Job description
Jheronimus Academy of Data Science (JADS) Den Bosch, is proud to start with three large Robust AI labs together with:
- Deloitte (Auditing for Responsible AI Software Systems) – 5 PhD’s
- DPG Media (Responsible Media Lab) – 5 PhD’s in collaboration with UvA
- LaNubia (Innovation Lab for Utilities on Sustainable Technology and Renewable Energy) – 5 PhD’s
JADS is seeking enthusiastic colleagues for the positions of PhD students. We operationalize the huge ambition around AI by explicitly aligning our research agenda on Robust AI with the United Nation’s sustainable development goals.
The project is funded in a public-private partnership by NWO/NLAIC and private partners. This position is part of the Responsible Media Lab.
Description of the Responsible Media Lab (run jointly by UvA, JADS and DPG Media)
How can AI contribute to the functioning of the media along the entire production chain (sourcing, production, distribution, engagement), and even fundamentally change aspects of the media as we know it? The lab will explore the potential of AI-driven solutions for the media, their professional role, opportunities for new business models and new ways of engaging with users, while taking into account professional values and the emerging regulatory framework for AI. The lab seeks to develop AI-based methods and solutions that facilitate more diverse news offerings to readers, working alongside human journalists.
The lab is a collaboration between UvA, JADS and DPG media and consists of 5 PhD projects. All PhD trajectories will focus on the development and evaluation of AI-based algorithms and tools to support responsible media production:
- Legal aspects of the use of generative AI in journalism (UvA: Prof.dr. Natali Helberger)
- Explaining Recommendations (UvA: Prof. dr. Maarten de Rijke, and JADS: dr.ir. Martijn Willemsen)
- Synergies between Platforms (JADS: dr. Ksenia Podoynitsyna and dr. Alexander Vossen)
- Network Perspective on the Content and User Behavior (JADS: dr. Ksenia Podoynitsyna and dr. Claudia Zucca)
- Generating Content (UvA: Prof. dr. Maarten de Rijke, dr. Andrew Yates)
All the PhD students will closely interact with each other as the projects are complementary: they focus on either generating or better understanding the content, fueling further platform functionalities, or understanding interactions with the users of the platforms. While project 1, 3 and 4 focus on different aspects of the socio-technical system, project 2 and 5 are more focused on specific algorithms.
Short Description of the PhD project no. 2: Explaining Recommendations
How can recommendations, especially those that arise from a combination of algorithmic outcomes, journalistic choices, and business rules be explained in an understandable and actionable way to users? This project will focus on counterfactual explanations and focuses on two levels of transparency (1) behavior-based transparency, that is providing insight into how a predictive model in the context of news and media makes decisions, in a counterfactual manner, and (2) stakeholder-informed transparency, that is providing counterfactual explanations that are actionable for different stakeholders in the news and media domain (machine learning engineers, readers, journalists, editors).
Job Description
In this project, you will develop new methods for generating counterfactual explanations in the heterogeneous domain of media production and for multiple stakeholders. For this work, you will work mostly with the UvA supervisory team. Secondly, you will develop methods for evaluating the effectiveness of the explanations for users in close collaboration with the supervisors from JADS. You will focus on the user experience for different stakeholders, as well as the actionability of the counterfactual explanations: you will study what type of interactivity with the algorithm stakeholders require and how to shape the human-AI interaction. During the project, we prospect that you will work on site at DPG media in collaboration with their ML engineers for about one day a week and on the UvA and JADS campuses on the other days (equal split expected).
Job requirements
- A master’s degree (or an equivalent university degree) in Data science, AI or Computer Science or related with proven affinity for topics in Human-computer/AI interaction and explainable AI.
- Strong expertise and interest in machine learning, AI and human-computer interaction
- A research-oriented attitude.
- Ability to work in a team and interest in collaborating with the industrial partners.
- Ability to communicate and translate the research results to practice.
- Academic curiosity and an interest to collaborate in a multidisciplinary context.
- Fluent in spoken and written English (C1 level).
Conditions of employment
Being appointed at JADS provides a meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious community of 2 universities. Based on the project, the candidate receives an appointment at TU/Eindhoven or Tilburg University.
