The GATE institute “Big Data for Smart Society”” is an autonomous research institute, established in 2019 in Sofia, Bulgaria as a joint initiative between Sofia University Bulgaria, Chalmers University of Technology and Chalmers Industrial Technology, Sweden. Its mission is to accelerate the Big Data and Artificial Intelligence research, innovation and education in collaboration with government, industry and society as a whole.

GATE is focused on developing research capacity in four Data Science areas:

• Big Data Management
• Big Data Analytics
• Big Data Insight
• Software Engineering for Big Data and AI

GATE will provide an attractive and stimulating research environment, an advanced infrastructure, including 3 Open Innovation Labs (City Living Lab, Digital Twin Lab, Visualization Lab) and holistic platform, integrating Big Data, IoT and AI emerging technologies. GATE offers diverse opportunities for career growth, fosters research freedom and provides maximum support for personal initiative.

GATE will create value and will accelerate innovation excellence into the following strategic application themes:

• Future Cities
• Intelligent Government
• Smart Industry
• Digital Health

The GATE Institute has a large-scale co-funding by the EU and Bulgarian Ministry of Education under the GATE project https://www.gate-coe.eu/ .With respect to its planned intensive development in 2023, GATE Institute is looking for:

Research Group Lead with a profile Analysis of social media and disinformation

Responsibilities:

- Plans and manages research and related projects and activities in the relevant scientific field;

- Provides leadership in the development of knowledge and competencies of the Institute in the relevant scientific field;

- Demonstrates authoritative influence in the field of science and pioneering in the development of scientific programs and applied innovations;

- Engages with policy-makers, media organizations, and the public to raise awareness of the impact of disinformation and provide evidence-based recommendations for addressing the issue.

- Cooperates closely with European organisations, international projects, and the European Commission on research, media literacy, and regulatory activities aimed at countering disinformation on a pan-European level;

- Participates actively and jointly with the Business Development Department and other leads of research groups in planning and implementing a business plan for revenues from public and corporate sources for research and development;

- Initiates and together with the Expert, human resources management, actively participates in the selection and attraction of researchers in the relevant scientific field;

- Foster a culture of open communication, collaboration, and professional development among the research group.

- Responsible for, manages and periodically evaluates the development of knowledge and competencies of researchers in the research group;

- Actively communicates with representatives of the public sector and industry in defining joint research projects and activities, and coordinates the participation of researchers from the relevant scientific field in the implementation of these projects;

- Responsible for the timely preparation, summarization and presentation of an annual plan for the development of the scientific field;

- Participates in the planning and delivery of professional education programmes;

- Coordinates the participation and reporting of the results of the researchers’ activity from the respective scientific field in projects of the Institute with external partners.

Skills, Experience and Qualifications:

- Higher education in the field of Information and Communication Technologies, Computer Science, Statistics, Software Engineering, or related field. Higher education in the field of journalism, media and communications is also acceptable.

- PhD Degree in computer science, computational linguistics, natural language processing, political science, journalism, or another technological or philological area.

- Fluent English language. Knowledge of another language is an advantage;

- At least 7 years of professional experience;

- At least 5 years professional experience in the relevant scientific field; for this post the experience in research on disinformation is particularly valuable.

- Strategic and managerial competency: Planning, organization and management of research activities; create interest and stimulate the empathy and creativity of researchers; identifies and applies new research methods and innovative technological solutions;

- Candidates with a proven research track record and publications in the area of Natural Language Processing (NLP) will be given priority when considered for this post;

- Result orientation: Ability to present the results in the relevant scientific field to the academic community, the public sector, industry and the public; Publication of scientific results in international scientific conferences and journals with high impact factor; Application of the research activity’s results for solving socially significant and applied problems;

- Communication skills and teamwork: problem solving in a dynamic environment; highly developed skills for working with virtual and international research teams.

Our offer:

• You will join and collaborate within a team of researchers, but will have the freedom to conduct research in any area within the scope and priorities of GATE, creating new visions for the future;
• You will be provided with numerous opportunities for professional development, such as attending conferences, workshops, and training programs both locally and internationally, in order to build new skills and knowledge;
• You will have access to a supportive and collaborative work environment, including a dedicated team of experienced and dedicated researchers, administrative support, and access to other research groups and experts in the field;
• Your research will be supported by an advanced research infrastructure, comprising of the GATE platform and Open Innovation Labs;
• You will have a flexible work schedule and, upon the move to the new premises of GATE – modern and appealing work environment, stirring up creativity and productivity;
• You will be provided with competitive working conditions and salary commensurate with your skills and experience.

How to apply:

Please send your contact data and files with personal documents on our Application Form - Gate (gate-ai.eu) until 13.04.2023:

• A CV detailing previous employments and qualifications.
• A Personal letter of 1-2 pages where you:
• Introduce yourself
• Describe your past participation in research and main research results
• Describe your future goals and future research focus.
• Copies of diplomas for completed education.
• Copies of other diplomas and certificates of qualification.
• Copies of documents certifying past work experience in the relevant field.
• Two references letters or personal recommendations, arranged by applicants and directly submitted by the letter or provided as contact data in the cover letter
• As an attachment to your application please sign and enclose the following declaration:
  I agree to the processing of my personal data included in this application for the needs necessary to carry out the recruitment.

By applying for these positions, you voluntarily provide your personal data and consent to be processed for the purpose of recruitment and selection of personnel. The processing of your personal data shall be carried out in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation), the Personal Data Protection Law and related legal acts in Bulgaria.

Stages of the recruitment process:

• The Selection Committee reviews the documents, submitted by the candidates and selects those meeting the requirements of the job, as described in the job profile.
• Up until 21.04.2023 interviews will be held with the selected applicants.
• All interviewed candidates will be notified in writing.
• The successful candidate will be offered a labor contract with fixed term.