Change your career, change lives
The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education.
This role will be associated with the Centre for Protecting Women Online, which is funded by a £7.7 million grant from Research England. The Centre for Protecting Women online will be a vehicle for understanding and addressing challenges posed to women’s safety online through a novel, interdisciplinary and ambitious research agenda. This will be combined with cross-sectoral, collaborative outputs and interventions which inform law, policy, technology development and practice to reduce online harms suffered by women and girls; minimise anti-social behaviours online whilst promoting pro-social behaviours and help build tech/ software that helps ensure accountability, credibility and helps facilitate justice.
The role
We are looking for a dynamic person who would seek to play an active part in building the research culture in the centre.
We are seeking candidates who have a strong background in Large-scale data analytics (with particular interest on social media analytics), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Responsible AI with an interest in the intersection between technology, sociology, psychology, policy, and law.
The post holder will focus on research relating to Responsible AI, focusing on analysing online spaces and the effectiveness and dangers of existing technology and platforms on the protection of women online. We expect the successful candidate to conduct large-scale collection, aggregation, structuring and analysis of online data, to investigate the risks and opportunities of existing technology under a Responsible AI lens, and to work towards novel socio-technical solutions focused on protecting women online.
We welcome applicants from a range of backgrounds, including professionals from academia and industry. Applicants will be considered based on their track record in research and academic leadership. In line with our commitment to the Athena SWAN initiative and the Race Equality Charter, we welcome and support all applicants equally.
Skills and experience
1. PhD, or close to completion, in Computer Science or a relevant area
2. An existing track record of publications in a relevant area (commensurate with career stage)
3. Knowledge and familiarity with research on online environments, particularly social media
4. Solid theoretical foundation and practical experience with large-scale data analysis/statistics, machine learning, natural language processing, and responsible AI
5. Good programming skills applied to a variety of domains and technologies
6. A strong record of research and/or knowledge exchange that is commensurate to the position.
More information on the required skills and experience is provided via the