ESRC IAA Research Asssociate

Job reference: HUM-032511
Salary: £37,694 per annum
Faculty/Organisational Unit: Humanities
Location: Oxford Road
Employment type: Fixed Term
Division/Team: Management Sciences and Marketing
Hours Per Week: 35
Closing date (DD/MM/YYYY): 30/10/2026
Contract Duration: 12 (subject to start date) 

This is an exciting opportunity for an ambitious graduate with the ability and confidence to work on a research project for developing eXplainable AI-powered Decision Models (XAI-DMs) for Insurance Under-writing, which is funded by ESRC IAA to The University of Manchester (UoM) together with Protector In-surance as industrial partner.

The University of Manchester is looking to recruit a decision scientist, artificial intelligence (AI) modeller, system scientist to undertake this project, which is based on the research conducted by UoM experts over many years in areas of decision science, systems science, AI and Data Science to develop the Evidential Reasoning (ER) theory, including the Maximum Likelihood Evidential Reasoning (MAKER) framework for probabilistic reasoning with imperfect data, the ER rule for combination of uncertain evidence acquired from imperfect data and human judgment, the ER approach for multiple criteria decision making under uncertainty, and the Belief Rule Base (BRB) methodology for probabilistic system modelling and intrinsically explainable machine learning funded by many EPSRC grants.

The RA position will provide the successful candidate with a unique opportunity to take the lead on a strategic project, aimed at translating the ER theory and industrial domain knowledge to develop new XAI-DMs for Insurance Underwriting and to integrate them into existing working practices for Protector Insurance, which will be supported by the specialists of the company. The RA will therefore be faced with the challenge of understanding both the theory and the practical applications of decision modelling, data analytics, probabilistic inference, XAI decision modelling and evidence-based decision making to support the development of the XAI-DMs; and translating the technical know-how into a form that can be easily understood and used by users within Protector Insurance.

Candidates will require a minimum 2:1 with doctoral research experience in Systems Science, Decision Science, Operational Research, Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, or Applied Statistics with Decision, or a PhD degree in the-afore mentioned or related subject areas, with evidence of a strong grounding in probabilistic data analysis and reasoning, XAI decision modelling, decision analysis, multiple criteria assessment, and software development in Python or equivalent.

Based at Alliance Manchester Business School and Protector Insurance, the successful candidate will work directly with the supervisors from the University and with other researchers and practitioners from Protector Insurance.

We are an open place of enquiry and challenge. We embrace and celebrate difference, diversity and debate, and we pride ourselves on being a place of education, learning and community where we are able, within the law, to question and test received wisdom, express new ideas and explore controversial or unpopular topics and opinions. Find out more from our Freedom of Speech Policy.

Enquiries about the role, shortlisting and interviews

Prof Jian-Bo Yang; Email: jian-bo.yang@manchester.ac.uk Tel: 0161 3063427

Prof Dong-Ling Xu; Email: ling.xu@manchester.ac.uk Tel: 0161 275 0941

General enquiries and administrative support

recruitmentservices.people@manchester.ac.uk

Technical support

Tel: 0161 850 2004

Applications close at midnight on the closing date.

Type / Role:

Subject Area(s):

Location(s):