King's College London

About us

We are seeking a full-time, fixed-term Post Doctoral Research Associate for the UKRI research project  PHAWM (Participatory Harm Auditing Workbenches and Methodologies). The project produces workbenches that support stakeholders in assessing the quality and potential harms of AI. The participatory audits will be embedded in methodologies which guide how, when and who carries out these audits.

The successful candidate will be based in the Distributed Artificial Intelligence group in the Department of Informatics. They will undertake research into participatory auditing of AI writing assistants for article generation, using LLMs, focusing on articles about health in under-resourced languages.

About the role

The post holder will work closely with Prof Elena Simperl and a large team of researchers and PhD students in the area of AI auditing. The role covers research in the areas mentioned above, as well as the production of scientific publications and application showcases to drive research impact.

PHAWM seeks to enable AI stakeholders to carry out participatory audits. The participatory audits will be embedded in methodologies which guide how, when and who carries out these audits. The project will train stakeholders in carrying out participatory audits and work towards a certification framework for AI solutions. The research is grounded in four use cases: Health, Media Content, Cultural Heritage, and Collaborative Content Generation.

The successful candidate will work on the Collaborative Content Generation use case, supported by the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikidata, Full Fact and the Open Data Institute. Together with the team, they will define a participatory framework and tools to allow editors in the language communities to use assistants effectively (e.g. considering mechanisms like explanations or checklists, but also collaborative features that support team editing). Furthermore the framework should support editors to agree on responsible AI features to be considered in the evaluation and audit the data and models used towards those features.

The ideal candidate will hold a PhD in HCI, CS, or AI, and have solid expertise in the technical areas mentioned above, as well as a proven track record of scientific excellence (through publications in A and A* journals) and of open science and FAIR practices (through software, datasets and other research outputs, participation in challenges etc). Familiarity with AI tools, Wikipedia and/or Wikidata, and semantic technologies is a bonus, but not a firm requirement.

Key responsibilities;

• Support the delivery of the PHAWM project, by conducting stakeholder needs research, developing workbenches and methodologies for participatory auditing, and evaluating both, using mixed methods
• Contribute to the writing of bids for research funding.
• Carry out administrative tasks associated with specified research funding, including but not limited to organisation of project meetings, documentation of processes, implementation of procedures required to ensure accurate and timely execution of the assigned tasks in the project including those outlined above.
• Undertake any other reasonable duties that may be requested by the co-investigator
• Publishing the research in submissions to top-tier conferences and journals in HCI and AI
• Producing project deliverables, including management reports and dissemination materials
• Representing the project and promoting the research at conferences, workshops and other events as instructed by the project investigators
• Participating in PDRA related activities in the Department of Informatics.

The post is full-time post (35 hours per week) offered on a fixed-term contract for 12 months. We can discuss part-time options in exceptional circumstances. There is also the option to extend the contract beyond the 12 months provided funding is available.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1.       PhD in HCI or CS or AI

2.       Proven experience of user-centric design methods

3.       Proven experience with responsible AI methods and techniques

4.       Comprehensive sociotechnical understanding of how generative AI models and systems work

5.       Understanding of emerging AI safety frameworks and tools

6.       Proven record of A/A* scientific publications and open science/FAIR practices

7.       Teamwork skills

8.       Time management and organizational skills (including experience in organizing small scientific workshops and similar)

Desirable criteria

1.       Familiarity with the design of AI enabled tools, AI assistants, and agentic AI

2.       Familiarity and contributions to Wikipedia and/or Wikidata

3.       Basic understanding of semantic technologies such as knowledge graphs, ontologies, data modelling, RDF, RDFS, OWL

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

* Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘ How we Recruit’ pages.

We are able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.