Postdoc Position on Agentic AI at ELLIS Alicante

ELLIS Alicante invites applications for a two-year postdoctoral position in Human–AI Teaming and Agentic AI, focusing on how AI agents can collaborate effectively with humans in increasingly complex, multi-agent environments.

As AI systems evolve from individual assistants into teams of interacting agents, a central challenge is understanding how humans can work effectively with these systems, maintain appropriate levels of trust and control, and make informed decisions without becoming overwhelmed by information and interaction demands.

The successful candidate will contribute to research on human-centered methods for adaptive collaboration between humans and AI agents. A central component of the position will be the empirical investigation and evaluation of human–AI collaboration through controlled experiments and, where appropriate, longitudinal studies involving human participants. The research will examine how individual differences, team composition, agent capabilities, and interaction patterns influence collaboration, decision quality, and human experience. The research agenda will also consider how principles of trustworthy and socially aware AI, including fairness, transparency, and norm-sensitive behavior, can support effective human–AI collaboration.

The position will be supported primarily by a Horizon Europe research project, alongside other research funding.

This position offers the opportunity to contribute to an emerging research area at the intersection of agentic AI, human–AI interaction, and empirical evaluation; develop original research ideas; publish at leading international venues; and collaborate with researchers across ELLIS and the wider international research community.

Key Responsibilities

Human–AI teaming and evaluation: Investigate and develop adaptive methods for effective collaboration between humans and AI agents in multi-agent environments, tailoring communication, explanations, task allocation, and autonomy to human needs, capabilities, and preferences. Investigate cognitive load, trust, fairness, and human oversight, and evaluate the proposed methods through controlled experiments and, where appropriate, longitudinal human-subject studies, assessing collaboration quality, decision-making, usability, and human-AI team performance.

Research and dissemination: Publish and present research findings at leading international conferences and journals, and collaborate with researchers across ELLIS Alicante, the ELLIS network, and external research partners.

Training and project contributions: Contribute to the organization of an annual Training School on Trustworthy and Socially Aware Agentic AI, scientific project reporting, and the supervision and mentoring of PhD students.

The research may also address complementary topics, including norm-aware agent behavior and cooperation in multi-agent environments.