PhD DECIDE Project – Democratizing AI

Psychological sciences » Behavioural sciences

Sociology » Societal behaviour

Organisation/Company Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) Research Field Communication sciences » Media studies Psychological sciences » Behavioural sciences Sociology » Societal behaviour Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Final date to receive applications 14 Mar 2026 - 22:59 (UTC) Country Netherlands Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Not Applicable Hours Per Week 36.0 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

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping how decisions are made, often creating a power imbalance between large institutions and individual citizens. How can we flip the script? How can we use AI not to monitor citizens, but to empower them?
We are looking for a highly motivated PhD candidate to conduct a PhD research in the context of the DECIDE Project – Democratizing AI:
Empowering Citizens through Transparent Decision-making, a large-scale, NWO-funded research initiative under the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA).
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 (10 research teams), 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.
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.

Job description
The successful candidate will be based at the Department of Media and Communication of the ESHCC and will carry out the following tasks:
Research (0.85 fte)
The PhD candidate will lead the research project CES3 as part of the DECIDE project:
Citizen Engagement & decision making in managing social issues using AI
. In this project, you will investigate how transparent AI tools can help citizens navigate complex societal issues. You will research about the design and evaluate AI systems developed by the technical team that help citizens access complex scientific data to make informed, autonomous decisions for their communities.
Your core responsibilities will include:

• Conducting Field Research:
  Organizing focus groups and interviews with citizens and city council members (gemeenteraadsleden) to understand the barriers they face in decision-making using AI.
• Participatory Design Workshop:
  Leading participatory design workshops where citizens help define what a "trustworthy" AI tool looks like.
• Conducting AI system testing and evaluation:
  Running field experiments to test the effectiveness of the AI decision making systems developed from other work package.
• Collaboration and Coordination:
  Working effectively with an interdisciplinary consortium (WP2–WP7), including technical developers, municipalities, and NGOs.
• Publishing and presentation:
  • Writing reports as part of the deliverables of the DECIDE project;
  • Engaging in and presenting during consortium meetings (note that regular travelling is
  thus required);
  • Publishing and presenting research results in the form of academic journal papers as well as policy reports and presentations for the DECIDE project;
• A Ph.D. Dissertation:
  Completing a Ph.D. dissertation with published articles within the project duration.

Teaching (0.15 fte)
Performing junior teaching tasks in the BA or MA degree programmes in the field of Media and Communication provided by ESHCC, primarily…