Postdoc in AI, Ethics, and the Public

UC Berkeley; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 69,000 - 76,502; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Professional development funding of $1,500 per year

Access to desk space and meeting rooms

Job summary

A prestigious university in Berkeley seeks a Postdoc to join the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public. The role involves researching ethical AI, public engagement, and collaboration across disciplines. The successful candidate will work on innovative projects addressing societal challenges posed by AI. Required qualifications include a PhD or equivalent degree and strong experience in related fields. This position offers a salary range of $69,000–$76,502 and opportunities for professional development.

Qualifications

• PhD (or equivalent international degree) or enrolled in a PhD program required.
• No more than 3 years post-PhD research experience required.
• Demonstrated facilitation and/or collaboration skills preferred.

Responsibilities

• Self-direct at least one novel research or scholarship project.
• Lead or assist with writing research reports and publishing articles.
• Present work at national conferences and communicate findings.

Skills

Research and analysis

Public engagement

Project management

Ethics in AI

Collaboration skills

Education

PhD or equivalent international degree

Job description

Position title: Postdoc

Salary range: The UC postdoc salary scales set the minimum pay determined by experience level at appointment. See the following table(s) for the current salary scale(s) for this position: https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2024-25/oct-2024-scales/t23.pdf (PDF file) (link is external). A reasonable estimate for this position is $69,000–$76,502.

Position description

The UC Berkeley Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public (the Kavli Center) is a multi-disciplinary academic center that aims to break down the barriers that separate the sciences, humanities, and the public from each other; providing an inclusive, multi-disciplinary framework for understanding the ethical implications of science and technology, training the next generation, and helping scientific advances be answerable to fundamental human interests. The center comprises three elements: a "hub," representing the core activities of the center, where all affiliates come together to address fundamental ethical questions across disciplinary boundaries; “spokes” linking these activities to specific scientific disciplines; and an “axle” connecting the center with the larger society it sits within. Current spoke sciences focus on genome editing, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience. These areas have enormous potential to benefit humanity but also raise questions of practical and existential ethical significance and may affect distinct communities differently. Bringing these three scientific fields together under one center enables the identification of shared challenges and the translation of solutions and lessons learned from one to another. Read more about the Kavli Center here: https://kavlicenter.berkeley.edu/our-vision

The Kavli Center collaborates with many departments and institutes on campus to provide fellows with access to leading researchers and scholars in their fields. Read more about our structure and core faculty here: https://kavlicenter.berkeley.edu/about/connecting-organizations

About the Ethics, Science, And The Public Fellowships

The flagship program of the Kavli Center is our Graduate and Postdoc Fellowship Program. Discoveries in science and technology are moving quickly from basic research to real-world applications, sometimes with societal-scale impact, and scientists are increasingly encountering challenges that fall outside their expertise. We need a new kind of training that prepares scientists to confront the current and future ethical challenges of their fields, and that creates social scientists, philosophers, journalists, and policymakers who are able to work with scientists and diverse communities to ensure that the applications of scientific discoveries protect and advance fundamental human interests.

The center is entering its second cohort of fellows. The successful applicant for this position will join ongoing and new postdoc and graduate fellows from fields such as the sciences, humanities, social sciences, and professional fields to work at the center, bridge disciplinary and sector boundaries, and be a part of a new kind of community. Depending on the postdoc’s specific research objectives and methods, Professor Jodi Halpern, and/or Professor Stuart Russel, Co-Directors of the Kavli Center, will serve as the faculty supervisor for the postdoctoral scholar.

The Kavli Center is seeking to offer one position. While the center expects to fully fund one position, applicants with existing fellowships or grants are welcome to apply.

POSITION DETAILS

Position in AI, ethics, & the public

As artificial intelligence is coming of age, it promises to bring new and exciting capabilities that could improve people’s lives yet also poses serious challenges. These challenges require attending to ethics and considering innovative regulation and governance at all levels. This postdoctoral fellow will work to identify and address these questions and challenges by breaking down the barriers between computer scientists, ethicists, experts in law, policy, or business, and the public.

While a successful applicant may propose any number of research projects that address this broad area, we are especially interested in projects that aim to bring the public, overlooked stakeholders, or communities into the conversations and decisions around what ethical AI should look like and how to help mitigate harmful societal implications. A public engagement research project could aim to inform a specific policy or practice, or it could aim to facilitate and study increased collaboration, dialogue, or understanding between developers or decision-makers and society.

