Postdoctoral Fellow

The Applied AI Institute in collaboration with CEIMIA and the Chaire de recherche sur l’IA et le numérique francophones seeks postdoctoral fellow in Cultural AI. The one-year postdoctoral fellowship joins a leading institute in Montreal, a global hub of AI, arts, and culture. Working in a bilingual environment, the fellow will animate research on the intersection of cultural diversity, responsible AI, discoverability, and algorithmic / AI recommendation.

Project Description:

Application deadline: October 20, 2024

Position start date: November 1, 2024

Expectations

The postdoctoral fellow has 60% autonomous research time and 40% responsibilities for a project on francophone music discoverability. As part of their responsibilities, the fellow will develop:

Literature reviews and facilitated discussions on discoverability in Music Recommender Systems and Ethics in Media automation.
Practical solutions for measuring discoverability of cultural content within recommender systems for the particular context of Québec’s cultural environment. (from a transparency and explainability perspective)
Interviews and policy analysis of trends including AI, discoverability, public service media, and cultural policy
Participate in interdisciplinary dialogue with key partners at CEIMIA, the Chair, and community partners in Montreal and Quebec.
Facilitate workshops including but not limited to concepts of culture, locality, public interest, discoverability, and commonality.
Production of a whitepaper on specific principles for AI cultural policy to promote francophone content in the Canadian musical discoverability
Advise and implement discoverability measures based on past research expertise (e.g. interviews, digital methods, social analytics, social media analytics, digital ethnography, big data analysis) in collaboration with the larger team of researchers and engineers.

Fellows will participate as an active researcher in the life of the Institute, CIEMIA, and the Chair.

Partners

Since its launch in 2021, the Applied AI Institute has grown to manage an annual budget of nearly 1.5 million dollars with a current team of seven full-time staff and six research assistants. The Institute represents approximately one hundred and fifty affiliate researchers from across all four of Concordia’s faculties, and over three hundred graduate students. The Applied AI Institute has a mission to deliver high-quality, interdisciplinary research that enhances AI responsible adoption and understand its social impacts. Our research management has participated in local, provincial, federal and international grant administration.

CEIMIA is an international non-profit organization that mobilizes expertise and resources to promote the development and responsible use of artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. One of CEIMIA’s role is to establish supportive connections between key players in the national and international AI ecosystems, while ensuring the adherence to ethical and responsible AI principles in all their projects.

The chaire de recherche sur l’IA et le numérique francophones brings together a dozen researchers from different universities and disciplines and more than thirty collaborators from the cultural, political and civil society spheres. Together, these driving forces seek to better conceive the inclusive development and use of AI and digital technology within a societý distinct in its language, culture, identity and institutions.

CEIMIA was created to play a leading role both nationally and internationally: as a catalyst for high value-added responsible AI projects, CEIMIA works towards the development and adoption of AI that benefits humanity, across borders. The organization has also been mandated to both strengthen the influence of Canadian and Quebec players in responsible AI internationally, and ensure that the interests and involvement of emerging and developing countries are taken into account in projects and discussions around AI governance. CEIMIA also supports the activities of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), which aims to develop applied AI projects aligned with the common priorities of OECD member countries.

Academic Qualifications Required

PhD in Science and Technology Studies, Critical Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Information Studies and design, or any other domain that engages critically with research, development and/or deployment of digital technologies.
An ability to work in a bilingual French/English research environment is an asset.

How to Apply

Please send your CV and cover letter to the Applied AI Institute at applied.ai@concordia.ca by October 20, 2024.

Application checklist

One to two (1-2) page research statement demonstrating fit with the program described above.
Current curriculum vitae demonstrating research excellence and a capacity for leadership in the domain
Two names for potential referees

Territorial Acknowledgement

Concordia University is located on unceded Indigenous lands. The Kanien’kehá:ka Nation is recognized as the custodians of the lands and waters on which we gather today. Tiohtià:ke/Montreal is historically known as a gathering place for many First Nations. Today, it is home to a diverse population of Indigenous and other peoples. We respect the continued connections with the past, present and future in our ongoing relationships with Indigenous and other peoples within the Montreal community.

Employment Equity

Concordia University is strongly committed to employment equity within its community, and to recruiting a diverse faculty and staff. The University encourages applications from all qualified candidates, including women, members of visible minorities, Indigenous persons, members of sexual minorities, persons with disabilities, and others who may contribute to diversification; candidates are invited to self-identify in their applications.

Accessibility

Concordia desires to increase diversity among its community members and we strive to make our recruitment processes as accessible as possible and provide accommodations as required for applicants. If you are contacted for an interview and anticipate needing accommodations during the process, please contact, in confidence, hr-employment@concordia.ca.