King's College London

About us

The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London is one of the oldest law schools in England and recognised globally as one of the best law schools in the world. The School was established in 1831 and has played an integral role in the life of King's since the university was formed almost 200 years ago.

As we stand at a pivotal point in the rapidly unfolding ‘AI revolution’, the Centre for Data Futures' focus on participatory infrastructure throughout the life of data-reliant tools reflects two key convictions:

• If we are to be the authors of a variety of socially-sustainable, data-reliant futures, data needs to become a tool for bottom-up socio-economic and political empowerment.
• Disciplinary boundaries have contributed to impoverished approaches to human-computer interaction design, which typically proceed from overly narrow understandings of agency. By bringing together research that stretches from the humanities to computer science, via law, medicine and education, the Centre aims to answer real-world needs while at the same time advancing cutting-edge research questions.

About the role

The research will investigate the ethical and social challenges associated with Large Language Models deployed in morally loaded contexts (such as healthcare, justice and education). Among these challenges, the communication of uncertainty is of particular interest.

The Post Doctoral Research Associate will be managed by Prof. Sylvie Delacroix at King’s College London and is offered as a full time 14-month contract with a provisional start date of 01 March 2025.

You should hold a PhD in Philosophy or Computer Science and have a track record of conducting research at the intersection between computer science and social sciences /humanities at high standards and delivering presentations at academic conferences.

This is a full-time post (35 Hours per week), and you will be offered on a fixed term contract for 14 months.

About you

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

Essential criteria

1.       PhD awarded in Philosophy or Computer Science

2.       Specialist knowledge in a relevant area(s) and Demonstrated ability to engage with relevant computer science literature

3.       Proven experience in research as demonstrated through published results of research in peer reviewed journals or books

4.       Good interpersonal skills, able to work on own initiative and as part of a team

5.       A keen interest and ability to work with computer scientists and organize cross-disciplinary research and workshops

6.       Wishes to develop sole-authored and/or co-authored publications in the areas of Ethics and social implications of large language models

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

In your application, you will need to include a 2-pager outlining your understanding of the social and ethical challenges that stem from the deployment of large language models in morally-loaded contexts like healthcare, justice, and education.

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, a supporting statement detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert and an example of published or other written work. 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.

Interviews are due to be held in 04 February 2025.

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