Postdoctoral Researcher - Causal Systems Modeling for AI Governance (Oxford AI Governance Initiative)

The Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative (AIGI Oxford) seeks to improve the impact of AI on global societal outcomes through impactful research that is rigorously grounded in the social and computational sciences, decision-maker education campaigns, and training the next generations of technology governance leaders. It is one of the few organisations in the world to focus on the governance of AI from both technical and policy perspectives. 

We have an exciting opportunity for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the programme. The post holder will be responsible for carrying out research in systems modeling including graphical causal modeling and methodological foundations of the study of technology governance. The research will involve safety cases for AI systems as well as broader aspects of model interpretability, explainability, and verification methods with an emphasis on white box methods and control techniques using causality.

The post holder will work on projects that bridge technical AI capabilities with governance needs, supporting regulatory frameworks and building stakeholder trust in AI systems. The role offers flexibility to pursue diverse research directions within the AI Governance Initiative’s mission, potentially including studies on political dimensions of risk frameworks, economic subsystem coupling, and multi-level agent interactions. The successful candidate will participate in mentoring junior researchers and collaborate with faculty, DPhil students, and postdocs across engineering, computer science, government, and law disciplines.

The role is full time 2 years fixed term.

The Oxford Martin School supports the University’s commitment in fostering an inclusive culture which promotes equality and values diversity. We are eager to receive applications from a diverse pool of candidates.

You will be required to upload your CV and a supporting statement as part of your online application. Your supporting statement should list each of the essential and desirable selection criteria, as listed in the job description, and explain how you meet each one. Both documents must be submitted to be considered. 

Only applications received before 12.00 noon (BST) on 4^th June 2025 can be considered. We expected to hold interviews on 20^th June 2025.

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