Postdoctoral Fellowship in Human-Centered AI, Health, and Participatory Design at University of Ottawa

The Com&Tech Innovations Lab (CTI-Lab) at the University of Ottawa is offering a CIHR-funded postdoctoral fellowship for the PD-TIPS.AI project, which focuses on co-designing AI-driven bilingual (French/English) technologies to support self-care for individuals living with Parkinson’s Disease. The project aims to develop an AI-powered conversational recommender system capable of delivering personalized, reliable, and accessible care tips and resources, addressing the evolving medical, psychosocial, and contextual needs of patients. The research is grounded in participatory design, involving patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals, and combines qualitative and quantitative methods, including co-design workshops, focus groups, usability studies, and user experience analysis. Advanced AI techniques, such as large language models and clinically validated knowledge bases, are integrated into the project. The postdoctoral researcher will be affiliated with the CTI-Lab and the International Francophonic Research Chair on Digital Health Technologies at the University of Ottawa. The fellow will play an active role in project coordination, system co-design, data collection, qualitative analysis, and dissemination of research findings through peer-reviewed publications and knowledge mobilization activities. Applicants must have a completed PhD in a relevant field (e.g., Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, Science & Technology Studies), strong expertise in participatory design or Human-Centered AI, and experience in user-centered research. Additional assets include experience with large language models, conversational recommender systems, graph databases, medical ontologies, and co-design projects with patient partners. Proficiency in English or French is required, with both languages being an advantage. The position is fully funded for 12 months, starting September 2026, and is based in Ottawa, Canada. Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, CV, two letters of recommendation, and a writing sample as a single PDF to Prof. Sylvie Grosjean at [email protected] by April 1, 2026. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.