Postdoctoral Researcher

The Oxford Internet Institute has an exciting opportunity to join the Governance of Emerging Technologies research programme, working under the supervision of Professor Brent Mittelstadt and Professor Chris Russell. This is an exciting opportunity for you to work at the cutting edge of AI, contributing to a major shift in how we understand and apply foundation models.

The position is full-time and fixed term for 40 months or to the funding end date of 30 June 2029 - whichever is sooner – with the aim to start on 1 October 2025.

The project focuses on generating foundational knowledge, delivering tested methods, and creating algorithms to expand MMFM capabilities across domains like cardiology, geo-intelligence, and language communication.

The postholder will help lead a project work package focusing on alignment of MMFM with ethical, legal, and social values. Specifically, the postholder will lead work to:

(1) develop bias and fairness methods for domain-specific MMFM to identify and mitigate model and data biases;

(2) build and evaluate XAI tools for external auditing and red-teaming;

(3) generate predictive explanations without accessing model internal;

(4) providing insight into model reasoning processes to enhance transparency and accountability;

(5) assess privacy risks of watermarking; and

(6) conduct privacy preservation assessments, including training data extraction and membership inference attacks, to mitigate privacy leaks in MMFM.

You will hold a PhD/DPhil (or be near completion) in a relevant discipline such as computer science, data science, statistics or mathematics; expertise in machine learning, computer vision, human-computer interaction, or similar relevant areas. Experience in research or development on bias, interpretability, and/or privacy in machine learning/AI is necessary for this role.

If you would like to discuss this role, please contact Professor Chris Russell on chris.russell@oii.ox.ac.uk. Further details including the full selection criteria are found in the Job Description provided. Click the 'Apply' button above. 

You will be required to upload a supporting statement, setting out how you meet the selection criteria, curriculum vitae and the names and contact details of three referees as part of your online application.

Only online applications received before noon 30 July 2025 UK TIME can be considered.

Committed to equality and valuing diversity.

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