Data2Action: is the MSCA Doctoral Training Network programme uniting social innovation with data science & AI for common good. Data2Action exists to make emerging technology work harder for humanity, enabling us to co-create a healthier, fairer and more sustainable world for all.

Read more about Data2Action here

Doctoral Candidate Research Project

The main objective of the research project of the doctoral candidate is to develop AI-driven tools designed to support political participation and democratic engagement through enhanced transparency and accessibility of political information. The goal is to use data such as parliamentary sessions, voting records, and legislative documents to answer users’ questions about members of parliament and their parties. These include straightforward factual responses (e.g., voting positions of members of parliament on legislation on specific topic) and more complex analytical responses (e.g., summaries of parties’ arguments and positions).

To achieve this, the fellow will:

1) Identify key questions citizens and organizations frequently have about parliamentary actions and legislative processes. This will be done in close collaboration with a non-governmental organisation Danes je nov dan (DJND) and other partners of the consortium.

2) Use existing data extracted from transcripts of the Slovenian parliamentary sessions to train and evaluate AI models (e.g., embeddings, transformers) that can automatically generate responses to user queries.

3) Engage stakeholders through interviews, informal debates, and focus groups to ensure the AI tools developed are trustworthy, understandable, and aligned with users’ needs and expectations. This will also include implementing and testing techniques for AI explainability and bias reduction using tools such as IBM’s AIF360 library, ensuring transparency in how information is produced and presented.

4) Develop practical guidelines and methodological recommendations for building AI systems aimed at enhancing political participation in a trusted, socially responsible manner.

Additionally, the doctoral candidate will complete two secondments at partner organizations: at DJND to learn about their tool, Parlameter, the data they have collected, and their possible use, and at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) to deepen expertise on explainability and trustworthy AI.

The Doctoral Candidate will be expected to:

• Report on findings by publishing scientific articles, resulting in a PhD dissertation;
• Present findings at (inter)national meetings/conferences;
• Contribute to the wider work of the Data2Action project
• Contribute to educational activities of the department and within the consortium.

Requirements

Essential:

• Eligible applicants must possess or be finalising a Master’s degree or an equivalent degree in a relevant discipline for Data2Action, especially computer science, artificial intelligence, ICT engineering, digital humanities, computational social science, quantitative (political) science.
• Excellent English language proficiency
• Competencies: Open-minded, self-aware, collaborative, critical thinker, team player, strong communicator.
• High interest in the topics of social innovation and participation in democratic processes as the key concepts of the PhD project
• Applicants must be available full-time to start the program in September 2025.

Desirable:

• Prior experience in natural language processing or machine learning or programming
• Prior experience in academic writing or scientific publications
• Prior practical or research experience with social innovation and/or the public sector and/or artificial intelligence

Eligibility Conditions:

• Applicants do not already hold a doctoral degree.
• Applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of recruitment for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the recruitment date. Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays, and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account.

Application Deadline:

Sunday 18th May 2025

We Offer:

The MSCA programme offers competitive and attractive working conditions. You will have an employment contract from the recruiting beneficiary. You will benefit from a competitive salary, annual leave, social security coverage. For more information see EU MSCA website .

Selection process

Our selection procedure is open, transparent, merit-based, impartial, and equitable, in line with the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers ( link ).

Additional Comments

For more information about this position, you can contact Prof Mitja Luštrek ( [email protected] ).

We are hosting two information sessions on Tuesday 29th April 2025, for those interested in applying for a PhD fellow position with Data2Action. The session will start with a 15-minute presentation and then there will be a Q&A. We are running two sessions to ensure maximum global reach. Both sessions will be the same, so you should only attend one. Sign up here:

Tuesday 29th April 2025, 10am UK time – sign up here

Tuesday 29th April 2025, 6pm UK time - sign up here