Value-aware AI for Internet Memes

Job description
Internet memes have emerged as a novel format for expressing ideas on the web, evolving from a simple form of entertainment to a sophisticated medium of communication that reflects societal sentiments, values, and trends, and occasionally unethical and harmful behavior. State-of-the-art multimodal AI cannot explain the relatability of memes, which are deeply rooted in background knowledge about current and historical events, personal values, and contemporary internet culture. Moreover, the challenge of interpreting memes naturally requires multifaceted approach combining method development and benchmarking from an AI perspective and understanding relatability and intent from a communication science theory perspective.

This PhD project aims to develop a knowledge-driven neuro-symbolic AI methodology for interpreting memes about societally relevant topics (e.g., climate change) and adequate evaluation paradigms that focus on communication intents and relatability. It will employ communication science theories to facilitate deeper interpretation, and connect the dots between these findings and theories about analogy and framing. We expect that combining background knowledge of internet memes with powerful multimodal models can illuminate the personal and cultural values that guide the creation and spread of internet memes.

The PhD project will be cross-disciplinary and supervised jointly by Dr. Filip Ilievski (Assistant Professor of Commonsense AI within the Learning and Reasoning group) and Prof. Wouter van Atteveldt (Professor of Computational Communication Science and Political Communication).

Your duties

• shape and refine the indicated research topic according to your interests
• conduct research on the stated topic using adequate research methods from AI and communication science
• publish the results as scientific papers in prestigious scientific venues in AI and at the intersection of AI and communication science
• attend suitable conferences to present the research
• actively participate in the groups Learning and Reasoning and Communication Science
• support BSc / MSc teaching and supervision activities in the department

Requirements:

• a strong MSc degree in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Communication Science, Human Language Technologies, or a related field
• advanced knowledge about AI and basic understanding of communication science concepts
• solid programming abilities in Python
• excellent communication skills in English (verbal and written)
• motivated team player who shows initiative to drive their own research
• record of cross-disciplinary activities and interest
• (bonus) experience with foundational language or vision models, and/or neuro-symbolic AI
• (bonus) knowledge of theories about analogies, metaphors, or framing
• (bonus) prior publications and/or experience with empirical research methods

As a university, we strive for equal opportunities for all, recognising that diversity takes many forms. We believe that diversity in all its complexity is invaluable for the quality of our teaching, research and service. We are always looking for talent with diverse backgrounds and experiences. This also means that we are committed to creating an inclusive community so that we can use diversity as an asset.

We realise that each individual brings a unique set of skills, expertise and mindset. Therefore we are happy to invite anyone who recognises themselves in the profile to apply, even if you do not meet all the requirements.

Salary Benefits:

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world. And that is valuable. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:

• a salary of € 2.770,00 (PhD) and maximum € 3.539,00 (PhD) gross per month in the fourth year, for a full-time employment
• an employment contract of initially 1.5 years. If there is sufficient perspective, this will be extended to a total of 4 years. Your dissertation at the end of the fourth year forms the end of your employment contract.

We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and arrangements. Some examples:

• A full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata.
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• solid pension scheme (ABP)
• contribution to commuting expenses
• optional model for designing a personalized benefits package

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