Postdoctoral Associate

About this position

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Postdoctoral Associate

Human-AI Research Pipeline (HARP) | Duke University

• Department/Unit: Social Science Research Institute Anticipated Start Date: Nov. 1, 2026
• Application Review Begins: Immediately Location: Durham, North Carolina
• Work Arrangement: On-site Salary: $65,000

Research Program Description

The Human-AI Research Pipeline (HARP), part of Duke University's Society-Centered AI Initiative, is an interdisciplinary research program examining how Artificial Intelligence (AI) affects students' cognition, learning, well-being, social experiences, and decision-making. HARP is developing a longitudinal multimodal research resource to study human-AI interaction and its impacts using student-informed, privacy-conscious methods.

HARP is led by Dr. Jana Schaich Borg, Associate Research Professor in the Social Science Research Institute. The core development team includes Dr. Rick Hoyle, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Associate Chair of Psychology and Neuroscience; and Dr. Christopher Bail, Professor of Sociology, Computer Science, Political Science, and Public Policy and Director of the Society-Centered AI Initiative. Other principal investigators across Duke are involved in specific aspects of HARP development, testing, and deployment.

Overall HARP Project Goals

● Examine when, where, and how students use generative AI and other emerging AI technologies.

● Assess relationships between AI use and learning, well-being, cognition, social connection, decision-making, and educational experiences.

● Use participatory design and student co-creation to develop responsible approaches to multimodal data collection, research design, and dissemination.

● Design and deploy a platform for linking measures of AI use to multimodal readouts.

● Characterize how the benefits and harms of AI use vary across contexts and individual differences through core projects and collaborations with other researchers.

● Provide a pipeline for researchers across campus to study AI use.

● Disseminate findings through scholarly publications, presentations, reports, and engagement with university partners.

Position Summary

HARP invites applications for a full-time Postdoctoral Associate to help build the HARP research infrastructure and conduct the initial studies leveraging the infrastructure. The postdoc will design and lead core projects examining the impact of AI interaction on social cognition, emotional regulation, group collaboration, and collaborative learning using eye-tracking, physiology, EEG, and novel computational measures. The postdoc will also play key roles in developing AI-use measurement techniques and experience sampling measures.

This is an ambitious, fast-moving research program, and the position is well suited to a researcher who is excited to launch and lead multimodal, multi-method studies while simultaneously helping to build new research infrastructure.

The postdoc’s primary mentor will be Dr. Jana Schaich Borg, but the postdoc will also work closely with Drs. Rick Hoyle and Christopher Bail, as well as other HARP Principal Investigators in the Pratt School of Engineering involved in the first stage of research studies. The position will provide opportunities for intellectual mentorship and collaboration with principal investigators across multiple disciplines.

Additionally, the postdoc will work closely with students through the HARP Student Fellows program and through leading focus groups.

Primary Responsibilities

● Lead the experimental design, data collection, and data analysis of initial studies assessing the impacts of human-AI interaction on social cognition, emotional regulation, and collaborative learning using EEG, eye-tracking, physiology, and computational measures.

● Develop and conduct additional research related to human-AI interaction, student AI use, learning, well-being, and social behavior.

● Contribute to qualitative research, including student focus groups and participatory design activities.

● Work with the investigative team to refine research questions, study designs, measures, analytic plans, and publication priorities.

● Help develop, test, document, and maintain HARP research protocols, instruments, and data resources.

● Apply responsible research practices related to informed consent, participant privacy, sensitive data, data access, and reproducibility.

● Lead and contribute to manuscripts, presentations, reports, protocols, and grant-related materials.

● Coordinate with HARP Student Fellows.

● Mentor and collaborate with undergraduate and graduate student researchers.

● Coordinate effectively with interdisciplinary faculty, staff, students, and institutional partners.

● Participate in professional development and other activities appropriate to a Duke postdoctoral appointment.

Required Qualifications

● Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in neuroscience, psychology, computational social science, or a field relevant to the position, completed before the appointment begins.

● Demonstrated experience conceiving of and conducting independent or collaborative research.

● Experience conducting experimental, quantitative, computational, or mixed-methods human-subjects research.

● Experience collecting and analyzing EEG, physiology, eye-tracking, or related wearable measurements.

● Strong statistical analysis skills.

● Strong programming skills in a programming language used for data manipulation and statistical analysis.

● Evidence of scholarly productivity through publications, presentations, a dissertation, technical reports, software, datasets, or comparable outputs.

● Strong written and oral communication skills.

● Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced interdisciplinary environment.

Preferred (but not required) Qualifications

• ● Expertise in social cognition.
• ● Experience studying AI in educational or student contexts.
• ● Experience with longitudinal research methods.
• ● Experience analyzing natural language logs.
• ● Experience with participatory research, co-design, student engagement, or community-engaged research.
• ● Experience in human-centered, responsible, ethical, or society-centered AI.
• ● Experience with IRB submissions, informed-consent materials, data-management plans, or data-use agreements.
• ● Experience mentoring undergraduate or graduate researchers.

Appointment Terms

• ● Full-time Postdoctoral Associate appointment.
• ● Initial one-year appointment with the possibility of renewal, contingent on satisfactory performance, project needs, and available funding.
• ● Salary and benefits in accordance with applicable Duke University policies.
• ● Primary work location: Durham, North Carolina.
• ● Anticipated start date and work arrangement: As soon as a suitable candidate is ready to begin; all work will be completed onsite in Durham, NC.

Application Materials

● Cover letter describing qualifications, research interests, and fit with HARP.

● Current curriculum vitae.

● A 1-2 page research statement about what research related to the job description you would be most excited to pursue, and why you are qualified to lead that research.

● A writing sample or comparable research product that you think exemplifies your scholarly work.

● Contact information for three professional references.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Questions may be directed to Dr. Jana Schaich Borg at js524@duke.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Duke is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, ethnicity, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy related conditions), sexual orientation, or military status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard.

All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.