Research Fellow (University Researcher) or Postdoctoral Researcher

Research Fellow (University Researcher) or Postdoctoral Researcher for research action Diversity in Society and Life (DIVSOL) 

 

The Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, invite applications for the position of 

 

RESEARCH FELLOW (UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER) OR POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER 

 

for a fixed-term appointment 1.10.2025-31.3.2029 (or starting as agreed, employment period will be 3 years and six months in total).  

 
The research action Diversity in Society and Life (DIVSOL) brings together existing strands of research on diversity at the University of Helsinki to create a leading European community for transdisciplinary research on ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious and socio-ecological diversity. The action aims at offering novel insights into diversity that will contribute to the development of multi-level sustainable policies for human flourishing. This includes identifying social and environmental inequalities, supporting inclusive social action and policies, informing learning and education, promoting democratic literacy, understanding and promoting convivial multilingualism, and opening new methodological horizons. A strategic emphasis on data and AI supports reaching these aims. 

 

DIVSOL is led by the Faculty of Arts and includes all SSH units (Arts, Education, Law, Theology, Social Sciences, the Swedish School of Social Science, and the Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities) as well as the Faculties of Science, and of Biological and Environmental Sciences of the University of Helsinki. 

 

The Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science are looking for a shared researcher working in the intersection of artificial intelligence and human communication in a linguistically diverse world, to support strategic focus on the use of AI in scientific research across the different faculties. In the context of this call, the candidate would use AI in scientific research on the latter application domain, which refers to research areas such as multilingualism and language contact, human interaction and communication, and linguistic culture. 

 

The candidate is expected to carry out their own research within the scope, typically working in collaboration with existing research groups at the university. In addition, all recruited personnel will be part of a joint “AI Virtual Lab” activity for supporting use of AI in scientific research, as university-wide mechanism for driving the AI transformation. The Lab will involve roughly ten researchers, four of whom will jointly develop AI in scientific research in the context of DIVSOL.

The selected candidate is expected to engage in:  

• Joint planning and conduction of research in the given application domain.   

• Working as part of the group of AI researchers in the AI Virtual Laboratory.  

• Educational activities relating to the given application domain and/or AI.  

• Broader communication with the scientists in their general application domain, working together with them to establish practices in the use of AI in their domain. 

• Interaction with various support services, e.g. research software engineers.  
   

Qualifications 
 

An ideal applicant has:  

1. A doctoral degree in a suitable field for the work to be carried out. Research experience after completing the doctoral degree is expected. 

1. Scientific competence in developing artificial intelligence methods, with proven publication record in scientific venues in the field, as well as programming skills. Publications in top-tier AI and NLP venues (e.g. NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, JMLR, ACL, EMNLP, TACL) are considered a significant merit.  

1. Scientific interest and contributions in the given application domain, again ideally with publications appearing in top-tier venues (e.g., Linguistics, Language Learning, Research on Language and Social Interaction, Big Data & Society). Applicants with publications in a closely related field, but not exactly within the scope of the position, are asked to describe why their background is suitable for the position.  

1. Own scientific research interest in AI and/or the application domain. The scope of the methodological research is not specified by the call, but the candidates are expected to explain their own research interests and relate them to the specific topic of each position.  

1. Vision of what the role of AI is in the given application domain and an outline of planned research relating specifically to the use of AI in scientific research, for instance development of AI methods for commonly recurring tasks in the field, human-AI collab