Doctoral Researcher in Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning and Trustworthy AI University of Turku in Finland

Doctoral Researcher in Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning and Trustworthy AI at the University of Turku, Finland.

This full-time, fixed-term PhD opportunity is hosted by the Department of Computing at the Faculty of Technology and is embedded in a high-impact Horizon Europe project. The project addresses pressing challenges at the intersection of AI, cybersecurity, privacy, and regulatory compliance, including the EU AI Act and GDPR. The research focuses on building a decentralized, privacy-preserving, and explainable AI infrastructure for trustworthy AI ecosystems.

The successful doctoral researcher will work on topics such as federated learning, privacy-enhancing technologies (including differential privacy and secure aggregation), selective unlearning, explainable AI (XAI), system provenance, cryptographic fingerprinting, and proof of learning. The role includes designing self-learning bi-level federated learning frameworks, developing bias and explainability agents that generate human-readable justifications, and contributing to access control and model lifecycle integrity mechanisms.

This position is described as a fully funded doctoral researcher position in an internationally recognized and supportive research environment. The salary for doctoral/project researchers is typically around EUR 2,500–2,700 per month at the start of employment, depending on experience and skills. In some exceptional cases before the doctoral study right is obtained, the role may begin as a Project Researcher or Research Assistant.

Eligibility highlights: applicants are expected to have an MSc in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or Cybersecurity; a strong background in cybersecurity or machine learning/LLMs; familiarity with distributed computing, applied cryptography, or XAI; excellent English communication skills; and programming skills in Python, C++, or Rust. Applicants must also have, or be eligible to obtain, the right to pursue a doctoral degree at the University of Turku. In exceptional cases, candidates who have completed nearly all requirements for a relevant master’s degree may also be considered.

Application deadline: 16 September 2026 at 16:00 (Europe/Helsinki). Applicants should submit a motivation letter, a one-page research plan, CV, list of publications if available, degree certificates, and an English proficiency certificate if available.

Supervision/contact: Associate Professor Kaitai Liang is listed as the academic contact. The application process contact is HR Specialist Nina Reini.

Overall, this is a strong fit for candidates interested in privacy-preserving machine learning, trustworthy AI, cybersecurity, distributed systems, and explainable methods for secure and compliant AI deployment.