Education is increasingly permeated by and enacted through technological artifacts. These artifacts provide opportunities for learning that is more effective, individually tailored and in tune with pressing societal challenges. Importantly, such education is about more than the transfer of knowledge and acquisition of skills! That is, it also shapes the very students it teaches.

Technology profoundly affects this process. Just as our interactions with technologies shape the spaces, experiences, practices and knowledge that education has to offer, they also co-shape the kinds of intellectual, moral, professional and political subjects that students become, and the opportunities they have for taking part in that process.

Increasingly, philosophers of technology recognize the profound impact of technologies on how we become who and what we are and in the processes of self-shaping that this allows (e.g., Aydin, 2021; Bergen & Verbeek, 2021). To study these aspects of technology, educational settings are exceptionally exciting areas of inquiry!

As such, this PhD project investigates the ways technologies mediate how students are shaped as subjects in educational settings. This will require conceptual innovations and theory crafting that are specific to this context. In other words, we need creative, empirically informed philosophical inquiry into what technological artifacts do in shaping students’ subjectivity.

We aim to hire a highly motivated, enthusiastic researcher who is driven by curiosity and has/is:

• -or will shortly acquire, Master’s degree or equivalent in philosophy, with demonstrable specialization in philosophy of technology and/or philosophy of education;
• Passionate about taking technological artifacts, systems and infrastructures seriously and philosophically investigating the active role they play in our lives;
• An interest in empirically informed philosophy, and enthusiasm to do their own empirical investigations;
• Able to do independent research and willing to develop writing and publication skills;
• Possess good communication skills and an excellent command of English.

The following qualifications are desired, but are not required to apply:

• Affinity with philosophy of technology, especially on the role that concrete technologies play in daily life;
• Demonstrable interest in questions of subjectivity, character and education;
• Affinity and/or experience with empirical methods in philosophy (e.g., the use of interviews, focus groups or ethnographic observation).

We encourage high responsibility and independence, while collaborating with colleagues, researchers, other university staff and partners. We follow the terms of employment by the Dutch Collective Labour Agreement for Universities (CAO). Our offer contains: a fulltime 4-year PhD position with a qualifier in the first year; excellent mentorship in a stimulating research environment with excellent facilities; and a personal development program within the Twente Graduate School. It also includes:

• Gross monthly salary of € 2.770 in the first year, increasing each year up to € 3.539 in the fourth year;
• Excellent benefits including a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%, and a solid pension scheme;
• 29 holidays per year in case of full-time employment;
• A training programme as part of the Twente Graduate School where you and your supervisors will determine a plan for a suitable education and supervision;
• A green campus with free access to sports facilities and an international scientific community;
• A family-friendly institution that offers parental leave (both paid and unpaid);
• A full status as an employee at the UT, including pension, health care benefits and good secondary conditions are part of our collective labour agreement CAO-NU for Dutch universities.

The UT's philosophy section is internationally established in the philosophy and ethics of technology (https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/wijsb/). It also participates in the interuniversity 4TU.Center for Ethics and Technology (www.ethicsandtechnology.eu). Both the section and the Center have a strong international orientation and include members from many different nationalities.