Endowed Professor 'Data and AI for the Rule of Law'

Het Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek- en Datacentrum (WODC), the Ministry of Justice and Security's knowledge center, and Tilburg University are looking to fill a part-time, endowed professor position for 0.2 FTE in the field of data- and AI-intensive systems in the justice sector for a period of five years. The chair will be part of both Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences (TSHD) and Tilburg Law School (TLS). More specifically, the candidate will be working in two departments: the Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence (DCA) and Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT). The candidate will play an important role in setting up and facilitating collaborations between the two schools/departments. An interdisciplinary profile bridging the two departments is a sine qua non for this position. Depending on the candidate’s profile (dominantly legal/regulatory, or dominantly data science/AI) the candidate will have their home basis in TSHD or TLS. 

Description Chair

Scientific and societal background

Data- and AI-intensive systems have great potential to help address major contemporary societal challenges, but they also raise normative challenges themselves. Unless properly designed, trained, implemented, interpreted, and governed, AI systems potentially exacerbate unfair outcomes. At the same time, the use of automated solutions often helps to reveal substantial systemic biases in human decision-making as reflected in data provided for the training of AI systems. It is important that AI-bashing, often accompanied by a lack of knowledge regarding the actual workings of the algorithmic solutions, does not lead to missing out on innovation. Rather, the focus should be on responsible innovation, by developing a socio-technical system where AI supports and improves human-decision making and responsibilities are properly allocated. This is especially important in societal domains where the consequences for people of improper data use can be very serious, such as the justice and security sector. 

A vast body of literature has emerged in recent years on AI governance and algorithmic justice, and lawmakers are starting to regulate AI. Yet there is much work still to be done regarding problem definition in the conceptualisation and design stage (which problems can and should AI be used to address?), and in relation to unequal impacts and democratic accountability in the implementation stage (how can AI be used in line with the rule of law and precepts of justice?). In this context, the challenges of data- and AI-intensive systems call for actionable insights into the legislative and policy initiatives starting to appear in the Netherlands, Europe, and elsewhere. 

These challenges also call for a thorough investigation of existing algorithmic applications, to understand what effects such data- and AI-intensive systems are having in practice and how challenges such as bias, fairness, transparency, and accountability play out in specific decision-making processes. Meaningful human oversight and measures to address the uncertainty inherent in all algorithmic systems require both capacity-building and governance frameworks that are currently only in the early stages of development. Moreover, it calls for further guidance both in terms of conceptualisation and implementation. 

Activities

Research questions and goals 

The Endowed Professor will focus on applications in the justice and security domain, focusing on the following key Research Questions (RQs): 

• RQ1: Which actionable insights can be derived from the existing legislative and policy initiatives with respect to the development and use of AI solutions in the domain of justice and security? 
• RQ2: Which practical insights can be derived from the study of concrete practices involving data- and AI-intensive systems in the justice and security sector for AI governance and algorithmic justice? 
• RQ3: To what extent can already existing technological, governance, and/or policy solutions be used to address potential points of concern and contribute to the development of data- and AI-intensive systems for justice and security? 
• RQ4: Which algorithmic, governance, and/or policy solutions need to be developed to address the automation needs in the justice and security domain in a way that satisfies the principles of fairness, transparency, and accountability? 

In terms of the different academic pillars of activity (research, education, impact, leadership and team spirit), the intended goals to be achieved in fulfilling the mandate of the endowed chair will lie primarily in the pillars of research and impact, with a minor role in educational activities (guest lectures and limited thesis supervision). While the research questions can be approached from a predominant legal or technical perspective, the goal should always be to bridge and bring together the two domains. This can, for instance, result in a combination of theoretical and practice-oriented research (e.g. digital/IT artifact prototyping, use cases, and case-study research), and second, results should be actionable. Significant engagement with AI and data science researchers and practitioners, particularly those working in the domain of algorithmic fairness, AI explainability and human-AI teaming, next to practitioners and experts working in the justice and security sector (including but not limited to law enforcement, immigration bodies, policy-makers, and legislative practitioners) is therefore a must. Results will be published in academic and professional publication venues, policy briefs, or practice guidelines, and where possible made suitable for (guest) lectures in the connected educational programs. We envision to start with one or two PhD projects.

Furthermore, the candidate is expected to:

• Perform theoretical and practice-oriented research and engage with AI and data science researchers and policy and legal practitioners in the field of the chair, and do this according to the principles of Open Science; 
• Publish in academic and professional publication venues, policy briefs or practice guidelines, and where possible made suitable for (guest) lectures in the connected educational programs; 
• Supervise PhD’s; 
• Connect Tilburg University, WODC (Ministry of Justice and Security), and society, thereby promoting interaction, including financial interaction, with external collaboration partners; Supervise master’s students in their projects and deliver guest lectures in relevant education programs of Tilburg University.

Requirements:

Appointment criteria: 

• Hold a PhD, with national and/or international standing in the field; 
• Be a researcher in the field of the endowed chair, as evidenced by a high level of output and/or social impact of scholarly work and who, additionally, has experience in successfully supervising (PhD or post-doc) researchers; 
• Have a track record on the intersection of data, AI and law, for facilitating the practice and the scientific research with the justice and security domain, evidenced by publications and working experience; 
• Have extensive experience with practice-oriented research and developing digital artifacts and/ or case studies; 
• Be an inspiring lecturer with didactic qualities and with particular expertise in the field of the chair; 
• Have demonstrable leadership skills with a vision of his/her own scientific education and research area and shows a team-oriented and connecting attitude towards his/her colleagues and beyond (academic citizenship); 
• Have a rich, relevant (inter-)national network in both academia and society; 
• Have a proven track record of research funds acquisition and research collaboration; 
• Have excellent command of English and good command of Dutch, both spoken and written; 
• Have excellent presentation and communication skills

Salary Benefits:

The candidate will be appointed as an endowed professor at Tilburg University at 0.2 FTE for an appointment period of 5 years. The start date is negotiable.  

Tilburg University offers excellent employment conditions with attention to flexibility and (personal) development. We make clear agreements about career paths and offer all kinds of facilities and arrangements to maintain an optimal balance between work and private life. The university actively pursues a policy for inclusive and interdisciplinary teams in which diverse talents are recognized and valued. The regulations and employment conditions of Tilburg University apply to remuneration and other employment conditions, in accordance with the university job classification as Professor 2.

The gross salary varies between €6,894 and €10,038 per month (full-time) based on Professor scale 2 of the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities. University employees are entitled to a holiday allowance of 8%, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% of the gross annual income, and 41 days of holiday per year (based on full-time employment). We reimburse the full costs for sustainable commuting: walking, cycling, public transport or transport with a fully electric car.

8 hours per week

Warandelaan 2