Applications are invited for a Temporary post of a UCD Post-doctoral Research Fellow Level 1 or 2 within School of Politics and International Relations

Analysing Grant Peer Review Reports Using Machine Learning

This research project is a collaboration between University College Dublin and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Its aim is to analyse the texts of anonymised grant review reports along several dimensions using human coding and machine learning. The project is led and coordinated by Dr. Stefan Müller. The project aims to conceptualise characteristics of grant peer review reports, and classify a large corpus of review reports by combining human coding and supervised machine learning. The project also seeks to investigate whether strategic initiatives and new evaluation procedures have the desired effects on the content and structure of review reports.

You will be based at University College Dublin and hosted by the School of Politics and International Relations. You are also invited to join the Connected_Politics Lab, an interdisciplinary hub for researchers using computational methods to study politics and society, hosted by the College of Social Sciences and Law. The position includes funding for technical equipment, conference participation, research travel, and extended stays at the Swiss National Science Foundation in Bern.

This is an academic research role, where you will conduct a specified programme of research supported by research training and development under the supervision and direction of a Principal Investigator.

The primary purpose of the role is to further develop your research skills and competences, including the processes of publication in peer-reviewed academic publications, the development of funding proposals, the mentorship of graduate students along with the opportunity to develop your skills in research led teaching.

In addition to the Principal Duties and Responsibilities listed below, the successful candidate will also carry out the following duties specific to this project:

• Refine study design
• Conceptualisation and codebook of peer review characteristics
• Monitoring human coding and conducting reliability tests
• Setting up baseline and state-of-the art classifiers
• Continuous evaluation and improvement of classifiers; identification of biases; testing the applicability of the method for various disciplines
• Assessing the practical applicability of tool and writing concept report

Location of post: University College Dublin; hybrid working very likely to be possible (candidate works a portion of their working week on campus and a portion of their working week remotely)

PD1 Salary: €39,522 - €45,610 per annum or PD2 Salary: €46,906 - €51,035 per annum

Appointment on the above range will be dependent upon qualifications and experience.

Closing date: 17:00hrs (local Irish time) on 20th October 2022

Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time of 17:00hrs (Local Irish Time) on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system. UCD are unable to accept late applications.

UCD do not require assistance from Recruitment Agencies. Any CV's submitted by Recruitment Agencies will be returned.

Prior to application, further information (including application procedure) should be obtained from the Work at UCD website: https://www.ucd.ie/workatucd/jobs/