PhD on Empowering Human-AI Decision-Making through Real-Time User Modeling

Are you looking to shape the future of human-AI collaboration in making important decisions? Join us in this fully funded PhD project! In the next four years, you will conduct scientific research to inform the design of new intelligent systems that excel at not only making decisions but also understand their human users in collaborative decision-making. 

Are you looking to shape the future of human-AI collaboration in making important decisions? Join us in this fully funded PhD project! In the next four years, you will conduct scientific research to inform the design of new intelligent systems that excel at not only making decisions but also understand their human users in collaborative decision-making.

The recent developments in AI-assisted decision-making call for an emerging field of human-AI decision-making, i.e., the study of how to improve collaborative decision-making between AI algorithms and human users. Current research in human-AI decision making focuses on technical contributions, such as new algorithms and visualizations that help people understand AI's decisions by providing explanations (i.e., explainable AI), but overlooks the opposite side of the problem, i.e., how to make AI understand the human decision-maker in the task environment. This is critical in improving the effectiveness and usability of the AI assistance.

In this project, we will explore the possibilities of tracking and inferring users' mental states through real-time sensory data (e.g., physiological, eye-tracking, movement) and cognitive modeling (i.e., computational modeling of human cognition and decision-making). More specifically, we expect you to (1) study the literature and identify a few decision-making tasks and contexts where our approach has the most potential; (2) build data-driven and/or theory-based user models in the identified contexts of human-AI decision-making; and (3) conduct empirical studies to access the added values of the approach.

As a PhD candidate, you will work in the Human-Technology Interaction group at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences. Since the research topic is at the intersection of psychology, human-computer interaction, and AI, you will be supervised by a team of researchers with complementary expertise: Prof. Dr. Chris Snijders (trust in AI, decision-making), Dr. Chao Zhang (human-AI interaction, cognitive modeling), and Dr. Linghan Zhang (signal processing, affective and behavioral computing). Furthermore, you will have access to TU/e's PhD level courses and training, and are encouraged to collaborate with other researchers at the department and the Eindhoven Artificial Intelligence Systems Institute (EAISI). You are expected to publish your research findings in peer-reviewed journals and at international conferences. The PhD project will conclude a high-quality PhD dissertation on the proposed topic after four years.

Requirements:

• Recently completed (or be close to the completion of) a Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Science, Data Science or a related discipline with demonstrable interest and experience in Psychology [OR] a Master's degree in Psychology or a related field, with demonstrable interest and experience in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.
• Demonstrable experience in conducting empirical research with human participants.
• Demonstrable experience with processing complex datasets (e.g., physiological, eye-tracking, sensor data) and applying (state-of-the-art) statistical techniques.
• Strong interest in how people make decisions and how AI can be used to improve decision-making.
• Strong technical skills in programming (e.g., Python, R) and mathematics are a plus.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities. 
• Effective communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively in a diverse, interdisciplinary team. 
• Professional proficiency in written and spoken English. 

Salary Benefits:

A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months. You will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks.
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. €2,770 max. €3,539).
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates.

38 hours per week

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