PhD Position: Software Architecture for Human-Centric AI Systems

Do you want to contribute and collaborate to shape the future of human-centric computing models and applications with an eye on society? Then keep reading, this fully funded PhD position at Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam may be for you!

Human-centric AI aims to steer the development and application of AI towards personal and social good while minimizing harm. It builds on the capabilities of generative AI and foundation model techniques and enhances their ability to be collaborative, adaptive, responsible, and explainable (abbreviated as CARE principles). Human-centric AI can enable effective human-AI teaming, leading to hybrid systems that yield more than the sum of their parts. However, as an emerging discipline, human-centric AI and its principles have resulted in a wide range of proposed systems, leading to a poorly understood landscape of requirements, benefits, and limitations. It remains challenging to design effective human-centric AI systems, i.e., systems that reliably achieve the CARE principles without substantially harming other important quality attributes (QAs) like maintainability or energy consumption. As a solution, the synthesis and curation of software architecture techniques like design decisions, architectural tactics, patterns, or reference architectures can enable practitioners to design human-centric systems, while supporting the reasoning about trade-offs between various quality attributes, e.g., explainability, maintainability, or energy consumption.

The Learning and Reasoning and the Software and Sustainability groups are looking for a joint PhD student in software architecture for human-centric AI. The project will survey the emerging landscape of systems in human-centric AI, investigate how to systematically organize them into modular building blocks, and from there into reusable software architecture techniques. The project will investigate how the various design decisions influence the CARE principles, as well as other QAs like maintainability, evolvability, or performance efficiency. Taking a system perspective that is shaped by quality attribute trade-offs, the PhD student will synthesize and evaluate software architecture design techniques to support practitioners building such systems. To bridge the gap between these two fields, the PhD student will be supported by one supervisor with extensive human-centric AI expertise (Dr. Filip Ilievski) and one supervisor with extensive software architecture expertise (Dr. Justus Bogner).

Your duties

• shape and refine the indicated research topic according to your interests
• conduct research on the indicated topic using a variety of research methods
• publish the results as scientific papers in prestigious SE and / or AI venues
• attend suitable conferences to present the research
• support BSc / MSc teaching and supervision activities in the department

As a university, we strive for equal opportunities for all, recognising that diversity takes many forms. We believe that diversity in all its complexity is invaluable for the quality of our teaching, research and service. We are always looking for talent with diverse backgrounds and experiences. This also means that we are committed to creating an inclusive community so that we can use diversity as an asset.

We realise that each individual brings a unique set of skills, expertise and mindset. Therefore we are happy to invite anyone who recognises themselves in the profile to apply, even if you do not meet all the requirements.

• a strong MSc degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or a related field
• at least foundational knowledge in both SE and AI, but more advanced knowledge in one of the two areas is expected
• solid programming abilities, e.g., in Python
• excellent communication skills in English (verbal and written)
• motivated team player that shows initiative to drive their own research
• experience with foundational language or vision models is a bonus
• experience with human-centric AI is a bonus
• experience with empirical research methods is a bonus
• prior publications are a bonus
• industry experience (especially with AI-enabled systems) is a bonus

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world. And that is valuable. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:

• a salary of minimum € 2.901,00 (PhD) and maximum € 3.707,00 (PhD) gross per month, on a full-time basis. This is based on UFO profile PhD candidate. The exact salary depends on your education and experience.
• a position for at least 0.8 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 18 months. After a satisfactory evaluation of the initial appointment, the contract will be extended to a total duration of 4 years.

We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and regulations. Some examples:

• a full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata.
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• solid pension scheme (ABP)
• contribution to commuting expenses
• optional model for designing a personalized benefits package

About the department
The VU Department of Computer Science has approximately 200 staff members, including approximately 110 PhD students. Lecturers form a critical and essential basis for the functioning of the department, providing foundational education that helps determine the future of our students.

Our research and our students are diverse, covering disciplines such as Social sciences, Humanities, Economics, and Bioinformatics. Currently, we offer programs in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Information Sciences (BSc and MSc), and Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (MSc), with a total of around 1,000 new students each year.

Faculty of Science
Researchers and students at VU Amsterdam’s Faculty of Science tackle fundamental and complex scientific problems to help pave the way for a sustainable and healthy future. From forest fires to big data, from obesity to malnutrition, and from molecules to the moon: we cover the full spectrum of the natural sciences. Our teaching and research have a strong experimentally technical, computational and interdisciplinary nature.

We work on new solutions guided by value-driven, interdisciplinary methodologies. We are committed to research, valorisation and training socially engaged citizens of the world who will make valuable contributions to a sustainable, healthy future.

Are you interested in joining the Faculty of Science? You will join undergraduate students, PhD candidates and researchers at the biggest sciences faculty in the Netherlands. You will combine a professional focus with a broad view of the world. We are proud of our collegial working climate, characterised by committed staff, a pragmatic attitude and engagement in the larger whole. The faculty is home to over 11,000 students enrolled in 40 study programmes. It employs over 1,600 professionals spread across 10 academic departments.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam stands for values-driven education and research. We are open-minded experts with the ability to think freely. - a broader mind. Maintaining an entrepreneurial perspective and concentrating on diversity, significance and humanity, we work on sustainable solutions with social impact. By joining forces, across the boundaries of disciplines, we work towards a better world for people and planet. Together we create a safe and respectful working and study climate, and an inspiring environment for education and research. Learn more about our codes of conduct

We are located on one physical campus, in the heart of Amsterdam's Zuidas business district, with excellent location and accessibility. Over 5,500 staff work at the VU and over 30,000 students attend academic education.

Diversity
Diversity is the driving force of the VU. The VU wants to be accessible and receptive to diversity in disciplines, cultures, ideas, nationalities, beliefs, preferences and worldviews. We believe that trust, respect, interest and differences lead to new insights and innovation, to sharpness and clarity, to excellence and a broader understanding.

We stand for an inclusive community and believe that diversity and internationalisation contribute to the quality of education, research and our services.

Therefore, we are always searching for people whose backgrounds and experience contribute to the diversity of the VU community.

Are you interested in this position? Then please submit an application by May 5th, 2025 with the following documents:

1. A CV that describes relevant experience / expertise for the position
2. MSc certificate (if already available) and list of (current) MSc grades
3. Cover letter outlining why you are interested in this position, including the name and email of two people we can contact for a reference

Applications received by e-mail will not be processed.

Vacancy questions
If you have any questions regarding this vacancy, you may contact:

Name: Dr. Justus Bogner / Dr. Filip Ilievski
Position: Assistant Professor
E-mail: j.bogner@vu.nl / f.ilievski@vu.nl

No agencies