PhD position: AI for legal text analytics

The Cognitive Science & Artificial Intelligence department in collaboration with the Department of Public Law & Governance  at Tilburg University invites applications for a fully-funded PhD position in the area of machine learning and text analytics. The position is part of the ICON project “Case-Inclusive Transparency for a Digital and Open Government (CITaDOG)” in collaboration with several universities and companies in the Netherlands (https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/about/digital-sciences-society/projects/case-inclusive-transparency). CITaDOG consists of a multidisciplinary team of researchers (law, public administration, computer science, artificial intelligence, social psychology) and is supported by different collaborating partners representing both the government and the citizen perspective. You will be one of the four PhD candidates within the research team. 
The PhD candidate will work on a project on the development of AI-based text analytics models for legal documents, led by Prof. Johan Wolswinkel and Dr. Samaneh Khoshrou. 
The project will combine ideas and methods from Natural Language Processing (NLP), eXplainable AI (XAI), and machine learning.  

Project description: 
Raising legal awareness and empowering citizens with a legal culture is one of the key aspects of sustainable development. However, due to huge volume and complexity of legal texts, legal awareness is hard to achieve and understanding legal text tends to become “riddles wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”. This project aims to revolutionize the accessibility and comprehension of legal texts using state-of-the-art NLP and XAI methods. The goal is to create a ”legal landscape” where legal decisions (i.e. several corpora of single-case decisions from Dutch administrative authorities) are presented in a manner comprehensible to legal professionals and the general public. The three challenges addressed in the project are:

• How to extract concise, clear, and expressive insight (e.g. representation, entity) from legal documents.
• How to identify homogeneous clusters of decisions made by authorities and represent them in an efficient, explainable, and transparent fashion.
• How to identify the ethical concerns of current decision making process using XAI-methods and fairness measures to promote a fair and responsible approach.

The position calls for an ambitious and enthusiastic researcher who has a passion for artificial intelligence and law.
A successful candidate has:

• MSc (or equivalent) degree in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science and Engineering or a closely related field by the time of the appointment.
• Strong interest in Artificial Intelligence, Natural language Processing, Explainable AI. A publication record in these fields is a plus.
• Strong programming skills (e.g. Python, PyTorch, Tensorflow)
• The ability to work individually as well as effectively in an interdisciplinary team;
• Excellent knowledge of English and good academic writing skills. 
• Fluency in Dutch is a plus.

What we offer 

• A full-time position. 
• The selected candidate will start with a contract for one year. Upon a positive outcome of the first-year evaluation, the candidate will be offered an employment contract for the remaining three years. 
• A minimum gross salary of € 2.770,- per month up to a maximum of € 3.539,- in the fourth year. 
• A holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% (annually). 
• Researchers from outside the Netherlands may qualify for a tax-free allowance equal to 30% of their taxable salary (the 30% tax regulation). The University will apply for such an allowance on their behalf. 
• Assistance in finding accommodation.
• Benefits such as an options model for terms and conditions of employment and reimbursement of moving expenses, also including excellent technical infrastructure, savings schemes and excellent sport facilities.  
• The collective labor agreement of the Dutch Universities applies. 

The departments and schools:
The candidate will be jointly affiliated with the Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence Department (https://csai.nl/) at the Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences and the Department of Public Law & Governance (PLG) at Tilburg Law School.
The CSAI department emphasizes innovative research spanning  a wide array of fields, including computational linguistics and language technology, data science, human-robot interaction, virtual reality and serious games. Tilburg University and the CSAI department offer a vibrant international environment, with current CSAI staff originating from more than 17 countries. 
Since its founding in 1963, Tilburg Law School has become one of the leading law schools in Europe. Through top research and the provision of high-quality university education, the School contributes to society. The Department of Public Law & Governance (PLG) is a unique collaboration of researchers in the fields of International Law, European law, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Public Administration, Legal Philosophy, Political Science, Legal History, and Jurisprudence. Collaboration within the Department is very much inspired by joint research interests.