Project staff member (PhD Position)

WU Vienna University of Economics and Business

Organisation/Company: WU Vienna University of Economics and Business
Department: Institute for Complex Networks
Research Field: Computer science » Informatics, Computer science » Digital systems
Researcher Profile: First Stage Researcher (R1)
Positions: PhD Positions
Country: Austria
Application Deadline: 16 Apr 2025 - 23:59 (Europe/Vienna)
Type of Contract: Temporary
Job Status: Part-time
Hours Per Week: 30
Offer Starting Date: 15 May 2025
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

You want to understand how things are connected and make a fundamental impact? We offer an environment where you can realize your full potential at one of Europe’s largest and most modern business and economics universities. On a campus where quality of work is also quality of life. We are looking for support at the

Institute for Complex Networks
Part-time, 30 hours/week
Starting May 15, 2025, and ending after 4 years

We are seeking highly motivated and talented individuals to join our dynamic research team for combining symbolic and sub-symbolic AI. The successful candidates will conduct research at WU in collaboration with our partner institutes Johannes Kepler University Linz, AAU Klagenfurt, ISTA, TU Graz, and TU Vienna.

The vision of Bilateral AI is to educate a new generation of top-quality AI scientists with a holistic view on symbolic and sub-symbolic AI methods. Training and mentoring of young researchers is a central activity, which combines groundbreaking research work with an education program. The training will be distributed over the six participating institutions.

What to expect

PhD students will be trained within the Bilateral AI Doctoral School. Joint seminars, scientific workshops, and compulsory courses outside the PhD students’ research fields will also be designed to encourage interdisciplinarity. Apart from that, students will be involved in grant applications, conference organization, Bachelor and Master student supervisions, and teaching. Each student will be supervised by two experienced and internationally renowned professors with different research fields (symbolic / sub-symbolic AI). The training will also provide a career development program, advice and support for students with innovative business ideas, and workshops for presentation and soft skills.

The proposed PhD project focuses on:

1. Investigating how legal and ethical principles can be embedded into AI technologies;
2. Providing legal and ethical foundations for AI technologies and systems, via policies and norms;
3. Extracting information or knowledge from data, which can contain confidential or personal data from users, while ensuring that the protected data itself remains private;
4. Extending the state of the art in terms of normative autonomous agents in general and autonomous web agents in particular.

What you have to offer

Applicants for the Ph.D. positions must have a master’s degree, which entitles them to enroll for a PhD program, in one of the following subjects: computer science, information systems, business informatics (or a related field of study) with solid practical & theoretical foundations in at least one of the following topic areas:

• Data and algorithmic governance
• Knowledge representation & reasoning
• Distributed systems and decentralized computing
• Semantic web

We expect excellent study results, technical knowledge of programming languages such as C++, Java or Python, structured data formats such as JSON, XML and RDF, and query languages such as SQL, SPARQL, or graph query languages, etc. as well as proficiency in English.

Do you want to join the Institute for Complex Networks and the BILAI network? Then please submit your application. The following documents must be submitted (in English) by the call deadline:

• Letter of motivation (detailing previous research achievements, research goals, career plans);
• A complete CV, including a list of previous scientific expertise, awards, grants, stays abroad, attended lectures, attended summer schools, attended workshops, skills, and publications (if applicable);
• English abstract of the applicant’s MSc thesis, BSc thesis, or of a research project;
• Academic transcripts for both the applicant’s bachelor and their masters studies;
• Proof of proficiency in English (usually TOEFL/IELTS/CAE).

By submitting your application, you agree with your application being shared also with members of the BILAI admission committee from other partner universities in the BILAI network.

We are looking forward to hearing from you! If you have any questions regarding the position or application documents prior to application, don’t hesitate to contact me for further information at Dr. Sabrina Kirrane sabrina.kirrane[at]wu.ac.at with the subject: "[BILAI Praedoc position]".

What we offer you

• Inspiring campus life with over 2,400 employees in research, teaching, and administration and approximately 21,500 students
• A modern campus with spectacular architecture in the heart of Vienna
• Excellent accessibility by public transportation
• Meaningful work in an open-minded, inclusive, and family-friendly environment
• A wide range of benefits, from an in-house medical officer to athletic activities and a meal allowance to a variety of employee discounts

Curious? Visit our website and find out more at www.wu.ac.at/benefits.

The minimum monthly gross salary amounts to €2.684,10 (14 times per year). This salary may be adjusted based on job-related prior work experience. In addition, we offer a wide range of attractive social benefits.

Do you want to join the WU team?
Then please submit your application by April 16, 2025 under www.wu.ac.at/jobs (ID 2372).
We are looking forward to hearing from you!