Nantong University

We are delighted to welcome applications for the position of Research Fellow within the Integrating Citizen Deliberation for Impact (i4i) project, an international collaboration to examine the variety of ways that national and subnational European climate assemblies have been differently connected to their respective political-administrative systems and how this shapes their polity, policy and political impacts (see: https://i4i-project.com/). The post holder will develop the cross-cutting conceptual schemes and empirical analyses that unite the different work packages of the project. This will primarily include carrying out a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) of the integration and impacts of European climate assemblies and writing academic outputs that conceptualise integration and impacts of public participation, as well as presenting the findings of the empirical analysis of the relationship between the two. This work will be carried out under the supervision of Rikki Dean (principal investigator of the project). This research position will be based in the Department of Politics and International Relations within the Faculty of Social Sciences, at the University of Southampton where Dr Dean is based. You will join a team of researchers based across the UK, Belgium, Germany and Poland, as well as a supportive Department that contains the largest concentration of democratic innovations scholars in Europe. To be successful in this role you will have completed your PhD in a relevant discipline (or equivalent professional qualifications). You will have facility with building theoretical frameworks, as well as an interest in mixed-methods research; have the ability to plan and organise work independently and as part of a team; and have the ability to write research presentations and papers for peer review publication. Knowledge and experience of the subfield of democratic innovations and with using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is desirable. The Research Fellow post is full-time for a fixed term of one year with a negotiable start date, but with an early start date being preferred. As part of your application, please ensure that you include both a CV and a cover letter. The University of Southampton holds an Athena SWAN Silver Award demonstrating commitment to equal opportunities in the workplace. Informal enquiries may be addressed to Rikki Dean, email: r.j.dean@soton.ac.uk Working at the University of Southampton: Check out the staff benefits and why you should join us at The University of Southampton.

Ref.: 536616 Work type: Full-time Department: School of Humanities (05200) Categories: Teaching Staff Assistant Lecturer in the School of Humanities (Philosophy) (Ref.: 536616) (to commence in September 2026, or as soon as possible thereafter, on a two-year fixed-term basis with contract-end gratuity and University contribution to a retirement benefits scheme, totalling up to 10% of basic salary, with the possibility of renewal) Applicants should have a Ph.D. degree in Philosophy, or a related field. Preference will be given to those with experience in teaching and programme development on philosophy, or philosophy of AI or Politics and Economics. The appointee will be responsible for teaching and academic advising at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels for the Department of Philosophy, including the Master of Arts in the field of AI, Ethics and Society programme and Master of Arts in the field of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics programme. Information about the Department can be obtained at https://philosophy.hku.hk. A highly competitive salary commensurate with qualifications and experience will be offered, in addition to annual leave and medical benefits. The University only accepts online applications for the above post. Applicants should apply online and upload an up-to-date C.V. Review of application will commence as soon as possible and continue until August 31, 2026, or until the post is filled, whichever is earlier. Applications close: Aug 31, 2026 (HK Time)

We are seeking a highly motivated doctoral researcher to join the What Makes Us Human? Identifying, Evaluating and Modelling Specialist AI Competence (HUMAIN) project, investigating how large language models (LLMs) approximate, extend, or diverge from human expertise across domains. The starting date is negotiable but should be no later than November 1, 2026. The position is fully funded until August 31, 2030 (46–48 months, depending on the starting date). About the project As LLMs become increasingly embedded in education, work, and everyday life, understanding their relationship to human competence is both scientifically and societally urgent. Existing benchmarks largely measure accuracy or linguistic fluency, but overlook the tacit, contextual, and ethical dimensions that define real-world expertise. HUMAIN addresses this gap by developing the online Competence Imitation Game (COMIG), a novel, experimentally validated framework that allows domain experts to interrogate and evaluate human- and LLM-generated responses through structured question-answer-evaluation conversations. Combining computational and interpretive methods, the project will generate reproducible, cross-domain datasets of paired human–AI responses, analysed through embedding-based similarity measures, feature extraction, LLM-as-evaluator approaches, and qualitative interpretation. Domain experts are involved from the outset, helping to develop practitioner-informed metrics for imitation quality, contextual alignment, and pragmatic fit. Empirically, HUMAIN will conduct seven COMIG studies spanning everyday life, education, and work, engaging over 900 participants internationally. The project will also evaluate adaptation techniques, including prompt calibration, retrieval-augmented generation, and fine-tuning, to examine how LLMs can better align with domain-specific reasoning. For more information on COMIG, please see the article ”Introducing the Competence Imitation Game: A Research and Teaching Tool for Context-Specific AI Literacy” (https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-4138/paper3.pdf).  About the position You will support the further development of COMIG and contribute to empirical data collection, analysis, and reporting. You will be a part of the Research group on AI in Society and Education (RAISE) and work closely with Associate Professor Linda Mannila, PhD Otto Segersven and a postdoctoral researcher to be recruited. Who we are looking for We welcome applicants with a background in computer science, data science, language technology, or a related field. Applicants with, for example, a master's degree in social sciences combined with a strong background in data science, computational methods, or computer science are equally eligible. The position requires: Strong background in research methodology, including the design and implementation of empirical studies with human participants. Strong analysis skills, including both quantitative and qualitative methods. Strong background in computational methods, especially for working with text data. Experience with mixed-methods research (quantitative and qualitative). Excellent English skills. Knowledge of Finnish and/or Swedish, considered a merit, as some studies will preliminarily be conducted in Finnish contexts. LLM expertise, including prompt calibration, retrieval-augmented generation, and fine-tuning, considered a merit. In addition, according to the system of the University of Helsinki, all doctoral researchers belong to a doctoral programme. The successful candidate should apply to Doctoral Programme in Science and obtain the study right within the trial period of six months of their employment contract. Please check the admission periods and eligibility criteria at https://www.helsinki.fi/en/admissions-and-education/apply-doctoral-programmes/how-apply-doctoral-programmes. We offer A world class academic community that promotes diversity, international engagement and equality. We encourage all qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply for our positions A starting salary of approximately 2800 euros/month Occupational health care and other social benefits Support for internationally recruited employees with their transition to work and live in Finland A chance to live in Helsinki and Finland renowned for their high quality of life, services, and work-life balance Application instructions Applications are to be submitted through the University of Helsinki´s recruitment system and include the following documents: CV  A motivation letter (max 2 pages). Please also include a brief description of your research ideas relevant to the project, for example, how you would design the empirical studies. We are interested in your own thinking about how to approach the methodological and analytical challenges the project raises. Contact information of two referees to provide reference letters upon request  The deadline for submitting the application is August 16, 2026 (at 23:59 UTC + 3). External applicants, please submit your application via the Apply Now button. Internal applicants, who have a helsinki.fi username and a valid employment/grant/visitor contract, please submit your application via the Employee login button. Additional information For more information on the position and the Research group on AI in Society and Education, please contact Associate Professor Linda Mannila (linda.mannila@helsinki.fi).  With technical questions related to the recruitment system, please contact recruitment@helsinki.fi. *** The Department of Computer Science at the University of Helsinkin is a leading unit in Finland in its area and responsible for the teaching and research in computer science at the University of Helsinki. The main research fields at the department are artificial intelligence, big data frameworks, bioinformatics, data analysis, data science, discrete and machine learning algorithms, distributed, intelligent, and interactive systems, networks, security, and software and database systems. The department has extensive international collaboration with companies and universities. Within teaching, the department’s professors and staff are in charge of the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral Programmes in Computer Science, as well as the separate Master’s Programme in Data Science, in which other departments also participate.