Postdoctoral Researcher in Human-AI Decision-Making in Healthcare

Are you curious about how people navigate uncertainty in healthcare, and how AI is changing the way decisions are made? Do you have a background in the social sciences or humanities? Are you looking for an employer that invests in sustainable employeeship and offers safe, favourable working conditions? We welcome you to apply for a postdoctoral position at Uppsala University.

The Department of Information Technology holds a leading position in both research and education at all levels. We are currently Uppsala University's third largest department, have around 350 employees, including 120 teachers and 120 PhD students. Approximately 5,000 undergraduate students take one or more courses at the department each year. You can find more information about us on the Department of Information Technology website.

At the Division of Systems and Control, we develop both theory and concrete tools to design systems that learn, reason, and act in the real world based on a seamless combination of data, mathematical models, and algorithms. Our research integrates expertise from machine learning, optimization, control theory, and applied mathematics, spanning diverse application domains such as medicine, energy systems, biomedical systems, neuroscience, and safety and security. The Division of Systems and Control enjoys a wide network of strong international collaborators.

The position is financed by the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP), and its sister program WASP-HS with a focus on humanity and society.

WASP is Sweden’s largest individual research program ever, a major national initiative for strategically motivated basic research, education and faculty recruitment. The program addresses research on artificial intelligence and autonomous systems acting in collaboration with humans, adapting to their environment through sensors, information and knowledge, and forming intelligent systems-of-systems. The vision of WASP is excellent research and competence in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and software for the benefit of Swedish society and industry. Read more: wasp-sweden.org

WASP-HS fosters novel interdisciplinary knowledge about AI and autonomous systems and their impact on humanity and society. WASP-HS enables cutting-edge research, expertise, and capacity building in the social sciences and humanities. Read more: wasp-hs.org

Project description
Every healthcare decision involves uncertainty. AI systems express uncertainty in probabilistic terms, while clinicians, patients and epidemiologists deal with it through judgement, experience and institutional context. What happens when these ways of knowing meet? This joint WASP/WASP-HS project, run by researchers at Uppsala University (Sara Hamis) and Linköping University (Nicolette Lakemond & Gunnar Holmberg), treats uncertainty as a statistical as well as a social phenomenon. It studies how stakeholders interpret uncertainty in human- and AI-generated assessments, and how this shapes their decisions. The project combines surveys, interviews and phenomenological methods to explore how uncertainty is handled in healthcare today, and how AI is changing this. The postdoc will be based in Uppsala.

Duties
The position is for two years and includes 90% research and 10% departmental duties (typically teaching).

Requirements
A PhD in the social sciences, humanities, or another field relevant to the project. Examples of relevant fields include business administration, organization and management, industrial engineering and management, sociology, psychology, human–computer interaction, communication, information systems, health services research, and public health. A foreign degree deemed equivalent to a PhD in above mentioned fields is also accepted.
The degree needs to be obtained by the time of the decision of employment. Priority will be given to applicants who have completed their degree no more than three years before the deadline for applications. Due to special circumstances, the degree may have been obtained earlier. The three-year period can be extended due to circumstances such as sick leave, parental leave, duties in labour unions, etc.

Experience of qualitative research methods, such as surveys, interviews, ethnography or mixed-methods research is required. Solid skills in academic writing and research design are required. Professional proficiency in written and spoken English is required.

Additional qualifications
Research experience in one or more of the following subjects is meriting (without order of importance):

• Healthcare or public health.
• AI and digitalisation in society or organisations.
• Decision-making under uncertainty.
• Quantitative methods.
• Mathematical or statistical modelling.

Application

The application must include:

1) A one-page cover letter outlining how you meet the required criteria, your motivation for applying to this position, and your expected earliest starting date.
2) A CV.
3) A publication list.
4) 1-3 publications or manuscripts, which may include your PhD thesis.
5) References with contact information (names, emails and telephone number) and, optionally, up to two reference letters.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position of 2 years according to central collective agreement. Full time position. Starting date January 15, 2027 or as otherwise agreed. Placement: Uppsala.

For further information about the position, please contact: Assistant Professor Sara Hamis, e-mail: sara.hamis@it.uu.se.

Please submit your application by December 4, 2026, UFV-PA 2026/3309.

Are you considering moving to Sweden to work at Uppsala University? Find out more about what it´s like to work and live in Sweden.