Opportunities and Responsibilities

By joining the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public, successful candidates will become part of our transdisciplinary cohort of postdoctoral and graduate fellows. Fellows are researchers who join the center in pursuit of opportunities to cross disciplinary boundaries, expand their training, build community, and develop new lines of work that emerge through the unique experience of having access to such a cohort. The selected candidate for this postdoctoral position is expected to spend 70-80% of their time working on their primary research project(s) and professional development. The remaining time will be spent participating in weekly programming, center-organized activities, and in developing and executing new lines of work that are collaborative, special projects, sprung from participation in the center.

Fellowship programming is aimed at exploring new concepts and skills, and gaining a common foundational understanding of ethical challenges and possibilities presented by advancements in science, with an emphasis on our three spoke sciences. Fellows will bring their distinct areas of expertise to teach each other and foster collective growth. In addition, fellows will have access to special opportunities including collaborations with journalists, new courses, invite-only workshops or events, and ongoing center projects such as our public library collaboration or our Berkeley Ethics and Regulation Group for Innovative Technologies: https://kavlicenter.berkeley.edu/berkeley-ethics-and-regulation-group-innovative-technologies

Expectations

• Self-direct at least one novel research or scholarship project.
• Lead or assist with writing research reports and publishing peer-reviewed journal articles.
• Contribute to communicating your work or your field to a broader audience via any number of meaningful efforts including website posts, op-eds, or public engagement interactions.
• Present your work at national conferences.
• Regularly attend and contribute to program activities which include presenting journal articles for discussion, contributing to or leading group discussions, helping to organize seminars, and exchanging feedback on work in progress.
• Contribute to growing the Kavli Center community and collaborate with other fellows.
• Produce a cross-disciplinary project output. Special projects sprung from participation in the center explore new areas of work for the fellow and may take many shapes. Examples of outputs from the work may include (but are not limited to) a white paper, a public/stakeholder/community engagement, a research paper, or a policy or regulatory proposal.
• Present your work to the broader Kavli Center community. Participate in alumni activities, returning periodically for cohort retreats and networking.

Logistics

Fellows will have access to desk space and meeting rooms in 621 Sutardja Dai Hall. Postdoctoral positions are in-person at UC Berkeley and require being in the office 2-3 days a week. In addition to salary, the center will provide $1,500 per year for professional development opportunities such as attending conferences.

Unit: https://kavlicenter.berkeley.edu/

Qualifications

Basic qualifications

(required at time of application)

• PhD (or equivalent international degree) or enrolled in a PhD (or equivalent international degree) program.

Additional qualifications

(required at time of start)

• PhD or equivalent international degree.
• No more than 3-years post PhD research experience.

Preferred qualifications

• Past experiences in conducting public engagement with ethical, societal, or policy dimensions of scientific advancements such as deliberative democracy methods, facilitated dialogues, ethnographic methods, discourse analysis, or creative methods.
• Strong interest in conducting research that is responsive to current policy and responsible development debates in AI.
• Demonstrated facilitation and/or collaboration skills.
• Demonstrated experience in managing projects independently, meeting project timelines, managing stakeholder relationships, and seeking out other expertise where necessary.
• Demonstrated history of engaging with the ethical dimensions of advances in science or their regulatory and governance implications.
• Ability to communicate complex concepts to audiences in other fields and/or non-technical audiences.
• A desire to cross disciplinary boundaries and engage publics, stakeholders, or communities in the ethical questions born from scientific discoveries.

Application Requirements

Document requirements

• Curriculum Vitae – Your most recently updated C.V.
• Interest Statement – Interest statements should be no more than 1,000 words and should include the following:

Describe the relevance of the KCESP Fellowship to your academic or professional development. Why are you interested in this program? How will the program help you achieve your career goals or fill a gap missing in your current training and why?

Propose a research path. What is the topic of your current work and what interest areas and key learning questions do you envision pursuing at the Kavli Center if selected? Understanding that research projects may evolve or that successful candidates may wish to co-develop a project with the center rather than predetermine one, what projects or work products might you imagine emerging from your time in the center? If you have external funding to support your work, please include that information here.

Please include the name(s) of faculty or experts that you plan or hope to work with during your research. If you have connections to resources or experts that would be valuable to your proposed research path while at the center, please share them.

Statement on Contributions to Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – Statement on your contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion, including information about your understanding of these topics, your record of activities to date, and your specific plans and goals for advancing equity and inclusion if hired at Berkeley. More Information and guidelines

Writing Sample – For example, a recent publication.

Reference requirements

• 3-6 required (contact information only).