The position is opened by the Complex Human Behaviour Lab (CHuB), an interdisciplinary research unit carrying out fundamental and applied research informed by the statistical analysis of large behavioural datasets and aimed at modelling individual behaviour and collective social phenomena using the methods of complexity science, computational social science, and network theory. The topics covered within the unit range from individual decisions, human mobility and transportation to online communication, cultural production and infodemics.

Organization

Digital Society (DigiS) is a research centre of Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) formed by a multidisciplinary team of more than 100 researchers, technologists, and managers (including Ph.D. students). It is organized in 13 research units dedicated to specific research areas in the ICT domain and two support units focusing on project management and technology maturation.

Our mission is to perform advanced research and develop innovative digital technology to address the future digital society’s key challenges. Digital technology has a pervasive impact on our lives and is reshaping our society. The challenge is to ensure that digital technology becomes a steppingstone to create a more sustainable, inclusive, and secure society. More information is available at https://digis.fbk.eu/#vision

Job description

FBK-CHuB is seeking a Researcher in the field of the analysis and modelling of complex social systems.

In particular, the candidate will be involved in a research project focused on the modelling of the interaction between human and artificial agents in complex social scenarios. The work will include the exploration of the interaction of different typologies of actors, artificial or natural, acting following different goals and strategies in paradigmatical complex social scenarios such as ant colonies, flocks of birds or interaction models on networks, as well as in more realistic scenarios such as online communication (bots) or traffic (self-driving cars).

The candidate will work in collaboration with other researchers of the Centre, as well as with partners involved in the project.

The candidate is expected to:

• identify behavioural patterns from large datasets of social interactions available at FBK
• develop agent-based and/or stochastic simulations informed by the empirical observation
• explore different complex interaction scenarios between natural and artificial agents
• identify emergent behaviours that could be harnessed to optimize or control the collective interactive system

Job requirements

The ideal candidate should have:

• Master degree in Physics, Math, Data Science, Computer Science, Computational Social Science, Engineering, Statistics;
• Software development skills (preferably in Python);
• Good knowledge and proficiency of the English language;
• Team working attitude;
• Good communication and relation skills;
• Autonomy in developing research and organizing work activities.

In depth previous experience in at least one of the following areas is required:

• Complexity Science
• Network Science
• Stochastic Processes
• Statistical Modelling
• Evolutionary Dynamics
• Agent-based Modelling