Postdoctoral position (1+2y) in epistemology & ethics of risk, Milano (Italy)

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano (Milan, Italy) has an opening for one Full-time Postdoc Position for 1 year, renewable for 2 additional years. Tenure-track opportunities are also envisaged at the subsequent stage. The Postdoc will conduct research at the intersection of epistemology and ethics of risk. We are especially interested in candidates who wish to investigate the outstanding notions of risk and uncertainty in an interdisciplinary framework. Knowledge of statistical techniques in risk analysis and/or (formal) methods for uncertainty representation are essential.

As is well known, at the heart of the notion of risk are the epistemic notions of knowledge and uncertainty. Their analysis requires decision theory methodologies and may raise multiple epistemological but also ethical questions. This project has two specific objectives: 1) To develop a critical analysis of prediction models in science in relation to forms of epistemic uncertainty, in particular seismic risk prediction models; 2) To address the issue of damage and loss analysis from both an economic and ethical point of view, also considering new methods proposed in the literature to make decisions under conditions of severe uncertainty.

The default starting date is 16 May 2021. The position does not involve teaching duties. However, teaching at the undergraduate, graduate and master level is possible and encouraged and will entitle to additional compensation.