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PhD Research Fellowship in Conflict Prediction, Early Warning and Explainable AI KU Leuven in Belgium
Degree Level
PhD
Field of study
Computer Science
Funding
The position provides a doctoral scholarship in line with KU Leuven standards and applicable funding conditions. It is full-time and initially appointed for one year, with a possible three-year extension after positive evaluation, for up to four years in total.
Deadline
Jan 4, 2027
Country
Belgium
University
KU Leuven
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About this position
KU Leuven is recruiting a doctoral researcher for COMPASS (Conflict Onset Monitoring through Predictive Analysis of Societal Stress), an interdisciplinary project developing an early warning system for monitoring, understanding and predicting societal trajectories, including conflict escalation and de-escalation.
The researcher will be based at the Centre for Research on Peace and Development (CRPD) within the Faculty of Social Sciences and will collaborate closely with the Augment research group in the Department of Computer Science. The project combines political and social science perspectives on violent conflict, peacebuilding, political instability and societal resilience with human-centred, transparent and explainable artificial intelligence.
The work will contribute to the conceptual and empirical development of approaches for identifying conditions associated with societal instability, mobilisation and violent conflict, as well as processes supporting de-escalation and sustainable peace. The project provides an opportunity to investigate how conflict research can be integrated with computational analysis, data-driven modelling and explainable AI for use by human analysts.
CRPD is a multidisciplinary and internationally oriented research environment bringing together expertise from political science, sociology, public management, anthropology and communication studies. Through collaboration with Augment, the successful candidate will work at the intersection of peace and conflict research, quantitative methods, data analysis, artificial intelligence and human-centred computational systems.
Funding details
The position provides a doctoral scholarship in line with KU Leuven standards and applicable funding conditions. It is full-time and initially appointed for one year, with a possible three-year extension after positive evaluation, for up to four years in total.
What's required
Applicants must hold a Master's degree in political science, international relations, sociology, development studies, peace and conflict studies, or a closely related discipline; an interdisciplinary background including data science or computer science is an asset. Applicants should have an excellent academic record with very strong Master's results, a strong interest in conflict, peace, political instability, social unrest or societal resilience, and preferably knowledge of conflict analysis or prediction. Strong quantitative research, statistical or econometric, data management and large-scale dataset analysis skills are required. Experience with machine learning, computational text analysis or large language models is an asset. Excellent written and oral English, independence, collaboration in an interdisciplinary international environment, and motivation for academic publication and conference dissemination are expected. The application must include a maximum two-page research statement addressing existing conflict prediction and early warning approaches, possible improvements such as generative AI, and methodological and ethical issues.
How to apply
Apply through the KU Leuven online application tool by 4 January 2027. Submit a cover letter, CV, maximum two-page research statement, Master's thesis, and full Bachelor's and Master's academic transcripts.
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Make your next move.
Prepare your application
Review drafts and confirm requirements with the university.