Postdoctoral Fellow (Canada/SSHRC): Implications of AI for the Science and Research Ecosystem

Full Description

The Eysenbach Lab at the School of Health Information Science at the University of Victoria in BC, Canada, in collaboration with the Centre for Innovation and AI in Scholarly Communication in Toronto, Canada and JMIR Publications is offering a unique mentorship opportunity for a

Postdoctoral Fellowship (2 years, $140k CAD)

in the area of

Implications of AI for the Science and Research EcosystemThis is an international unique funding opportunity for Early Career Researchers (recent PhD graduates) in Canada, which also includes a 1-2 week summer school in the US.

These awards are intended to allow fellows protected time to concentrate fully on their research or innovation, training and development.

In most cases a fellow is expected to spend 100% of their working time on their fellowship (which includes all activities associated with the fellowship).

What we are looking for

This is a postdoctoral fellowship program for grants of up to $140,000 CAD over 2 years to support early career researchers in the social sciences and humanities (with particular emphasis on metascience) who are interested in building a career in understanding the implications of AI for the science and research ecosystem.

AI (currently understood as a set of technologies including machine learning, deep learning, and foundation models) could accelerate scientific discovery, whether through narrow applications like DeepMind’s AlphaFold, or general applications such as advances in AI-enabled lab robotics, evidence synthesis, or statistical inference.

There are many practical and technical challenges to solve before society has fully-fledged autonomous ‘AI scientists’.

Nevertheless, it seems inevitable that over the coming years public and private R&D funders will make significant investments both to diffuse and adopt AI technologies, and to solve technical challenges, in the direction of a more heavily AI-mediated research.

This program will support a cohort of postdoctoral researchers to deepen their understanding of AI technology and pursue career paths which evaluate the phenomenon of AI-mediated science and guide its pursuit, covering one or more of the following objectives:

a) building our understanding of how the growing adoption of AI is changing the research landscape and the day-to-day work of researchers;

b) building our understanding of the epistemic, metascientific, ethical and/or socioeconomic implications of these changes; and

c) building understanding of how governments, industry (including publishers!), and/or funding organizations should respond to improve our research landscape.

The following are some indicative examples of topic areas of interest:

• The impact of AI on the topics and methods of scientific research, and how this varies across disciplines

• AI and the pace of scientific progress

• Explainability and alignment in scientific AI

• The skills and training implications of scientific AI

• The role of humans in AI-driven science

• Epistemic and ethical considerations concerning the application of AI in the production of research outputs and the assessment of research

• role of publishers and researchers in an ecosystem where papers are cowritten by AI, peer-reviewed by AI, and updated by AI

This program will not fund fellows whose primary research focus is the direct development of scientific AI tools.

However, given the rapidly evolving landscape of AI technology and the importance of understanding its actual nature when practically engaging with the topics above, applicants are strongly encouraged to identify research organizations and/or industry-based opportunities for technical training and mentorship (either at the host institution or elsewhere) and note these in their application.

This program aims to support researchers uniquely interested in AI’s impact on science and the research ecosystem, rather than general AI ethics, safety and society-related topics.

Topics that might be considered too general include broad examinations of data and algorithmic bias; AI-generated disinformation; dual use of AI tech; environmental costs of AI; or applications of AI to other industries like clinical medicine, law or fintech rather than to the activities uniquely undertaken in scientific research.

Eligibility

• resident of and allowed to work in Canada

• PhD or equivalent, preferably in social sciences including information science

• can be considered early career researcher or "emerging scholar", ie no more than 6 years since graduation (career interruptions like family reasons or sickness can be argued as exception) (https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/programs-programmes/definitions-eng.aspx#a12)

• does not have a current mentor (or if so, wants to switch mentor or collaborate with existing mentor)

Application

Please enclose 1 -page project proposal with your application.

Or contact the proposed mentor Prof Gunther Eysenbach for Canadian applicants on Linkedin at http://www.linkedin.com/in/gunthereysenbach with a summary of the proposed project and your qualifications.

Deadline to apply: March 12, 2025