FRI, Research Fellow in Artificial Intelligence for Digital Humanities_B

Open Call for Postdoctoral Position in CoE AI4DH

Research Fellow in Artificial Intelligence for Digital Humanities

• We are opening a postdoctoral position in the European Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for Digital Humanities (AI4DH). The centre is funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme (ERA Chairs) at the University of Ljubljana (UL).
• At the heart of the vibrant European capital city of Ljubljana, close to both the Alps and the Mediterranean, the European Centre of Excellence in AI4DH aims to
• Develop top-level AI research that benefits social science and humanities research.
• Provide support and services to improve AI literacy among social science and humanities (SSH) scholars, and help them develop projects and project applications, notably within Horizon Europe.
• Develop related training and teaching in AI4DH.

Work assignments:

• In combination to research (the majority of your time), you will be expected to provide support for DH scholars around your area of expertise. You will be welcome to teach (optionally, for an additional fee).
• We particularly seek candidates with demonstrated interdisciplinary experience or experience within the scope of digital humanities, including a background in social science and humanities (SSH) and/or computer science (CS), and in either case, strong technical experience. The ability to discuss and collaborate with experts from several disciplines will be essential.

Detailed description of work assignments:

• Independent state-of the art interdisciplinary research in the areas of artificial intelligence for digital humanities, such as natural language processing tools for historical newspaper analysis, producing semantic data and evaluation datasets from lexical resources, injecting knowledge into large language models, notably for digital humanities, data-driven folkloristics, explanation of generative large language models, social science analyses of news media in less-resourced languages 
• Publishing your research in high-quality journals and collaboration
• Support for DH scholars around your area of expertise
• Problem solving, discussions, and collaborations with experts from several disciplines
• Preparing project applications at the intersection of AI and DH
• Participation in science communication, dissemination, and exploitation
• The research work can, for instance, focus on one or more of the following areas:
• Natural language processing tools for historical newspaper analysis
• Comparative analysis of historical newspaper collections
• Producing semantics data and evaluation datasets from lexical resources
• Injecting knowledge into large language models, notably for digital humanities
• AI Infrastructure for data-driven folkloristics
• Explanation of generative large language models
• Tools for social science analyses of news media in less-resourced languages
• Other topics of your suggestion

Location:

The work will take place at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Computer and Information Science.  The faculty hosts over 150 researchers working in different areas of AI (such as machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and bioinformatics), hosting powerful computing facilities internally and as part of EU EuroHPC supercomputer Vega 2 and Slovene AI Factory.  Within the European Centre of Excellence in AI4DH, you will work closely with an international and interdisciplinary group of researchers from several UL Faculties (notably, from the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Social Sciences).

We offer:

• flexible working hours,
• funds for purchasing equipment,
• attending international events, such as conferences,
• a modern working environment,
• a parking space,
• great colleagues who are ready to help you when you need it,
• recreation at the workplace and apples,
• regular performance-based bonus (2 times per year),
• constructively solving challenges in professional dialogue and in team spirit,
• a chat over coffee with the faculty management,
• effective information provision at the workplace,
• participation in interesting, globally relevant scientific projects,
• cooperation with technologically advanced companies and the possibility of part-time/additional employment.

Start date: from 1 October 2025 (or a later date, upon agreement) to 31 October 2029

Context: European Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for Digital Humanities (AI4DH), EU-funded, https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101186647

Contacts:  Antoine.Doucet@fri.uni-lj.si , Marko.Robnik@fri.uni-lj.si

Information sessions (short presentation and Q&A) will be held on 26 June at 2 pm CEST and 30 June 10:30am CEST. Registrations for the information session should be made by sending an email to Antoine.Doucet@fri.uni-lj.si

Eligibility and requirements:

• PhD in computer science, social sciences or humanities, with a strong technical background
• Proven interdisciplinary experience and interest in digital humanities, in particular around the research areas listed above (e.g., computational linguistics, digital history, computational literary studies or related fields).
• Fluency in written and spoken English
• Proven record of high-level publications

Tentative timeline of the call:

Application deadline: 24 July 2025, midnight CEST

Interviews for selected candidates and final ranking: end of August, early September 2025

Start date: from 1 October 2025, upon agreement

Documents required for applying:

• AI4DH application form with research proposal (available here)
• Motivation letter, following the provided template (available here)
• An academic CV, following the provided template (available here)
• Original Ph.D. certificate in English, or in the original language with (non-certified) English translation
• Optionally:
• up to 3 recommendation letters from senior researchers familiar with the applicant’s academic work.
• other material considered relevant by the candidate

Where to apply

All documents should be submitted by email in PDF format to kadrovska@fri.uni-lj.si with antoine.doucet@fri.uni-lj.si in CC,  strictly with the subject line "AI4DH postdoc application Name Surname".

The University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Computer and Information Science (UL FRI), reserves the right, in accordance with the principle of contractual freedom under Article 24 of the Employment Relationships Act (ZDR-1), not to select a candidate even if they meet the stated requirements. UL FRI also reserves the right not to fill all advertised positions.