Postdoc Vacancy @ University of Antwerp

Postdoc Vacancy @ University of Antwerp

Post-doctoral candidate AI, media and society

Department: Department of Communication Studies
Regime Full-time

Profile

  • You hold a PhD in Communication Studies or other relevant discipline in the social sciences and humanities (or you will have obtained it by the time you start work).
  • Your research qualities are in line with the faculty and university research policies.
  • You act with attention to quality, integrity, creativity and cooperation.
  • You can speak and write fluently in English.
  • You comply with the FWO Post-doc and/or Marie Sklodowska-Curie Post-doc eligibility criteria.
  • You have a good publication record in international peer-reviewed journals.
  • Experience with project writing, acquisition and management is a plus.

Position

  • Since the launch of ChatGPT, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an accessible part of everyday life. We define AI broadly, looking beyond generative AI and including other forms of ‘smart’ automation, such as algorithmic recommendation and chatbots. We are hiring a postdoctoral researcher to develop a project critically analyzing the role of AI in media and society. The aim is to come to a balanced assessment of its opportunities and risks, in particular in relation to underlying power relations in media and society. The candidate should focus on one or more of the following aspects:
    1. Media discourses: you use qualitative and/or quantitative methods to analyze the way AI is discussed and represented in media.
    2. Political economy: you research the ownership and governance of AI and related automated systems, with a focus on digital empires such as Meta/Facebook and Alphabet/Google.
    3. User perspectives: you use qualitative and/or quantitative methods to analyze how media users think about and deal with automated content such as social media feeds and news recommendations.
  • Your proposal should be connected to the research interests and expertise of (at least) one of the professors of the Antwerp Media in Society Centre: Sander De Ridder, Alexander Dhoest, Pieter Maeseele and Steve Paulussen.
  • The main aim of this temporary position is to develop a proposal for a postdoctoral fellowship to be submitted to FWO and Horizon-MCSA.

Deadline: 22 april 2025

More information on this position can be found here.