Fully Funded PhD Opportunity: Responsible AI for Safer Online Spaces for Women

The Centre for Protecting Women Online is now accepting functions for the totally funded PhD programme beginning in October 2025. This initiative goals to discover the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on girls’s security on-line, with a give attention to accountable innovation and moral AI improvement.

Programme Description

AI performs a big function in shaping on-line environments, however its application typically raises moral considerations. This PhD programme will study the design, deployment, and influence of AI applied sciences, with a particular give attention to gendered dangers and security. The analysis will:

• Investigate AI techniques resembling content material moderation algorithms and advice engines.
• Assess how these applied sciences could perpetuate biases or overlook gender-based on-line harms.
• Advocate for accountable and inclusive AI improvement to reinforce girls’s security in digital areas.

Key Research Areas

We invite proposals addressing (however not restricted to) the next themes:

• Analysis of AI’s gendered impacts – How AI applied sciences exacerbate or mitigate on-line harassment and violence.
• AI and on-line gendered violence – Evaluating how AI detects and addresses dangerous behaviors.
• AI in stopping violence – Investigating AI’s function in stopping dangerous content material creation and dissemination.
• Intersectional evaluation – Examining dangers confronted by numerous teams of ladies and women.
• Co-creative methodologies – Collaborating with stakeholders to design safer AI options.
• Design of accountable AI – Developing explainable AI strategies for on-line hurt detection.
• Guidelines for accountable AI – Creating coverage suggestions for moral AI deployment.

Candidate Requirements

We welcome candidates with:

• A Master’s diploma in AI, knowledge science, HCI, software program engineering, or associated fields.
• A robust curiosity in gender research and accountable AI improvement.
• Experience with qualitative and/or quantitative analysis strategies (most well-liked).
• Familiarity with feminist or intersectional analysis approaches (an asset).

Funding & Support

• Full-time, totally funded PhD studentship overlaying tuition charges and a stipend of approx. £19,237 every year for 36 months.
• Research coaching assist grant for fieldwork, conferences, and analysis bills.
• Access to a vibrant analysis neighborhood at The Open University and the Centre for Protecting Women Online.

About the Centre for Protecting Women Online

Funded by £7.7 million from Research England, the Centre is devoted to:

• Reducing on-line harms affecting girls and women.
• Influencing regulation, coverage, and know-how improvement.
• Promoting accountability and justice in digital areas.
• Bridging interdisciplinary analysis throughout AI, regulation, and social sciences.

Successful candidates might be based mostly on the Open University throughout the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM), below the Human Behaviour Stream of the Centre.

How to Apply

Application Deadline: Friday, 28 March 2025, 09:00 (GMT)

Required Documents:

1. Research Proposal (1,000–2,000 phrases) demonstrating your data, methodology, and strategy.
2. Covering Letter explaining your suitability for the mission.
3. Completed Application Form.
4. Degree Certificates & Transcripts.
5. IELTS Certificate (if relevant; minimal general 6.5, minimal 6.0 in every part).

Submission:

Send all paperwork to protecting-women-online@open.ac.uk by the deadline.

Selection Process:

• Shortlisted candidates might be invited for an interview, together with a 10-minute presentation on their proposal adopted by a Q&A session (45 minutes).
• Interviews might be performed in particular person or by way of videoconference.

For queries, contact: protecting-women-online@open.ac.uk
To Learn extra, please go to here.

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