Project staff member (pre-doc)

https://www.wu.ac.at/karriere/arbeiten-an-der-wu/jobangebote

• Vienna University of Economics and Business

• IT

• Research, development, teaching

• Part time

• published till: 2025-09-03

You want to understand how things are connected and make a fundamental impact? We offer an environment where you can realize your full potential. At one of Europe’s largest and most modern business and economics universities. On a campus where quality of work is also quality of life. We are looking for support at the

Institute for Complex Networks
Part-time, 30 hours/week
Starting September 15, 2025, and ending after 4 years

We are seeking highly motivated and talented individuals to join our dynamic research team for combining symbolic and sub-symbolic AI. The successful candidates will conduct research at WU in collaboration with our partner institutes Johannes Kepler University Linz, AAU Klagenfurt, ISTA, TU Graz, and TU Vienna.

The vision of Bilateral AI is to educate a new generation of top-quality AI scientists with a holistic view on symbolic and sub-symbolic AI methods. Training and mentoring of young researchers is a central activity, which combines groundbreaking research work with an education program. The training will be distributed over the six participating institutions.

What to expect

• Research Life: PhD students will be trained within the Bilateral AI Doctoral School. Joint seminars, scientific workshops, and compulsory courses outside the PhD students’ research fields will also be designed to encourage interdisciplinarity.

• Build a personal network: Each student will be supervised by two experienced and internationally renowned professors with different research fields (symbolic / sub-symbolic AI). The training will also provide a career development program, advice and support for students with innovative business ideas, and workshops for presentation and soft skills.

• Supervision of students & Teaching: supervise Bachelor and Master students and gain teaching experience.

• Organizational and administrative support: Students will be involved in grant applications, conference organization, etc.

The proposed PhD project focuses on:

(i) investigating how legal and ethical principles be embedded into AI technologies;

(ii) providing legal and ethical foundations for AI technologies and systems, via policies and norms;

(iii) extracting information or knowledge from data, which can contain confidential or personal data from users, while ensuring that the protected data itself remains private;

(iv) extending the state of the art in terms of normative autonomous agents in general and autonomous web agents in particular. 

What you have to offer

• Academic degree: Applicants for the Ph.D. positions must have a master’s degree, which entitles them to enroll for a PhD program. Your respective degree is in one of the following subjects:

• Computer science

• Information systems

• Business informatics (or a related field of study)

• Research Skills: solid practical & theoretical foundations in at least one of the following topic areas:

• Data and algorithmic governance

• Knowledge representation & reasoning

• Data science

• Distributed systems and decentralized computing

• Semantic web

• Additional Skills: We expect excellent study results, technical knowledge of programming languages such as C++, Java or Python, structured data formats such as JSON, XML and RDF, and query languages such as SQL, SPARQL, or graph query languages,

• Language skills: You are fluent and able to express yourself very well in both spoken and written English.

Do you want to join the Institute for Complex Networks and the BILAI network? Then please submit your application. The following documents must be submitted (in English) by the call deadline:

1.    Letter of motivation (detailing previous research achievements, research goals, career plans);

2.    A complete CV, including a list of previous scientific expertise, awards, grants, stays abroad, attended lectures, attended summer schools, attended workshops, skills, and publications (if applicable);

3.    English abstract of the applicant’s MSc thesis, BSc thesis, or of a research project;

4.    Academic transcripts for both the applicant’s bachelor and their masters studies;

5.    Two academic recommendation letters;

6.    Proof of proficiency in English (usually TOEFL/IELTS/CAE).

By submitting your application, you agree with your application being shared also with members of the BILAI admission committee from other partner universities in the BILAI network.

We are looking forward to hearing from you! If you have any questions regarding the position or application documents prior to application, don’t hesitate to contact me for further information at Dr. Sabrina Kirrane sabrina.kirrane[at]wu.ac.at with the subject: "[BILAI Praedoc position]".

What we offer you

• Inspiring campus life with over 2,400 employees in research, teaching, and administration and approximately 21,500 students

• A modern campus with spectacular architecture in the heart of Vienna

• Excellent accessibility by public transportation

• Meaningful work in an open-minded, inclusive, and family-friendly environment

• Flexible working hours

• A wide range of benefits, from an in-house medical officer to athletic activities and a meal allowance to a variety of employee discounts

Curious? Visit our website and find out more at www.wu.ac.at/benefits

The minimum monthly gross salary amounts to €2,786.10 (14 times per year). This salary may be adjusted based on job-related prior work experience. In addition, we offer a wide range of attractive social benefits.

Do you want to join the WU team?
Then please submit your application by September 03, 2025 (ID 2524).
We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Apply now!