PhD Student in Philosophy

PhD Student in Philosophy in SNSF-Project M-Rational 80 %

Start of employment October 1, 2025, temporary

see also the UZH-Webpage

We invite you to apply for a three-year funded PhD position in philosophy whose research output will be directly relevant to building the next generation of neuro-symbolic reasoning AI. As a PhD student you will contribute to the research project «Reconceiving and Improving Multi-Perspectivality and Rationality in Argumentative AI (M-Rational)» funded by the SNSF at the University of Zurich's Digital Society Initiative (DSI) under the supervision of Dr. Reto Gubelmann. The main philosophical reference point will be inferentialism, especially as developed by Robert Brandom. The Digital Society Initiative (DSI) aims to shape the digital transformation of science and society and thus to strengthen Zurich as a center of research and business.

• Conducting research in the Context of WP 1 of Project M-Rational
• Writing a doctoral dissertation
• Collaborating within an interdisciplinary team to push the limits of reasoning AI
• Participating in scientific conferences and public outreach activities
• Supporting the PI in managing the project, organizing conferences and preparation of research proposals to national and international funding agencies

Excellent MA in Philosophy, preferably with an emphasis on inferentialism, and in combination with a Computer Science minor or similar

lease submit your application by the 1st of July 2025. Your application should include:

• your CV,
• motivation letter (specify your research interests and how they relate to the topic of the research project),
• academic record (include additional education or coursework if applicable),
• contact information of two references 
• a writing sample (a paper or chapter from your Master's thesis).

For further questions write to Dr. Reto Gubelmann, the contact form can be found here (at the bottom)