Lead Ai Postdoctoral Research Fellow Position Within Intellectual Property Law

UiB - Knowledge that shapes society

At the Faculty of Law there is a vacancy for a postdoctoral research fellow position within intellectual property law and artificial intelligence.

The position is a fixed-term contract. The duration of the position is 3 years. If the successful applicant is qualified for teaching compulsory courses in the master’s program at the Faculty of Law, the position may be extended to 4 years for career promoting activities with emphasis on teaching. The position is open to either an incoming or an outgoing candidate, see LEAD AI mobility rules

About the host research group and the research topic

The position is connected to the Research Group for Information and Innovation Law. The research group is dedicated to investigating the legal regulation of information and innovation in modern society, as well as the technological underpinnings that support it. Our expertise encompasses a range of legal areas, including intellectual property, personal data protection and data regulation. Research group for Information and Innovation Law | University of Bergen

The advent of more sophisticated artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the manner in which intellectual creations are conceived, produced, and disseminated. The use of AI tools has the potential to generate original content, improve innovation processes and reshape entire creative and industrial sectors. These developments challenges traditional concepts of authorship and inventorship and raise complex legal issues such as the rights to AI-assisted and AI-generated works and compensation for use of existing works in AI model training. In light of this ongoing transformation, it is imperative to undertake a critical reassessment of existing intellectual property frameworks and principles.

The postdoctoral fellow is encouraged to develop a project with clear potential to significantly advance the doctrinal framework and evolution of the intersection between intellectual property law and artificial intelligence.

LEAD AI is the University of Bergen's career and mobility fellowship program for training 19 postdoctoral fellows in artificial intelligence.

The program has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 101126560.

The LEAD AI programme offers high-quality inter- and transdisciplinary research and training opportunities in the area of artificial intelligence supported by a dedicated supervision and mentoring, encouraging inter-sectoral exposure, in particular

• academic freedom
• benefits from knowledge and skills transfer between disciplines, organisations and sectors
• structured, skill-based training
• high-quality working conditions
• personal career support
• equal opportunities

For more information see the LEAD AI webpage or send an email to leadai@uib.no

• Applicants must hold a Norwegian PhD or an equivalent degree within law, or must have submitted his/her doctoral thesis for assessment prior to the application deadline. It is a condition of employment that the PhD has been awarded.
• Applicants should have a genuine interest in AI, and the research proposal must be related to artificial intelligence.
• Applicants cannot previously have been employed as a postdoctoral fellow at UiB and they cannot be employed by any other institution for the time of the fellowship.
• Experience with AI-related research and/or innovation is an advantage.
• The LEAD AI mobility rules must be followed.
• Outgoing fellowships require an uninterrupted stay of minimum 12 months at an institution outside of Norway, followed by a mandatory return period to the University of Bergen of at least 12 months.
• Applicants must be able to work independently and in a structured manner and have the ability to cooperate with others.
• Applicants must have excellent skills in oral and written English (self-assessed in the CV and demonstrated in the application).
• The application and relevant documents must be in English.

Personal and relational qualities will be emphasized. Research experience, especially in fields related to the application, ambitions and potential will also be considered during candidate evaluation.

Special requirements for the position

The University of Bergen is subjected to the regulation for export control system. The regulation will be applied in the processing of the applications.

About the position of postdoctoral research fellow:

The position is a fixed-term contract. The duration of the position is 3 years. If the successful applicant is qualified for teaching compulsory courses in the master’s program at the Faculty of Law, the position may be extended to 4 years for career promoting activities with emphasis on teaching.

Individuals may not be hired for more than one fixed-term period as a postdoctoral research fellow at the same institution.

For all LEAD AI fellows, a Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP) will be developed jointly by the fellow, supervisor, and co-supervisor by the end of Month 3 of the fellowship, including a plan for the individual research budget, and information on additional funding where applicable.

It is a requirement that the project is completed in the course of the period of employment.

