Postdoctoral Researcher in Psychology / Human–AI Interaction

The University of Bonn is an international research university offering a broad range of subjects. With a 200-year history, some 31,500 students, more than 6,000 employees and an outstanding reputation in Germany and abroad, the University of Bonn is one of the leading universities in Germany and has achieved the status of a University of Excellence.

The Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology “b-it”, is looking for a temporary position for a period of 1 year in accordance with § 2 (1) WissZeitVG

Postdoctoral Researcher in Psychology / Human–AI Interaction (100%)

The Data Science Lab of Prof. Dr. Lucie Flek at the University of Bonn invites applications for a senior postdoctoral researcher to join the ERC-funded project LLMpathy. The project investigates how psychological traits, values, and social reasoning shape interactions with conversational AI systems such as large language models (LLMs).

Your tasks:

• Design and conduct psychological studies and human-AI interaction experiments,
• Develop and evaluate measures related to personality, values, empathy, trust, and social behavior,
• Support longitudinal data collection and ensure data quality, reliability, and validity
• Analyze behavioral and questionnaire data using quantitative methods,
• Collaborate with AI researchers on the evaluation of AI systems,
• Co-lead the project, mentor PhD students and contribute to international publications.

Your profile:

• PhD in psychology, cognitive science, HCI, computational social science, or related field,
• Experience with psychological experiments or huma-subject research (e.g. panels),
• Experience analyzing behavioral or longitudinal data, quantitative research skills (e.g. IRT, statistical cause-effect analyses) are a plus,
• Interest in human-AI interaction and interdisciplinary research,
• Strong English writing skills and publication experience,
• Ability and willingness to work in a multidisciplinary and international team with appropriate communication skills,
• High motivation as well as a structured and independent way of working.

We do not expect you to be a machine learning engineer for this position. We are explicitly looking for researcher with strong expertise in psychological methods and human research who are interested in collaborating in an interdisciplinary AI environment.

This position is embedded in the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and offers close collaboration with researchers in psychology, HCI, AI safety and NLP.

We offer:

• Opportunity for further academic qualification,
• A salary based on the 13 TV-L scale with the usual social benefits of the public service sector, e.g., health insurance, maternity leave, vacation allowance of 30 days per year,
• Participation in the university-wide pension system (VBL),
• A varied and challenging position with one of the biggest employers in the area,
• Access to the extensive university sports program,
• Excellent access by public transport thanks to Bonn’s central location as well as the opportunity to take advantage of low-cost parking.

The University of Bonn promotes an open, respectful, and non-discriminatory academic culture and is actively committed to equal opportunity and family friendliness. We aim to eliminate structural disadvantages and to strengthen diversity in research, teaching, and administration. Therefore, we welcome all applications, regardless of ethnic or social background, gender, sexual orientation, religion or belief, disability, or age.

Applications from women and people with a documented severe disability (or equivalent status) will be given preferential consideration in accordance with the State Equality Act (LGG) NRW and Social Code (SGB) IX.

Inquiries and applications (letter of motivation, CV, list of publications and similar activities, certificates) should be sent by email by July 15, 2026, to Prof. Dr. Lucie Flek, University of Bonn, Institut für Informatik / b-it with the application code 2026/289. Before sending your application, please combine and convert all of your documents into one PDF file.