Why ADAPT?

• Contribute to the ADAPT research agenda that pioneers and combines research in AI driven technologies: Natural Language Processing, Video/Text/Image/Speech processing, digital engagement & HCI, semantic modeling, personalisation, privacy & data governance. 
• Work with our interdisciplinary team of  leading experts from the complementary fields of, Social Sciences,  Communications, Commerce/Fintech, Ethics, Law,  Health, Environment and Sustainability.
• Leverage our success.  ADAPT’s researchers have signed 43 collaborative research projects, 52 licence agreements and oversee 16 active commercialisation funds and 52 commercialisation awards.  ADAPT has won 40 competitive EU research projects and obtained €18.5 million in non-exchequer non-commercial funding. Additionally, six spinout companies have been formed. ADAPT’s researchers have produced over 1,500 journal and conference publications and nearly 100 PhD students have been trained. 

As an ADAPT funded PhD researcher you will have access to a network of 85 global experts and over 250 staff as well as a wide multi-disciplinary ecosystem across 8 leading Irish universities. We can influence and inform your work, share our networks and collaborate with you to increase your impact, and accelerate your career opportunities. Specifically we offer: 

1. Opportunity to build your profile at international conferences and global events.
2. A solid career pathway through formalised training & development, expert one-on-one supervision and exposure to top specialists.
3. A Fully funded, 4 year PhD postgraduate studentship which includes  a stipend of (€18,500 per annum – non taxed), along with equipment, annual travel funding 
4. Funding for annual fees

Research Topic 

Data is commonly viewed as a valuable asset by several companies, leading researchers and practitioners to widely recognize the imperative for achieving and maintaining a high standard of data quality and value.

Several models and techniques have been proposed over the years to assess the value of data from various dimensions. However, none of these models consider dimensions that capture the toxicity of the data, its bias, or other ethical concerns.

As a large number of businesses/services regularly use AI/ML techniques to automate their decision-making processes, and due to the lack of assessment techniques that identify data toxicity and its proneness to yield biased and unethical AI/ML techniques, companies often leverage a posteriori AI Trustworthiness and Ethics assessment frameworks.

The aim of this project is to devise a framework for the assessment of data value that factors bias, ethical, and toxicity considerations prior to making the decision on using it to generate automated decision-making techniques. This research will be aligned with the EU guidelines and help promote trustworthy AI.

The successful candidate will work within a large group of Academics, Postdoctoral researchers, PhD students and Software Developers and will be part of the Transparent Digital Governance research strand of the ADAPT Centre under the supervision of Dr Malika Bendechache in the university of Galway.

As part of this studentship, the successful candidate  will have the opportunity to:

• Design and deploy new analytics techniques, algorithms and frameworks for assessing data value that takes into account bias, toxicity, and ethical issues. 
• Design of appropriate research methodology, evaluation and validation criteria for the proposed ideas and models;
• Enhance their reputation through publishing in top-quality journals and conferences in collaboration with team members;
• Nationally and internationally present and represent the groundbreaking research carried out by their and the research team;
• Contribute to short-term, focused industry projects with ADAPT.

On completion of the PhD program the candidate

• Will have demonstrated understanding of the problems related to Data Governance, particular data value and the ethics and trustworthy aspects of AI-enabled systems. Thus, mastering  the skills and methods of empirical research in this emerging fields;
• Will have demonstrated capabilities of defining, designing and implementing appropriate research methodologies with academic integrity and made substantial contribution that extends the knowledge in the field;
• Be able to communicate concepts and research outputs with their peers and the research community at large and with people outside the field. 

Informal Inquiries can be sent to Dr Malika Bendechache(malika.bendechache@adaptcentre.ie)

Eligibility Requirements

Minimum qualifications:

• 2.1 or higher primary degree in computer science or an aligned field
• English language requirements for non-native speakers of English is available here: https://www.universityofgalway.ie/international-students/studyinireland/entryrequirements/ 

Preferred qualifications:

• MSc or equivalent in computer science or an aligned field

Preferred Skills:

• Strong analytical skills and problem-solving skills;
• Practical knowledge of modern data management systems, data value,  data quality, data governance; AI Ethics, machine learning and data science tools and techniques.
• Experience doing  research in any topic;
• Academic publication track record; 
• Experience working on collaborative research with industry or other stakeholders; 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Application Process

• Cover Letter

  • A personal letter of motivation, indicating why you wish to conduct this research project offered by ADAPT, and why you expect that you will be able to complete the research successfully for example ; (500 words maximum)

• Detailed CV

  • Detailed curriculum vitae, including – if applicable – evidence of strong analytical skills; details of your final year undergraduate or MSc project; project code repositories; practical knowledge of knowledge graphs, natural language processing, data science; academic publication track record; experience working on collaborative research with industry or other stakeholders; excellent written and verbal communication skills; two academic references.

Diversity

ADAPT is committed to achieving better diversity and gender representation at all levels of the organisation, across leadership, academic, operations, research staff and studentship levels. ADAPT is committed to the continued development of employment policies, procedures and practices that promote gender equality. On that basis we encourage and welcome talented people from all backgrounds to join ADAPT.