Fully funded PhD Position for DFG project "Inclusive Explainable AI"

The Transregional Collaborative Research Center Transregio (TRR 318) "Constructing Explainability", which is carried out jointly by the universities of Paderborn and Bielefeld, investigates how algorithmic transparency can be fostered, in particular in the context of black-box models as used in state of-the-art artificial intelligence systems. The central hypothesis of the research center is that explanations of algorithmic decisions are most efficient if they are constructed jointly (co-constructed) by the explainer and the explainee. The mechanisms of this co-construction will be investigated by an interdisciplinary consortium to lay the foundations for the sovereign and informed decision making by humans in their interaction with intelligent systems. Project A6, "Co-Constructing social signs of understanding to adapt monitoring to diversity", aims to improve the inclusivity of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI). For this project, we are looking for a motivated researcher from the field of computer science with a strong focus on machine learning, human-centered explainable AI, and psychology. Within the project your focus will be to gain an understanding of the inter- and intra-individual variety of non-verbal signals expressed by participants with psychological conditions or within stressful situations. You will use these insights to develop new methods of explaining models for the recognition of human understanding and adapting these models to variations of non-verbal signals. Your Tasks research activities (approx, 90 %): - planning, conducting, and analyzing empirical studies on the evaluation of human understanding of explanations - applying, developing, and evaluating machine learning models for the recognition of human understanding - evaluating biases of models for the recognition of human understanding due to the inter- and intra-individual variety of non-verbal signals - development of novel methods to explain diverse social signals for the recognition of human understanding using a human-centered design approach - analysis of behavioral data with classical statistical tests - publication of the results in English journals and conference publications - reporting and presenting progress and results to the organization and cooperation partners - contribution to teaching (approx. 5 %) - collaboration in administrative activities (approx. 5 %) Employment is conductive to academic qualification. The possibility of further scientific qualification (doctorate) is given and supported by an interdisciplinary graduate school. Your Profile We expect: - scientific university degree in computer science, a computer science-related discipline (e. g. data science, math, or cognitive science) or another field relevant to the project - practical experience and theoretical knowledge in machine learning, complex data mining or statistics - interest and passion for interdisciplinary research at the intersection of computer science and psychology - interest and passion for machine learning, human-centered explainable AI and psychology - very good programming skills (preferably in Python) - proficiency in German and English (oral and written) - analytical skills and scientific mindset - independent, self-reliant, and dedicated style of work Preferred experience and skills: - prior knowledge in one of the psychological application fields - experience with the conceptualization or implementation of psychological experiments - plan to receive a PhD degree We offer: - salary according to Remuneration level 13 TV-L - befristet (limited until 30.06.2025) (§ 2 (1) sentence 2 of the WissZeitVG ; in accordance with the provisions of the WissZeitVG and the Agreement on Satisfactory Conditions of Employment, the length of contract may differ in individual cases) - Full-time - internal and external training opportunities - variety of health, consulting and prevention services - reconcilability of family and work - constant place of work (Bielefeld) without travel activities - flexible working hours - job ticket for regional public transport network - good transport connection - supplementary company pension - collegial working environment - open and pleasant working atmosphere - exciting, varied tasks - modern work environment with digital processes - various offers (canteen, cafeteria, restaurants, Uni-Shop, ATM, etc.) Contact Jun.-Prof*in Dr. Hanna Drimalla mbp-application@techfak.de Postal Address Universität Bielefeld CITEC Jun.-Prof*in Dr. Hanna Drimalla Postfach 10 01 31 33501 Bielefeld

Last updated: 23 September 2022