Postdoc in cognitive science with a focus on children and AI

Work assignments 

The postdoc project will investigate how children of different age groups perceive and experience different types of interactive artificial intelligence (AI), such as chatbots and social robots, as well as how children’s understanding of AI develops over time.

The postdoc project is part of the recently established multi-site research group Child Development in the Age of AI and Social Robots, which involves several Swedish universities and is funded by WASP-HS (https://wasp-hs.org/).

The Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society (WASP-HS) is a national research program in Sweden. The vision of WASP-HS is to foster novel interdisciplinary knowledge in the humanities and social sciences about AI and autonomous systems and their impact on human and social development. WASP-HS enables cutting edge research, expertise, and competence building in the humanities and social sciences.

The research group on Child Development in the Age of AI and Social Robots will identify and address major emerging developmental challenges for children in the AI era, in terms of both how children interact with AI agents and social robots, and how such interactions are shaped by, and shape, socio-cultural factors and practices. The research group aims to (1) understand individual and social consequences of children’s interaction with AI systems, and (2) explore new opportunities to promote development of children’s AI literacy, social, cognitive and emotional skills, wellbeing, and values that meet future societal needs.

This is a highly interdisciplinary project, and the postdoc based at Linköping University (working with Tom Ziemke) will also collaborate with other Principal Investigators involved in the research group with expertise in human-robot interaction, developmental psychology and cognitive science at Uppsala University (Ginevra Castellano, Gustaf Gredebäck), KTH (Olov Engwall), Umeå University (Helena Lindgren), Lund University (Valentina Fantasia), other recruited postdocs, as well as interact with a broader set of participating researchers in Swedish and international universities.

As a postdoc, you will mainly carry out research. A certain amount of teaching may be part of your duties, up to a maximum of 20% of working hours.

Qualifications

To be qualified to take employment as postdoc, you must have been awarded a doctoral degree or have a foreign degree that is deemed to be equivalent to a doctoral degree.  This degree must have been awarded at the latest by the point at which LiU makes its decision to employ you.

It is considered advantageous if your doctoral degree is no older than three years at application deadline for this job. If there are special reasons for having an older doctoral degree – such as taking statutory leave – then these may be taken into consideration.

We are looking for someone with a doctoral degree in cognitive science, psychology, or other social science and humanities subjects relevant to children’s interaction with AI. Ideally, candidates should have research experience relating to human-computer or human-robot interaction — research experience relating to children’s interaction with digital technologies is particularly relevant.

We are looking for candidates with:

• a strong interest in interdisciplinary research and relevant research experience,
• good communication skills with sufficient proficiency in oral and written English,
• excellent publications and other outputs, and
• personal characteristics such as a high level of creativity, thoroughness, and/or a structured approach to problem-solving.

The workplace

The Department of Computer and Information Science was founded in 1983 but its roots go back to the early 1970s. It is one of the largest computer science departments in northern Europe. Our research covers a broad spectrum of fields, from core to applied computer sciences. Its vast scope also benefits our undergraduate and graduate programmes, and we now teach courses in several engineering programmes at bachelor’s and master’s levels, as well as the programmes in statistics, cognitive science and innovative programming. Read more at https://liu.se/ida.

The postdoc will join Linköping University’s Cognition & Interaction Lab (COIN), which consists of about 20 people doing research at the intersection of cognitive-science and human-machine interaction, in particular human-robot interaction and human factors psychology. COIN is part of the Human-Centered Systems division, which carries out research and education at all levels in cognitive science, design, and computer science.

The employment

This employment is a temporary contract of two years with the possibility of extension up to a total maximum of three years. The employment is full-time.

Starting date by agreement.

Salary and employment benefits

The university applies individual salaries.

More information about employee benefits is available here.

Union representatives

Information about union representatives, see Help for applicants.

Application procedure

Apply for the position by clicking the “Apply” button. Your application must be received no later than April 15, 2026. 
 
Applications and documents received after the date above will not be considered. 
 
Please attach your selected research publications electronically, in pdf or word format, in the application template. Research publications, e.g. monographs, which cannot be sent electronically should be sent in three sets by mail to the University Registrar at Linköping University, University Registrar, S-581 83 Linköping, Sweden. The publications must be received by Linköping University no later than the deadline for application. 

Please note that printed publications will not be returned. They will be archived at Linköping University. 
 
In the event of a discrepancy between the English translation of the job announcement and the Swedish original, the Swedish version shall take precedent.