Overview
The advertised position is part of the CHAT-Care project (Conversational Health Agent for Trustworthy Self-Care Recommendations). The PhD student will help develop and test a conversational system that provides evidence-based self-care support outside clinical settings, while incorporating relevant advances in the field of Large Language Models (LLMs) over the course of the project. The project aims to develop a non-commercial, open-source prototype that translates high-quality scientific evidence into clear, personalized, and trustworthy guidance for lay users. The position will be integrated into the PhD program in Applied Evidence Synthesis in Health Reserach.
The Department for Evidence-based Medicine and Evaluation hosts Cochrane Austria, the Austrian Centre for Evidence-Based Healthcare – a JBI Affiliated Group and is recognized as a WHO Collaborating Center for Evidence-based Medicine, and as a Center for Evidence Reviews of the American College of Physicians. Starting in July 2026, the Department will add a professorship focused on artificial intelligence (AI) in health services research.
The following position is available in cooperation with the Digital Innovation School (DIS) at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna. The DIS offers doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars a comprehensive training program in complexity science. The goal of the DIS is to increase global capacity in applying large-scale digital approaches to real-world questions and problems in order to aid governments, NGOs, corporations and other impact-oriented organizations to introduce impactful policies and practices to help mitigate critical threats to society and the planet. Based at the Complexity Science Hub, the DIS partners with eight universities across Austria to foster early-career scholars who are capable of changing the world with data and science across multiple sectors.
Central details: Part-time position (30 hours/week) initially limited until September 30, 2029. Classification as a scientific project staff member under the collective agreement of universities.
Your tasks
* Conduct focused benchmarking of selected conversational approaches relevant to conversational self-care support
* Contribute to the design of a prototype conversational system for self-care guidance (that leverages existing large language models)
* Investigate how system-generated responses can be adapted to users with varying levels of health literacy
* Conduct scenario-based testing and adversarial testing to identify weaknesses and improve system robustness and safety
* Collaborate with interdisciplinary project partners in evidence-based medicine, health communication, and AI in healthcare
* Publish research findings in international, peer-reviewed scientific journals
* Participate actively in national and international conferences, presenting research findings and networking with peers in the scientific community
* Participation and Completion of PhD courses according to the curriculum Applied Evidence Synthesis in Health Reserach
* Complete and submit a cumulative PhD dissertation within the framework of the doctoral program in Applied Evidence Synthesis in Health Research within a three-year timeframe
Your profile
* Completion of a diploma or master’s degree in computer sciences, data sciences, artificial intelligence, or biomedical informatics or closely related fields by September 15, 2026.
* Strong interest in developing trustworthy AI applications in healthcare and self-care
* Programming skills, ideally in Python, and experience with modern AI/LLM workflows
* Experience with machine learning, natural language processing, information retrieval, or LLM-based systems
* Proficiency in scientific writing, demonstrated by a master’s thesis, scientific publications, or equivalent academic work
* Excellent command of spoken and written English, at least at a B2 level
Desirable criteria
* Experience with RAG, conversational AI, agent-based systems, or multi-agent architectures
* Knowledge of health communication, readability assessment, or plain-language adaptation
* Experience working with biomedical literature databases or evidence synthesis resources
* Academic achievements, such as publications, presentations, awards, or open-source contributions
* Flexibility, resilience, and ability to collaborate effectively in an interdisciplinary team
Your perspective
* Part-time position (30 hours/week) initially limited until September 30, 2029
* Minimum salary of EUR 3,776.10 gross per month (14x) on a full-time basis
* Integration into an international research environment with strong collaborations in healthcare AI, health communication, and evidence synthesis
* Innovative and modern working environment at the Campus Krems
* Possibility of home office and mobile working in accordance with university regulations
* Extensive benefits such as very good further training opportunities as part of our own study programs, a wide range of company health promotion programs and the University Sports Institute (USI)
Your Application Should Include
* Letter of motivation (max. two pages)
* Curriculum Vitae
* Certificates of degrees and transcripts
* One or two letters of recommendation, including at least one from a person who has supervised you during a scientific project or the master thesis
* A short research exposé (max. two pages) outlining how you would approach the development and validation of a trustworthy agentic conversational system for self-care
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