Postdoctoral Research Associate in Mechanism Design for AI Alignment

About us

We are seeking a motivated, independent, and highly skilled postdoctoral researcher to work on a project on mechanism design for AI alignment, selected by the UK AI Safety Institute and funded by EPSRC.

The project will be led by Carmine Ventre,  https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/carmine-ventre. The role holder will join the Distributed AI group in the Department of Informatics at King’s College London.

About the role

The role holder will work with the principal investigator to develop novel solution concepts for mechanism design, prove theoretical results, and write up findings for publication in peer-reviewed conferences and journals.

The research will look at new solution concepts, inspired by the literature on behavioural economics, to model the imperfect rationality of AI agents and develop the frontier between their evolving capability and what is possible to  implement/align with mechanism design. 

The role offers the opportunity to lead on academic papers and develop independent research within this emerging area. There are no teaching duties associated with this position.

This is a full time (35 hours per week) post, offered an a fixed term contract until 29 February 2028 initially, with possibility of extension (subject to funding). The start date is flexible but will be no later than 1st September 2026.

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the  Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the  Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

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