NLP & ML Research Associate — Misinformation Analytics

The University of Sheffield; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 43,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

41 days annual leave

Generous pension scheme

Flexible/ hybrid working opportunities

Staff discounts and wellbeing

Conference travel funding

Job summary

The University of Sheffield invites applications for a Research Associate in the GATE team to advance NLP/ML methods for online misinformation. You’ll collaborate with journalists and fact-checkers to develop explainable analytics for real-time narratives and evaluate AI-driven search and chatbots.

You will publish research in top journals, present at international conferences, and contribute to toolkits with funding for travel and dissemination.

Qualifications

• PhD in natural language processing, machine learning or computational social science, or within one month of completion.
• Excellent track record in ML/NLP methods for social media, narrative, or disinformation analysis.
• Proficiency with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Transformers, Hugging Face.
• Experience evaluating accuracy of chatbots and AI-generated search results.
• Experience with explainable NLP/ML methods and with LLMs/prompts for domain applications.

Responsibilities

• Apply NLP and ML to analyse online disinformation in near-real-time social media streams.
• Evaluate accuracy of online chatbots and AI-generated search overviews.
• Build explainable, robust narrative analysis tools for large-scale data.
• Set milestones, test methodologies, and maintain project documentation.
• Collaborate with consortium partners, technical teams and external stakeholders.
• Publish novel techniques and findings in top journals and present at conferences.
• Train others in interdisciplinary research skills including NLP, ML, and web service deployment.

Skills

NLP / ML for disinformation

Explainable NLP/ML

LLMs / prompt engineering

Deep learning frameworks

Collaborative research

Education

PhD in NLP / ML or related field

Post-PhD status or near completion

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Transformers / Hugging Face

Job description

The University of Sheffield invites applications for a Research Associate in the GATE team to advance NLP/ML methods for online misinformation. You’ll collaborate with journalists and fact-checkers to develop explainable analytics for real-time narratives and evaluate AI-driven search and chatbots.

You will publish research in top journals, present at international conferences, and contribute to toolkits with funding for travel and dissemination.