The
Center for Humans and Machines (CHM) at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin conducts interdisciplinary science to understand, anticipate, and shape major disruptions from digital media and artificial intelligence to the way we think, learn, work, play, cooperate, and govern. Our goal is to understand how machines are shaping human society today and how they may continue to shape it in the future. The center is comprised of an interdisciplinary, international, and diverse group of scholars and a science support team.
To complement this team, we are looking to fill up to two (2) positions as
Postdoctoral Researcher in Artificial Intelligence and Human Behavior or Computational Social Science
(E 13 TVöD; 39 hours / week)
The Position
- The position is limited to two years, with the possibility of extension for a third year
- Starting date is September 1, 2022 or later
- We seek to hire postdoctoral researchers to work on ambitious, high-impact research in behavioral economics, computational cognitive science or computational social science that explores the psychological and social mechanisms that shape people’s interaction with intelligent machines with a focus on the computational and behavioral aspects of human-machine interaction, such as cooperation, social learning, and competition
- Projects will be conducted under the supervision of Prof. Iyad Rahwan
- The successful candidate will have no formal teaching requirements. The position will include generous support for computational equipment, experimental participant recruitment, travel to conferences and collaborators, and funds for hiring freelance designers and developers to produce bespoke experimental platforms
Your Profile
The successful applicant must have the following:
- A PhD in the fields of behavioral science (e.g. economics, political science, cognitive science, biology, anthropology), computer science, physics, applied mathematics or related
- Demonstrated ability to produce high-impact research, as evidenced by a strong publication record in top publications on behavioral science, economics, HCI, or interdisciplinary journals or a strong track record
- Strong quantitative skills, ranging from the design and implementation of behavioral or economic experiments to conducting advanced statistical inference including various regression models, structural estimation, etc. Preference will be for candidates who possess statistical maturity and an ability to identify and avoid weaknesses that threaten replication, causality, and generalization
- Demonstrated understanding of causal inference methodologies
- A commitment to following the best methodological practices in behavioral sciences, such as pre-registration of studies, sharing of computer code, version control, such as Git, writing reproducible research reports, open sharing of data whenever feasible, etc.
- Extensive experience in designing and conducting behavioral or economic experiments in the lab, online via platforms, such as Prolific or Amazon Mechanical Turk, and/or recruitment of panels
- Expertise in at least one programming language for data analytics and creating meaningful tables and figures, such as R or Python
- High proficiency in English
- High motivation and ability to work both independently and as part of an (interdisciplinary) team. Ability to coordinate feedback from teams of senior collaborators
- Interest in theoretical, empirical, and experimental studies on human behavior and human-machine interactions
Desirable Skills Include
- Knowledge of fundamentals and/or recent literature in artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Knowledge of fundamentals and/or recent literature in behavioral economics, both theoretical as well as experimental and empirical
- Advanced programming skills in R or Python and proficiency with libraries for data handling and analysis, machine learning, etc.
- Experience designing or building interactive experimental tools (e.g. web-based games).
- Strong analytical skills and expertise in mathematical / evolutionary modeling, proven, e.g., by a degree in mathematics or in a related field
- Willingness to present and communicate research in internal and external seminars and conferences
Our Offer
- Interesting position at the internationally renowned Center for Humans and Machines.
- Contribution to the multifaceted and impactful research and the opportunity to conduct scientific work related to artificial intelligence and ethics, and human-machine interaction in general, together with colleagues who bring in strong expertise from various disciplines
- Work with experimental, structured, and unstructured data
- Strong support by our science support team and opportunity to guide and work with research assistants
- Dynamic, young team that offers many opportunities for collaboration and support in order to implement own projects
- Room to contribute and realize your ideas
- Possibility to work partly from home office
Your Application
The Max Planck Society strives for gender and diversity equality. We welcome applications from all backgrounds.
The Max Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals.
To apply, please provide a
- statement of research interests,
- a CV without a photo,
- a copy of relevant certificates,
- (p)reprints of three publications lead by the applicant,
- and a list of four references.
Please submit all documents in
ONE FILE here:
https://career-chm.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/jobs/1876845-postdoctoral-researcher
Applications will be evaluated on a first-come-first-serve basis, and will continue to be received until
August 22, 2022 or until the position(s) is / are filled.
The data protection declaration for the processing of personal data within the scope of your application can be found here:
https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/860946/en_infos_bewerbung.pdf