high-level research documented by publications in the topmost conferences inAI in general and multi-agent systems and knowledge representation and reasoning (AAAI, IJCAI, ECAI, AAMAS, EUMAS, KR) in particular, or in the intersection of logic and game theory/social sciences (TARK, LOFT, COMSOC, LORI), is a requirement.
• Applicants should have a genuine interest in AI, and the research proposal must be related to logic and artificial intelligence.
• Applicants cannot previously have been employed as a postdoctoral fellow at UiB and they cannot be employed by any other 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.
• 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 be considered during candidate evaluation.

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.

About the position of postdoctoral research fellow

The position of postdoctoral research fellow is a fixed-term appointment with the primary objective of qualifying the appointee for work in top academic positions. The fixed-term period for this position is 3 years. Individuals may not be hired for more than one fixed-term period as a postdoctoral research fellow at the same institution.

For all LEAD AIfellows, a Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP) willbe developed jointly by the fellow, supervisor, and co-supervisor by the end of Month 3of the fellowship, including a plan for the individual research budget, and information on additionalfunding where applicable.

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

What we offer

• An engaged and professionally stimulating working environment.
• position as postdoctoral fellow (code 1352 in the basic collective agreement) and a gross annual salary of NOK 624 500(equivalent to pay grade 64) 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 beconsidered.

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

How to apply

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.

Your application must include

• A research proposal outlining how you would contribute towards the project / work tasks described above (max. 5 pages)
• A brief account of your motivation for applying for the position.
• CV with list of any works of 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.
• 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.

General information

Detailed information about the position can be obtained by contacting: Professor Fedor Fominat the Department of Informatics, fedor.fomin@uib.no, +47 55 58 40 24

Professor and Head of Department Marija Slavkovik, Department of Information Science and Media Studies, marija.slavkovik@uib.no, +47 55582377

For HR related questions contact:

HR adviser Karoline Christiansen at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, karoline.christiansen@uib.no, +47 55 59 47 70. 

Diversity is a strength that enables us to solve our tasks even better. UiB therefore needs qualified employees regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, worldview, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and age.

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.

We encourage applicants with disabilities, immigrant backgrounds, or gaps in their CV to apply. By indicating such circumstances in your application, you may receive favourable consideration. We ensure that at least one qualified applicant from each of these groups is invited for an interview as part of our commitment to inclusivity and equal opportunity.Further information about our employment process can be found here.