PhD Position Value-based assessment methods for AI systems

Challenge: Developing value-based assessment methods for AI systems.

Change: Driving validation of AI systems to ensure that only trustworthy models are used.

Impact: Enhancing police trustworthiness.
Job description

Validating models is a crucial step before decisions can be made about implementation and is important for continuous monitoring of systems in use. The challenge is, however, that validation needs to happen along a range of different values that are important for AI to possess at the police: accuracy, but also fairness, reliability, trustworthiness, and more need to be ensured.

As a PhD student at TU Delft, you will conduct impactful research on two key aspects in advancing the responsible use of AI within the police force.

First, you will investigate the standards and values surrounding AI usage, particularly concerning open models. This entails defining what criteria these models must meet, beyond common considerations like bias and fairness. You will delve into various aspects beyond these to ensure a comprehensive framework. Second, you will also design methods to systematically evaluate a range of models against these established standards and values. This contribution ensures the responsible deployment of AI within the police force and maximizes the efficiency of utilizing publicly available models.

Through these efforts, you will significantly contribute to fostering an ethical and accountable AI culture within the organization.

Your project is part of the Model-Driven Decisions Lab, a Police-TU Delft initiative, where you will join an interdisciplinary community of four fellow PhD students. Together, you will share knowledge to tackle AI-assisted decision-making from different perspectives. To foster close collaboration with the stakeholders and work on practical implementation, you will spend 20% of your time at the Netherlands Police. Given the ethical and moral facets of your research, you will also work closely with colleagues of the Technology, Policy, and Management faculty (TPM). Your home base will be the Web Information Systems research group at the Computer Science faculty (EEMCS). As an internationally diverse team of driven academics and students, we cultivate a welcoming and collaborative environment. We will give you all the support and training you need to evolve both personally and professionally.

• You hold an MSc in computer science, data science, or another relevant subject, with practical machine learning/artificial intelligence courses and relevant project and thesis experience.
  
• You have a keen interest in human-AI interaction and explainable AI and enjoy collaborating with experts in different disciplines.
  
• You thrive on conducting research geared to real-world application in the security domain and are intrinsically motivated to collaborate with the Netherlands Police.
  
• You harness your communication skills to work with different scientific and non-scientific stakeholders in different work cultures.
  
• You have a good command of written and spoken English, as you will be working in an international environment. Since you will be working with the Netherlands police, it is an advantage if you also have a good command of the Dutch language
  
  Doing a PhD at TU Delft requires English proficiency at a certain level to ensure that the candidate is able to communicate and interact well, participate in English-taught Doctoral Education courses, and write scientific articles and a final thesis.
  Conditions of employment
  Doctoral candidates will be offered a 5-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of two employment contracts. An initial 1,5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 3,5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met. The additional fifth year (compared to a standard 4 year PhD program) accommodates for the extra activities to get to know the police organisation and to secure the results in the police organisation.
  Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from € 2770 per month in the first year to € 3539 in the fourth year. In the 5th year, you will receive a temporary monthly allowance based on the gross difference between salary scale P, step 3 and salary scale 10, step 3.
  As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.
  The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.
  For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service. This service provides information for new international employees to help you prepare the relocation and to settle in the Netherlands. The Coming to Delft Service offers a Dual Career Programme for partners and they organise events to expand your (social) network.
  TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
  Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.
  At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.
  Challenge. Change. Impact
  Faculty Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
  The Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) brings together three scientific disciplines. Combined, they reinforce each other and are the driving force behind the technology we all use in our daily lives. Technology such as the electricity grid, which our faculty is helping to make completely sustainable and future-proof. At the same time, we are developing the chips and sensors of the future, whilst also setting the foundations for the software technologies to run on this new generation of equipment – which of course includes AI. Meanwhile we are pushing the limits of applied mathematics, for example mapping out disease processes using single cell data, and using mathematics to simulate gigantic ash plumes after a volcanic eruption. In other words: there is plenty of room at the faculty for ground-breaking research. We educate innovative engineers and have excellent labs and facilities that underline our strong international position. In total, more than 1000 employees and 4,000 students work and study in this innovative environment.