Post-doc opportunity Big Data

Post-Doc opportunity (2 years)

The Department of Psychology, Education and Child Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Multimedia Computing Group at Delft University of Technology are seeking a post-doc researcher to apply within the competitive ‘LEaDing Fellows Postdoc Programme’ for a 2-year project on Big Data in Psychological Assessment.

Computer-assisted decision making, such as via hiring algorithms, is rapidly taking over the recruitment and selection process. Data scientists and organizations claim they can do a better job in recruitment and selection than traditional psychologists trained as personnel selection experts. Next to this, debates are held on whether it is necessary to assess classic knowledge, traits and skills typically measured by psychological tests and assessment centres, or whether more implicit patterns, algorithmically inferred from ‘rawer’ large-scale digital data (e.g. written texts , recorded videos or speech of job candidates), can yield equivalent or better results at higher scalability. Proponents of automated digital selection methods argue that using artificial intelligence could lead to more diversity and empathetic workplaces, because it helps to sidestep pitfalls typically associated with human decision making. At the same time, caution is warranted because algorithms are based on (human) input. If the input is biased to begin with, machines learn to include all these biases, resulting in an actual increase in social inequalities, which still are prevalent on the Western labour market.

Rather than considering classical and digital ways of assessment as irreconcilable opposites, a more realistic question is to what extent the strengths of both approaches can be combined to achieve fair and comprehensive selection and assessment. This is the problem to be addressed in this post doc project, which will require the combination of knowledge from computer science and psychology.

The content of the post-doc project is related to the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership programme on Big Data in Psychological Assessment, recently funded by the EU (www.bdpa.eu), in which Erasmus University Rotterdam and Delft University of Technology both participate.
The post doc position is available as part of the 2nd call of the ‘LEaDing Fellows Postdoc Programme’. This competitive programme will provide 90 researchers from all over the world who recently obtained a PhD, with the opportunity to gain two years of work experience in the challenging, internationally acclaimed and multidisciplinary environment offered by Leiden University, Delft University of Technology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Leiden University Medical Center and Erasmus Medical Center. 'LEaDing Fellows' is a Marie Curie COFUND programme.

Requirements and eligibility criteria:
- A recent PhD-degree in Psychology (e.g., Organisational/Social/Cognitive Psychology) or Data Science. Applicant should have obtained their PhD before the recruitment date and less than 60 months prior to the recruitment date. This application window can be extended with 6 months for pregnancy (per child), parental leave (max. 6 months per child), training for medical specialists (3 years) or compulsory and reserve military service (actual time). Evidencing documentation must be added to the application as an annex.
For the current call, the recruitment date is set on the 1st of July 2018.
- For candidates with a Data Science background, experience with multimedia content analysis and/or social data analysis is a pre.
- For candidates with a Psychology background, programming skills are an asset
- Strong research skills, as shown in peer-reviewed publications
- Interest and willingness to work in an inter-disciplinary environment, and engage with active research in both Psychology and Data Science.
- Applicants may not have spent more than 12 months in the Netherlands in the 3 years immediately prior to the recruitment date.

Interested applicants can send their resume and motivation letter until 17 December 2017 to dr. Annemarie Hiemstra (hiemstra@essb.eur.nl). Upon discussion with the involved researchers, promising candidates will be invited to apply individually for the LEaDing Fellows Postdoc Programme by 10 January 2018.

LEaDing Fellows is a competitive programme: Approval by the involved researchers does not guarantee admission to the programme.

For more information on the post-doc position please contact dr. Annemarie Hiemstra at Erasmus University Rotterdam or dr. Cynthia Liem at Delft University of Technology (C.C.S.Liem@tudelft.nl).

More information on the LEaDing Fellows Postdoc Programme is available on http://leadingfellows.eu/