• An engaged and professionally stimulating working environment.
• Welfare benefits* and social benefits including pension-saving in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund, occupational injury insurance, full salary during sick leave for 52 weeks, and paid parental leave**.
• position as postdoctoral fellow (code 1352 in the basic collective agreement) and a gross annual salary of NOK 720 100 upon appointment. Further increases in salary are made according to length of service in the position. A higher salary may be considered for a particularly well-qualified applicant.
• Extension of the position term (work contract) due to sick leave and parental leave.
• Norwegian language courses free of charge.
• High standards for working hours, holidays, place of work, health, and safety.
• Access to specific training activities exclusively provided within the framework of the LEAD AI programme.

• ) Subject to membership in the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. For non-EU outgoing fellows, individual benefit agreement must be considered.

**) Right to paid parental leave requires 6 months paid work before first day of leave. See full requirements.

How to apply:

Before starting the online application process, please familiarise yourself carefully with our application requirements in the Guide for Applicants and Application templates It is essential that all required attachments (see next section) are uploaded via our electronic recruiting system JobbNorge. Before uploading any documents in the portal (to minimise repetition of information):

• In the ‘JobbNorge-application field’: Only write your name.
• In the ‘JobbNorge-CV form’: Only fill in your 1) personal details, 2) information about your PhD-degree (in the field ‘Academic qualifications’) and 3) recent relevant work experience.
• You do not need to fill in any other sections in the JobbNorge form, as all the information we need will be provided by you when attaching the mandatory elements listed in the next section.

• Research proposal (5 pages, using a template based on the evaluation criteria), must be relevant to the AI-related research themes defined by LEAD AI host research groups in the call. It is essential that you discuss the details of the project idea with your potential UiB supervisor at an early stage in the application process, to ensure that there is a match between resources and expertise needed to implement the project.
• A motivation letter.
• A CV detailing the full scientific track record, relevant other achievements and career breaks (e.g., parental, and long-term sick leave, compulsory military service, and non-academic work)
• Mobility declaration with supporting documentation (e.g., employment contract, rental agreement. etc.).
• Table of potential ethics and security issues that might apply to the research proposal (self-assessment).
• An initial self-assessment of opportunities for mandatory and recommended open science practices.
• External host declaration (for outgoing candidates only).
• Scanned copy of the PhD diploma or documentation of formally delivered doctoral thesis (translated to English if necessary; Scandinavian languages are accepted).
• References. Letters of recommendation from the graduating university or previous employers are encouraged.

The application and appendices with certified translations into English must be uploaded at JobbNorge.

Evaluation

We anticipate the whole evaluation procedure to take approximately 4 months from application deadline. Eligible applicants will be evaluated by three internationally renowned experts and assessed against criteria addressing excellence, impact, implementation, quality of the researcher and training,

knowledge transfer, and networking opportunities (outgoing only). Details are stated in the Guide for applicants.

• Detailed information about the postdoctoral research fellow position can be obtained by contacting Torger Kielland, email: torger.kielland@uib.no

For HR related questions contact:

• Detailed information about the recruitment process and employment conditions can be obtained by contacting HR at the faculty, e-mail address hrjur@uib.no.

The state labour force shall reflect the diversity of Norwegian society to the greatest extent possible. Age and gender balance among employees is therefore a goal. People with immigrant backgrounds and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply for the position.

If multiple applicants have approximately equivalent qualifications, the rules pertaining to moderate gender quotas shall apply.

The University of Bergen applies the principle of public access to information when recruiting staff for academic positions.

Information about applicants may be made public even if the applicant has asked not to be named on the list of persons who have applied. The applicant must be notified if the request to be omitted is not met.

Further information about our employment process can be found here.

The University of Bergen is a renowned educational and research institution, organised into seven faculties and approximately 54 institutes and academic centres. Campus is located in the centre of Bergen with university areas at Nygårdshøyden, Haukeland, Marineholmen, Møllendalsveien and Årstad.

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