Digital Data Donation Infrastructure

Individuals generate a rich, diverse set of digital traces as they use digital platforms – such as Google, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, ChatGPT – in their daily lives. The Digital Data Donation Infrastructure (D3I) offers an infrastructure through which individuals can donate their digital traces for academic research in a secure, privacy-protecting and transparent manner. This infrastructure has been used by multiple research projects to answer questions as diverse as how social media influences the well-being of teenagers, the effects of exposure to political videos on YouTube, how parents share crucial information about their children with rare diseases on Facebook, or how different individuals use Netflix.

cAlibrate

Hundreds of millions of individuals now interact with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in the form of conversational agents such as ChatGPT. We know, however, little about how individuals use GenAI-agents in their personal lives, and even less about under which circumstances they trust these agents. Partnering with GenAI users willing to donate their interaction data to academic research, the project cAlibrate will investigate how individuals use – and calibrate their trust in GenAI across time and contexts of use.

In this combined position of postdoctoral researcher and research engineer, you will develop technical tools and infrastructures as well as do methodological research. In addition, you provide technical support to users of the Digital Data Donation Infrastructure. At the same time, using your methodological skills to analyse Gen AI interaction data and extend the data donation infrastructure to support experimental research, conducting experiments and interventions aimed at empowering users to calibrate their trust in GenAI.

Responsibilities for the Digital Donation Infrastructure: 

• Be the central point of contact for researchers across the Netherlands interested in conducting data donation studies, supporting and collaborating with research projects (e.g., to configure and deploy data donation workflows)

• Create, maintain and expand a library of scripts for conducting research across the most used digital platforms
• Maintain and expand the library of scripts that allow participants to visualize their data
• Serve as a point of contact for questions regarding security and Data Protection Impact Assessments for data conation studies
• Work together with the software development partner on the development and improvement of the data donation interface
• Ensure Open Science principles are applied to all data donation projects

Responsibilities for cAlibrate: 

• Analyse conversational & survey longitudinal data to understand the dynamics between trust and use of Generative AI
• Extend the data donation infrastructure to support tailored experiments and interventions based on individual digital trace data
• Collaborate on writing papers and conference presentations with the broader cAlibrate team

You are:

• Curious, creative, and interested in learning from different disciplines
• Resilient in the face of challenges that come
• Able to balance the demands of several tasks successfully
• Organized, flexible, and demonstrate attention to detail
• Able to work both independently and collaboratively. You are a team player but also have a proactive attitude

You have:

• A PhD in communication science, computation social science (or related disciplines) - or are expected to obtain it soon.
• Strong interest in methodological work, and demonstrated experience in quantitative methods, including natural language processing, automated content analysis and handling panel data
• Web development skills, including familiarity with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and/or TypeScript. Experience with frameworks such as React or Vue.js is desirable. Knowledge of a popular web framework is a plus.
• DevOps skills, including deploying applications, using automation tools, and working with command-line tools.
• Experience with Git
• Advanced skills in Python, with a willingness to learn a new language if the project demands it.
• Advanced analytical/statistical skills using R and Python
• Excellent proficiency in English

The planned starting date for this project is 1 April 2026 (to be negotiated). The position concerns temporary employment of 30,4 hours for a maximum term of 2 years including a probation period of two months. Depending on the candidate and needs of the department, a 0.2FTE teaching contract alongside this post-doctoral appointment can be discussed. You will have the opportunity to attend training courses and both national and international events. Depending on the specific needs from the Department of Communication Science, the contract may in some instances be extended to include teaching at the Graduate School of Communication or the College of Communication. This is determined after the interview process.

Your salary will range from €4,412 to €4,728 (scale 10.5 - 11.0) be based on your experience, full-time employment and in keeping with the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities. We additionally offer an extensive package of secondary benefits, including 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.3%.

The UvA offers excellent possibilities for further professional development and education.