Teaching and Research Associate

We are looking for candidates interested in performing a PhD on the topics of Communicating AI: Knowledge Structures and Sensemaking Tools for Critical Engagement. As AI systems become ubiquitous in many areas of life, including education and work, it is essential that they are better understood by a variety of stakeholders. This includes different types of end-users in different areas, such as AI engineers that create those systems, managers that deal with the embedding of AI systems in their organizations, educators or trainers in various domains, or non-expert audiences. For these, technical knowledge about AI technologies and related regulations (e.g., EU AI Act) is increasingly important. Such knowledge also includes critical reflection on and healthy skepticism towards the outputs of AI systems, including knowledge of limitations and biases.

A key challenge lies in how to efficiently and effectively equip these stakeholders to acquire (subsets of) the knowledge that they require for performing their various tasks. In this thesis, the aim is to explore various methods for AI knowledge communication and co-production relying on formal knowledge representation (to represent different expertise levels) and advanced visual interactions. We will test the effectiveness of such methods with an explicit focus on critical evaluation. Through this we aim to foster critical interaction with AI systems and a better understanding of human agency when working with AI.

Key responsibilities during the PhD studies include:

• Writing a dissertation: You will be investigating your research topic and spending a third of your working hours on writing your dissertation.
• Project involvement: You will be part of the Vienna Doctoral College on Digital Humanism meaning that you will be part of a cohort of 10 PhD students all investigating topics related to Digital Humanism.
• Research, for yourself and others: You will be supporting publishing activities, conducting surveys, and carrying out research of practical relevance with cooperation partners, companies or for funding organizations.
• Conduct and supervise teaching: You will be planning and teaching courses and support in holding exams and evaluations.
• Student support: You will be available to answer students’ questions, provide feedback on seminar papers, and act as a co-advisor for bachelor’s theses.
• Performing organizational and administrative tasks: You will be collaborating in the organization of teaching and will be taking on supporting tasks in the administration of research.
• Learning from top researchers: You will be getting your own research career off to a great start by working together with renowned researchers in your field and learning from them. Your supervisor team will consist of three supervisors.
• Teamwork: At the institute, you’ll be working to advance research in your field together with the entire team.
• Building up a personal network: You will be using the pre-doc phase to create your own professional network for the future.