Postdoctoral Researcher in Computational Social Choice

The Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) at the University of Amsterdam invites applications for a three-year research position at the postdoctoral level in the Computational Social Choice Group led by Ulle Endriss.

The ILLC is an interdisciplinary research institute where logicians, mathematicians, computer scientists, cognitive scientists, and philosophers collaborate. It offers an international research environment with world-class faculty in all of its areas of specialisation. The institute is located in the beautiful city of Amsterdam, renown for its historic system of canals, its laid-back cosmopolitan atmosphere, and its excellent connections to the rest of Europe and the world.

Project description

This position is part of the Customisable Collective Choice (C3) Project, which already employs two PhD candidates. It is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) under the TOP1 scheme.

The aim of the C3 project is to develop the scientific foundations required to build tools that can help people to better understand the methods they use to make decisions together and to support them in designing decision making methods that are customised to their specific needs

You will become a member of the Computational Social Choice Group, the research agenda of which is dedicated to the design and analysis of methods for collective decision making. The group's research is both mathematical and conceptual in nature. Much of it regularly gets published in the leading conference proceedings and journals in Artificial Intelligence. At the same time, the group emphasises interdisciplinarity and often reaches out to other fields, particularly Economics, Political Science, and Philosophy.

You will be expected to contribute to this broad research agenda. Specifically, we will ask you to perform the following tasks:

• to regularly present research results at international workshops and conferences, and to publish them in conference proceedings and journals;
• to collaborate with other members of the Computational Social Choice Group;
• to contribute to the supervision of PhD candidates in the group (with the opportunity to get formally recognised a copromotor);
• to participate in and to contribute to the organisation of research activities and events at the ILLC, such as workshops and colloquia;
• to contribute to the dissemination of research results to non-specialist audiences.

While this is primarily a research position, as a  postdoctoral researcher  at the ILLC you will be expected to also make a modest contribution to the institute's educational mission, e.g., by supervising MSc or BSc theses or by giving guest lectures in courses related to your own area of research.

Requirements

You should have completed, or expect to complete before the start of your appointment, a PhD in a relevant area of research, such as Computational Social Choice, Algorithmic Game Theory, Multiagent Systems, or Knowledge Representation and Reasoning. Exceptionally strong candidates with a somewhat different research profile who indicate a clear interest in moving into the field of Computational Social Choice will also be considered. Beyond this basic requirement, you should possess the following qualifications:

• a strong publication record (relative to your career stage);
• excellent writing and presentation skills;
• good social and organisational skills;
• full professional proficiency in spoken and written English.

Familiarity with the use of SAT solvers or other automated reasoning tools and an interest in applying such tools to problems related to the design and analysis of methods for collective decision making will be considered an advantage.

Experience with the supervision of students will also be considered an advantage.

Please note that knowledge of the Dutch language is not required for this position, nor is it required to live in Amsterdam. However, as a postdoctoral researcher  at the ILLC you will have the opportunity to attend Dutch language classes if you wish.

Further information

Should you have specific questions regarding this position or the application procedure, please contact:

• Ulle Endriss

Appointment

The successful candidate will be employed by the Faculty of Science at the University of Amsterdam on a fixed-term full-time position (38 hours per week).

The appointment is intended to be for a period of three years. The initial contract will be for 12 months. This will be extended with a further 24 months after a positive evaluation.

The gross monthly salary will range from €2,640 to €4,166 (scale 10), depending on experience and qualifications. The annual salary will be supplemented with an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus. The Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities applies.

Starting date: 1 February 2019 or soon thereafter. 

Job application

The UvA is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. The ILLC strives for a better gender balance in its staff. We therefore strongly encourage women to apply for this position.

Your application should include the following information (in one single PDF file, using your surname as the file name):

• a cover letter, including a description of your research interests and accomplishments, as well as an explanation for why you are applying for this position (at most two pages);
• a detailed curriculum vitae, including your list of publications;
• links to three selected publications available online, with a short motivation for the selection made (mature drafts of papers or papers currently under submission are also acceptable);
• a link to your PhD thesis available online (if available already) or an indication of the current status of your PhD thesis;
• the names, affiliations, and email addresses of three people we can contact for letters of reference for you.

Please quote vacancy number 18-595 in your cover letter.

Please submit your application no later than 21 November 2018 using the link below. Only fill in the fields marked as mandatory and use the CV field to upload the PDF file specified above. Please note that we can only consider complete applications that have been submitted in this manner. #LI-DNP

No agencies please.