Lecturer/ Senior Lecturer/ Reader in Foundational AI

Salary:

Grade 7, £40,497 - £45,413;

Grade 8, £49,559 - £57,422;

Grade 9, £59,139 - £66,537 per annum.

This post is full-time and is offered on an open-ended basis.

In areas throughout society, such as healthcare, finance, e-commerce, crime prevention, education, manufacturing and entertainment, algorithms, processes and systems are being built around the use of AI in order to make predictions, recommendations and decisions.  Yet often little is understood about the theoretical and foundational properties of these systems that may impact on our lives.

We are seeking applications from individuals whose research focuses on the formal analysis of such AI systems, with the aim of proving that these systems are responsible, unbiased, trustworthy, secure and robust against adversarial behaviour.  These proof techniques could include, but are not limited to, formal verification (including model checking, theorem proving and SMT solving), formal theories to understand AI optimisation, generalisation, and internal representations, and may involve proving properties about the underlying deep neural networks.

The successful applicant will be a member of the Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA) section, whose members are engaged in world-leading research on formal methods, programming language foundations and algorithms.  It is expected that the post-holder will collaborate closely with the Information, Data and Analysis (IDA) section, which includes four world-leading research groups in data systems, human-computer interaction & machine learning, information retrieval, and computer vision & autonomous systems, as well as with the GLAsgow Systems Section (GLASS), which includes expertise in cybersecurity and adversarial AI.  

Particular areas where collaboration would be welcomed are computer vision, information retrieval, natural language processing and inference, and cybersecurity.  There are also opportunities to collaborate with colleagues in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, where research on Foundational AI is being actively pursued.

Purely as a guide, candidates might typically have published in conferences such as ICML, NeurIPS, ICLR, CAV, CADE and AAAI, and in journals such as JMLR, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, TOCL and JAR.

The postholder will develop, lead and sustain research of international standard in Computing Science; contribute to teaching, assessment, project supervision and curriculum design at undergraduate and postgraduate levels; and participate in School management and organisation. We expect that the postholder will contribute to teaching for the BSc / MSci degree programme in Artificial Intelligence, which the School intends to introduce in September 2026.

For appointment at Reader you will have an outstanding track record of national and international distinction and leadership in research, including publications, income, and awards, bringing external recognition and distinction to yourself and the University.

For more information about this position, please contact:

Professor David Manlove (david.manlove@glasgow.ac.uk)

How to apply:

Please note that as part of your application you must supply the following documents appended to your cover letter.

A failure to do this may mean that you are not shortlisted for interview.

1. A point-by-point summary indicating how you meet the essential and desirable criteria listed in the job description. This must address and demonstrate how you meet EACH of the essential / desirable criteria, e.g., "A1: I graduated with a PhD in Computing Science, specialising in the area of X, from the University of Y in 2010."
2. A one-page research statement outlining your vision for research, together with a link to your Google scholar page.
3. A one-page teaching statement outlining what you think matters for teaching.

Closing date: 16^th May 2025

We believe that we can only reach our full potential through the talents of all. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values. Applications are particularly welcome from across our communities and in particular people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented within the University. Read more on how the University promotes and embeds all aspects of equality and diversity within our community www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity

We endorse the principles of Athena Swan

www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/athenaswan

and hold bronze, silver and gold awards across the University.

We are investing in our organisation, and we will invest in you too.

The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401.