Lead AI postdoctoral research fellow position in Intelligent Information Systems
Deadline: 21.05.2024
University of Bergen
The University of Bergen is a renowned educational and research institution, organised into seven faculties and approximately 54 institutes and academic centres. Campus is located in the centre of Bergen with university areas at Nygårdshøyden, Haukeland, Marineholmen, Møllendalsveien and Årstad.
Through robust and close interaction with the world around us – globally, nationally and locally – we shall be instrumental in building a society based on knowledge, skills and attitudes.
Do you want to take part in shaping the future?
Postdoctoral Research Fellow position
At the Department of Information Science and Media Studies, there is a vacancy for a postdoctoral research fellow position within Intelligent Information Systems. The position is associated with the departments research group for Intelligent Information Systems (I2S) and is funded by the Faculty of Social Sciences. The position is four years and 25% of the time is allocated for teaching and administrative duties.
The position is open to either an incoming or an outgoing candidate, see LEAD AI mobility rules.
About the project/work tasks:
About the host research group and research theme
We are looking for an ambitious scholar who wants to advance the field of AI by focusing on techniques that enable the creation of trustworthy and responsible information systems. The postdoc will become part of a dynamic, interdisciplinary, and inclusive team as a member of the department’s research group for Intelligent Information Systems (I2S). The postdoc will also be associated with the inter-departmental LEAD AI project at UiB, funded by The European Research Council.
I2S is an interdisciplinary ICT research group with members from areas such as: artificial intelligence, computer science, computational linguistics, data science, information science, information systems, and software engineering. The group studies the foundation, development, and evaluation of information systems (IS) that employ artificial intelligence (AI). Central AI techniques for us are deep learning, image analysis, knowledge graphs, machine learning, and natural-language understanding. We investigate application areas such as digital multimedia forensics, decision making in health IS, personal data analysis, and sustainability. A particular focus is intelligent information systems for the media sector, for example for news production.
Applicants are advised to familiarize themselves with the research profile of the I2S research group.
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, organisations and 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 and/or information science, 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.
Applicant should have a genuine interest in AI, and the research proposal must be related to artificial intelligence.
Experience with AI-related research and/or innovation is an advantage.
Demonstrated interest in societal aspects of artificial intelligence and information systems, such as reliability, responsibility, trust, and ethical and legal issues is an advantage.
Demonstrated interest in artificial intelligence and its use in information systems, for example documented through links to code repositories is an advantage.
Outgoing fellowships require a continuous stay in the outgoing host country of minimum 12 months and have to be back at the University for 12 months afterwards.
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.
Applicants cannot previously have been employed as a postdoctoral fellow at UiB and they cannot be employed by another institution for the time of the fellowship.
Personal and relational qualities will be emphasized. Research experience, ambitions and potential will also count when evaluating the candidates.
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 postdoctoral position is a fixed term position with the primary objective of qualifying the appointee for work in top academic positions. The fixed term period for this position is 4 years.
For all LEAD AI fellows, a Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP) is to be developed jointly by the fellow, supervisor, and co-supervisor by the end of Month 3 of the fellowship, including a plan for the individual research budget, and information on additional funding where applicable.
It is a requirement that the project is completed in the course of the period of employment.
We can offer:
An engaged and professionally challenging working environment within a dynamic and inclusive research group
Position as postdoctoral fellow (code 1352 in the basic collective agreement) and a gross annual salary of NOK 615 700 (equivalent to pay grade 63) 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 be considered.
**) 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 brief account of the applicant's motivation for applying for the position.
A research proposal outlining your contribution towards the thematic area and host research group described above.
CV with list of any works of a 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.
Only for outgoing fellowships: Match declaration signed by outgoing host institution.
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:
For further details about the position, please contact:
Professor Andreas L Opdahl, Department of Information Science and Media Studies, andreas.opdahl@uib.no
For HR related questions contact:
Advisor Pernille Hole, Faculty of Social Sciences, pernille.hole@uib.no
The state labour force shall reflect the diversity of Norwegian society to the greatest extent possible. Age and gender balance among employees is therefore a goal. People with immigrant backgrounds and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply for the position.
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.
Further information about our employment process can be found here.
