PhD position in Education in AI and science literacy

Organisation/Company University of Twente (UT) Research Field Computer science » Informatics Educational sciences » Education Educational sciences » Teaching methods Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Final date to receive applications 6 Mar 2026 - 22:59 (UTC) Country Netherlands Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Not Applicable Hours Per Week 40.0 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

About the DECIDE Project
The DECIDE project is a large-scale, NWO-funded research initiative under the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA). It brings together 10 Dutch universities
, over 50 academic researchers
, and 30 societal partners in an ambitious inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration. Our shared mission is to develop strategies towards the design and implement a new generation of transparent, citizen-empowering AI systems
, with a focus on AI-supported decision-making that contribute to the empowerment and democratic participation of citizens
. The project addresses real-world challenges across domains such as healthcare, mobility, public governance, and healthy lifestyles
. By co-developing strategies with societal stakeholders, DECIDE aims to create solutions that have tangible impact on society.

Your Role as a PhD student
As a PhD candidate, you will be part of a multidisciplinary team of PhD students and become part of a vibrant inter- and transdisciplinary research community
. You will:

• Collaborating across disciplines and with societal stakeholders to achieve real-world impact
  .
• Participate in joint training programs on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research methods, citizen engagement
  , and ethical AI
  .
• Contribute to cutting-edge research that bridges theory and practice.

Project structure
DECIDE is organized into 10 work packages (WPs):

• Six WPs focus on disciplinary perspectives in psychology, education, computer sciences, law, and philosophy
  .
• Four WPs address citizen-empowerment-scenarios (CES) in healthcare, mobility, public governance, and healthy living
  .

Each PhD position is embedded in one work package and supervised by a multidisciplinary team of academic and societal experts
. Detailed descriptions of the work packages and their interconnections are available on the DECIDE website.
We are looking for an excellent and enthusiastic PhD researcher to join the DECIDE project at the University of Twente
. Your research will focus on the work package that is dedicated to Education. In your project, you will collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of teachers to design, implement, and evaluate an educational program that fosters a new type of AI literacy in university students. The instructional approach that will be used is Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) in which multi-disciplinary teams of students learn by conducting research and design projects on a societal problem in collaboration with stakeholders.

Your educational design research will be supervised by the section of Instructional Technology (IST), while the design and implementation of the educational program will be supervised by the Philosophy section of the BMS faculty. Additionally, you will be part of the multi-disciplinary team of participants in this work package.

In this project, you will participate in a Professional Learning Community of teachers and educational specialists from Universities of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool Saxion, Hogeschool van Amsterdam), Vocational Education (ROC van Twente, ROC van Amsterdam) and Kohnstamm Institute, who aim at mutual exchange of experiences and instructional materials targeting the design of educational programs on AI literacy in different professional settings.

As part of your role, you will:

• Conduct original design-based research within the field of education, resulting in a PhD thesis.
• Collaborate with other PhD candidates, postdocs, and societal partners across the consortium, including participation in the Professional Learning Community.
• Participate in DECIDE training programs, workshops, and summer schools, and participate in the Twente Graduate School.
• Gain practical experience in large-scale open-source AI software projects, such as ASReview.
• Engage in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary activities, including citizen science and co-design initiatives.
• A Master’s degree in Educational Design, Educational Science, or a related field with demonstrable interest and experience in education
  ;
• Affinity with AI and AI literacy;
• Interest to foster science-literacy and citizenship using AI-tools in the educational program that will be developed;
• Strong interest in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research;
• Strong critical thinking and reflection skills;
• Strong ability to collaborate and communicate in multi-disciplinary teams;
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a multi-stakeholder environment;
• Excellent communication skills and proficiency in…