Postdoctoral Researcher in Philosophy of Science

ABOUT GHENT UNIVERSITY

Ghent University is a world of its own. Employing more than 15,000 people, it is actively involved in education and research, management and administration, as well as technical and social service provision on a daily basis. It is one of the largest, most exciting employers in the area and offers great career opportunities. With its 11 faculties and more than 80 departments offering state-of-the-art study programmes grounded in research in a wide range of academic fields, Ghent University is a logical choice for its staff and students.

YOUR TASKS

• Your research is situated in the EU-funded Horizon Europe project EOSC-ARENA (AI Research Enhancement through Networked Agents), funded under the European Commission’s GenAI4EU initiative. The overall aim of EOSC-ARENA is to develop a sovereign, generative and agentic AI environment for scientific researchers, integrated with the European Open Science Cloud.
• You aid the principal investigators in their research on the impact of AI by bringing in your first-hand experience with the use of LLM harnesses and workflows aimed to advance scientific knowledge production.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• You hold a thesis-based doctorate.
• You combine a philosophical understanding of large language models and agentic AI with direct practical experience in engineering, deploying and applying these systems to scientific research. Your cover letter should provide concrete examples and verifiable results about this.
• You have advanced insight into the functioning of large language models, as evidenced by relevant academic publications. Ideally, you can document connections between your AI expertise and scientific fields such as mathematics, physics or theoretical biology.

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

• We offer you a contract of definite duration for a period of 6 months.
• Your contract will start on 1 december 2026 at the earliest.
• Your remuneration will be determined by salary scale PD1 to PD4.  Click here for more information about our salary scales.
• All Ghent University staff members enjoy a number of benefits, such as a wide range of training and education opportunities, 36 days of holiday leave (on an annual basis for a full-time job) supplemented by annual fixed bridge days, bicycle allowance and eco vouchers. Click here for a complete overview of all the staff benefits.

INTERESTED?

Apply online through the e-recruitment system before the application deadline (see above). We do not accept late applications or applications that are not submitted through the online system.

Your application must include the following documents:

• In the field ‘CV’: your CV.
• In the field ‘Cover letter’: your application letter in pdf format
• In the field ‘Diploma’: a transcript of the required degree (if already in your possession). If you have a foreign diploma in a language other than our national languages (Dutch, French or German) or English, please add a translation in one of the mentioned languages.
• In the field “other documents”: optional.

Note that the maximum file size for each field is 10 MB.

As Ghent University maintains an equal opportunities and diversity policy, everyone is encouraged to apply for this position.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about this vacancy, please contact Prof. Erik Weber ([email protected]). Important: do NOT send your application by email, but apply online.

Do you have a question regarding the online application process? Please read the FAQ or contact us via [email protected].