Marguerite Barry

University College Dublin is advertising fully funded PhD studentships in a new multi-institutional, interdisciplinary national centre for data science and AI , funded by Research Ireland. The opportunity spans a broad set of research themes, including foundational methods , translational methods , data & processing , people-centred AI , democratic governance , society & culture , and health . Example projects include scalable and explainable algorithms for time series in health, generative AI for medical imaging, learning to predict answerability for abstention-aware RAG, automated data harmonization in federated healthcare systems, generative AI and climate change misinformation, hyperspersonalisation and filter bubbles in digital news ecosystems, privacy and trustworthy AI for distributed medical data-driven applications, advanced directional time series models, mitonuclear discordance in Parkinson's disease, and responsible human-AI interaction. Studentships are open to graduates from a wide range of backgrounds, including arts and humanities , business and education , computer science , engineering , health sciences , life science and environment , mathematics , statistics , and social science and law . Funding includes a €25,000/year stipend for four years (tax free), plus additional support for travel, training activities, and fees. The programme also offers cohort-based training, transferable skills development, workshops, reading groups, research seminars, and industry/public-service engagement. Applicants must submit a 2-page maximum research proposal with the application form and should indicate how the proposal aligns with one or more centre themes. Applicants are encouraged to contact potential supervisors to discuss ideas in advance. Under-represented groups are particularly encouraged to apply. Applications are made centrally via the online form. The post says applications are currently open and will close when all places are filled; interviews are provisionally scheduled for early June 2026. Relevant contacts mentioned include Derek Greene , Claire Gormley , Aphra Kerr , and Brian Mac Namee .

University College Dublin’s School of Information and Communication Studies (ICS) is inviting applications for one fully funded PhD on Hyper-Personalisation & Filter Bubbles in Digital News Ecosystems . The project is supervised by Assistant Professor Brendan Spillane and Associate Professor Marguerite Barry . It sits at the intersection of communication studies , journalism , human-computer interaction , computer science , and data science/AI . The research will examine how algorithmic curation, recommender systems, personalised feeds, and adaptive interfaces shape exposure to news, credibility judgments, selective exposure, bias reinforcement, and democratic discourse. The project description highlights a mixed-methods approach: computational analysis of personalised news feeds, experiments on user interaction with controlled news environments, and qualitative interviews/discourse analysis with consumers, journalists, and editors. The successful candidate will contribute to research on media pluralism, platform responsibility, and the design of news recommender systems. Funding: €25,000 stipend per year for 4 years, €5,750 per year toward fees, €4,500 for conference travel, €3,000 for equipment, €5,000 for materials, plus centrally held training funds for mandatory research-centre training. Eligibility: Applicants should hold a strong Master’s degree (2:1 or above, or equivalent GPA) in Computer Science, Information Science, Media and Communications, Journalism, Political Science, Psychology, International Relations, or a related field. Strong English proficiency is required; CEFR C1/C2 is advised. EU and non-EU students are equally eligible. Timeline: The intake is for September 2026. Applications close on 2026-06-22 . Shortlisted candidates are expected to interview in late June or early July, with decisions soon after. How to apply: Candidates should first apply through the national cohort route for the Research Ireland data science and AI centre, then submit the UCD application if invited. Interested applicants are encouraged to contact Brendan Spillane directly by email for further discussion.