As a PhD Student at JADS you will have a full-time employment for a total of four years, with an intermediate evaluation after nine months. JADS offers excellent employment conditions with attention to flexibility and (personal) development and attractive fringe benefits. The gross monthly salary is in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities. The minimum gross salary is € 2.541 per month up to a maximum of € 3.247 in the fourth year;
You are entitled to a vacation allowance of 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.3% of your gross annual income. If you work 40 hours per week, you will receive 41 paid days of leave per year. PhD Students from outside the Netherlands may qualify for a tax-free allowance of 30% of their taxable salary if they meet the relevant conditions. The university applies for this allowance on their behalf. JADS will provide assistance in finding suitable accommodation.
Preferred starting date: Autumn 2023.
To develop your teaching skills, you will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks. To support you during your PhD and to prepare you for the rest of your career, you will make a Training and Supervision plan and you will have free access to a personal development program for PhD students.
Next to that we offer all kinds of facilities and arrangements to maintain an optimal balance between work and private life. All employees of the university are covered by the so-called General Pension Fund for Public Employers (Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP).
JADS values an open and inclusive culture. We embrace diversity and encourage the mutual integration of groups of employees and students. We focus on creating equal opportunities for all our employees and students so that everyone feels at home in our university community.
All researchers working in JADS have contracts at either Tilburg University or Eindhoven University of Technology, this position will have a contract at the latter. Please visit Working at Eindhoven University of Technology for more information on the employment conditions.
Information and application
More information
Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more? Please contact
the supervisor Martijn Willemsen, M.C.Willemsen[at]ue.nl or +31 40 2472561.
Application
We invite you to submit a complete application by using the ‘apply now’-button on this page.
The application should include a:
- Cover letter in which you describe your motivation and qualifications for the position.
- Curriculum vitae, including a list of your publications and the contact information of two references.
- Grade list for the BSc and MSc programs.
- Summary/description of your MSc thesis.
We look forward to your application and will screen it as soon as we have received it. The first deadline is July 1, 2023. The screening will continue until the position has been filled.
Note: CHECK OUT THE OTHER PhD vacancies at JADS!
JADS
We do cool stuff that matters, with data. The Jheronimus Academy of Data Science (JADS) is a unique cooperation between Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and Tilburg University (TiU). At JADS, we believe that data science can provide answers to society’s complex issues. We provide innovative educational programs, data science research, and support for business and society. With a team of lecturers, students, scientists and entrepreneurs – from a wide range of sectors and disciplines – we work on creating impact with data science. We do this by connecting people, sectors and industries: in the past 5 years we have been working with 300+ organizations on data-related projects. Our main drivers? Doing cool stuff that matters with data. Our location at the former monastery Mariënburg in Den Bosch houses a vibrant campus fully dedicated to data science.
UvA
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is the Netherlands’ largest university, offering the widest range of academic programmes. At the UvA, 42,000 students, 6,000 staff members and 3,000 PhD candidates study and work in a diverse range of fields, connected by a culture of curiosity. The project is within The Faculty of Science (FNWI), and part of the Informatics Institute (IvI). Its mission is to perform curiosity-driven and use-inspired fundamental research in Computer Science. The main research themes are Artificial Intelligence, Computational Science and Systems and Network Engineering. The research involves complex information systems at large, with a focus on collaborative, data driven, computational and intelligent systems, all with a strong interactive component. More specifically, the project is part of the Information Retrieval Lab Amsterdam (IRLab) which focuses on information retrieval: technology to connect people to information. People at the IRLab work on search engines, recommender systems, and conversational assistants.
DPG Media
All PhD projects in the Responsible Media Lab will work with DPG Media, which plays a crucial role in the Dutch society: reaching 92% of the Dutch population, it is the largest media company in the Benelux region of Europe (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg). AI solutions in the news production chain at DPG Media impact all of the Netherlands: the lab will help develop and analyze AI innovations to ensure that this impact is positive. In particular, AI at DPG Media plays an important role in informing the public. Alongside their journalists, AI will enable DPG Media to offer a much more diverse pallet of information to their readers. Furthermore, AI will enable DPG Media to make the online advertising world more balanced, where DPG Media is in control of its own data processing and algorithmic processing, thus creating a much more sustainable situation for advertisers in the Dutch media landscape.
DPG Media will facilitate access to data and resources for all the PhD projects.