Open PostDoc Position: Depolarization and AI mediated dialogue

The Dynamic and Distributed Information Systems (DDIS) Group at the University of Zurich is seeking a PostDoctoral researcher to work on Conversational AI for political dialogue, studying if and how AI chatbots reduce polarization through experimentally validated interactions. 

Project description:

Political polarization pushes individuals into ideological isolation. A proven countermeasure is cross-partisan structured dialogue, which encourages mutual understanding between people at opposite ends of the political spectrum. However, these interventions typically rely on skilled human facilitators and are difficult to scale. 

This project investigates whether conversational AI can scale this depolarization process without sacrificing its effectiveness. The two core research questions are:  

1. Can a chatbot facilitate empathy-building dialogue? As a facilitator, the chatbot would need to elicit participants’ underlying emotions, interests, and narratives, while guiding them to engage more openly and listen more receptively. 

2. Can a chatbot participate in a cross-partisan political debate? As a participant, the chatbot would need to represent diverse political perspectives in a controlled and transparent way, exposing users to viewpoints that challenge their own.   

The project is aligned with DDIS’s broader research agenda on normative and responsible information systems in applications such as digital democracy. In the tradition of our group, we encourage applications seeking to explore both the technical and ethical dimensions of facilitating and mediating political dialogue. 

What we offer: 

• Two years of guaranteed funding. Ideal start date is September 2026 

• Attractive work environment both within the research group and beyond: the University of Zurich is one of Switzerland's leading universities in the middle of a vibrant, cosmopolitan city that regularly ranks as one of the cities with the highest quality of life in the world 

• A diverse and multi-disciplinary research group of highly motivated colleagues who are passionate about topics at the intersection of computer science, AI, and social science  

• Strong support for your professional/career development 

• Generous support for professional travel and research needs 

• Access to the computational resources required for working with large language models 

• An interdisciplinary working group, collaborating with subject matter experts (political scientists) 

• A societally relevant research topic at the intersection of Political Science and Natural Language Processing (NLP) 

Who we are looking for:

• Hold (or are close to completing) a doctoral degree in computer science, computational linguistics, or a related field 

• Demonstrate a strong interest in the field of Conversational AI, including dialogue management and the effects of automatic interventions in the context of political dialogue 

• Demonstrate programming proficiency to fine-tune and evaluate open-source Large Language Models (LLMs)  

The position involves teaching support duties. Previous experience in in this regard is considered a plus but is not strictly necessary. 

Application Process 

We will be evaluating applications on a rolling basis, making a pre-selection by June 8th.   Please apply as soon as possible. 

To apply, please gather your curriculum vitae, cover letter, grade transcripts, a list of at least three references, and your BSc/MSc theses as PDF files and go to   

APPLY LINK HERE (please select «English» as language)

Diversity and Inclusion

The University of Zurich is committed to enhancing the number of women in scientific positions and, therefore, particularly invites women to apply. Women who are as qualified for the position in question as male applicants will be given priority.