Research Positions in the SFB TRR 318 in the field of emotionally intelligent interactive systems

Universität Bielefeld; Bielefeld; Vor Ort; EUR 50.000 - 65.000; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

Eine deutsche Universität sucht eine/n Forscher/in für die Entwicklung interaktiver Systeme zur Erklärung von KI-Entscheidungen. In dieser vollzeit Stelle analysierst du emotionale Einflüsse und führst Benutzerstudien durch. Ein abgeschlossenes Hochschulstudium in Informatik oder verwandten Bereichen sowie gute Deutsch- und Englischkenntnisse sind erforderlich. Die Position bietet die Möglichkeit zur akademischen Qualifikation in einem kooperativen Umfeld.

Leistungen

Flexible Arbeitszeiten

Suche nach innerer und externer Weiterbildung

Vielfalt an Gesundheits- und Beratungsdiensten

Zusätzliche betriebliche Altersversorgung

Qualifikationen

• Abgeschlossenes Hochschulstudium in Informatik, Computerlinguistik oder verwandten Bereichen.
• Interesse an interdisziplinärer Forschung in Psychologie und Mensch-Roboter-Interaktion.
• Gute Kenntnisse in Deutsch und Englisch.

Aufgaben

• Forschung und Entwicklung eines interaktiven Systems zur Erklärung von KI-Entscheidungen.
• Durchführung von Benutzerstudien zur Evaluierung von Interaktionsstrategien.
• Präsentation von Forschungsergebnissen auf internationalen Konferenzen.

Kenntnisse

Interdisziplinäre Forschung

Analytische Fähigkeiten

Teamarbeit

Gute Englischkenntnisse

Gute Deutschkenntnisse

Ausbildung

Abgeschlossenes Hochschulstudium (Master oder gleichwertig)

Tools

ROS oder andere Middleware

Bildverarbeitungssoftware

Jobbeschreibung

Overview

The CITEC (Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology) has two job openings in the SFB TRR 318 (subprojects A03 & A05).

Research Positions in the SFB TRR 318 in the field of emotionally intelligent interactive systems. ID: Wiss25382

• starting: 01.01.2026
• fulltime
• salary according to Remuneration level 13 TV-L
• fixed-term

The transregional collaborative research center (TRR) “Constructing Explainability” funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) at the Universities of Paderborn and Bielefeld deals with explainable and explanatory artificial intelligence. The central hypothesis is that explanations should be co-constructed by dialogue partners so that humans can make confident and informed decisions when interacting with intelligent systems. The TRR aims to contribute basic research in co-constructive explanation processes and their mechanisms, explanation as a socio-technical phenomenon, and computational representations of the dynamics of co-constructive explanation. The second funding phase aims to develop more flexible, personalized, proactive explanation systems (sXAI) that take social and situational context into account when adapting their explanatory behavior.

Subprojects A03 and A05 investigate and model interactive explanations of AI decisions and suggestions with a focus on emotions (A03) and negating/contrasting (A05) as scaffolding strategies. The development extends an existing explanation model by integrating context-relevant features and an LLM-based dialogue system that can adapt explanations to heterogeneous users in the task context. The work is carried out in cooperation with project partners from psychology, economics/behavioral sciences, and includes our own user studies and evaluation of the developed model.

The position will be filled subject to project approval.

Your Tasks

• research activities (90 %):
  • further development of an interactive system (virtual agent or interactive robot, e.g. Nao) to explain AI decisions or tasks with a focus on the influence of emotion or on scaffolding using negation/contrast on understanding and decisions
  • user studies to investigate explanation strategies and to evaluate implemented interaction strategies
  • publication and presentation of research results at international conferences and in journals
• teaching of 1 LVS (5 %)
• collaboration in administration (5 %)

Employment is conducive to academic qualification.

We offer

• salary according to Remuneration level 13 TV-L
• fixed-term (limited until 30.06.2029 – end of project)
• fulltime

• internal and external training opportunities
• variety of health, consulting and prevention services
• reconcilability of family and work
• flexible working hours
• good transport connection
• supplementary company pension
• collegial working environment
• open and pleasant working atmosphere
• exciting, varied tasks
• modern work environment with digital processes
• various offers (canteen, cafeteria, restaurants, Uni-Shop, ATM, etc.)

Your Profile

• completed academic/university degree (e.g., master's or equivalent) in computer science, computational linguistics or related fields
• interest and passion for interdisciplinary research at the interface of psychology, cognitive science, behavioral science or linguistics and human-robot interaction
• good knowledge of German and English (spoken and written)
• analytical skills and scientific mindset
• independent, responsible, and committed approach to work
• teamwork skills

Preferred experience and skills

• practical experience and theoretical knowledge in system development, dialogue modeling, and user studies/evaluation
• practical experience with processing physiological data/ECG and with image processing software for recognizing emotions from facial or behavioral data
• prior knowledge of ROS or other middleware
• experience with designing or conducting studies

Application Procedure

We are looking forward to receiving your application. To apply, please preferably use our online form via the application button below.

application deadline: 13.10.2025

Contact

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Britta Wrede
[phone]
[e-mail]

Postal Address
Universität Bielefeld
Medizinische Fakultät OWL
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Britta Wrede
Postfach 10 01 31
33501 Bielefeld

Bielefeld University has received a number of awards for its achievements as an equal-opportunity employer and is recognized as a family-friendly university. Applications are welcome from women and suitably qualified handicapped and severely handicapped persons. At request, positions can be carried out with reduced working hours as long as this does not conflict with official needs.