Abundant Intelligences Postdoctoral Fellow in Indigenous Data Sovereignty
Please share widely and for more details see: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/602aa89c117bd25f81ad4090/t/66bf609b80... Postdoctoral Fellow in Indigenous Data Sovereignty Application deadline: September 15 Salary: CAD$75,000 Hours per week: Full-time Position title: Postdoctoral Researcher Immediate supervisors: Prof. Jason Edward Lewis, or other Abundant Intelligences co-investigator. To be determined in discussion with candidate Work schedule: Monday - Friday, or as agreed upon between candidate and supervisor(s) Duration of the contract: 2 years. Location: Strong preference for Montreal (hybrid), though other locations will be considered *About Abundant Intelligences* Abundant Intelligences is an ambitious, large-scale six-year research program exploring how to integrate Indigenous Knowledges and Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. It is conducted by an international research team, co- directed by Prof. Lewis at the Indigenous Futures Research Centre at Concordia University, Montreal, and Prof. Hemi Whaanga at Massey University in New Zealand. The research team currently consists of 48 co-investigators and collaborators at 13 universities/research institutes and 8 community-based organizations in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand. The research program takes on the challenge of imagining, designing, and developing AI based on Indigenous Knowledge (IK) systems. Our overall objective is to explore how IK systems might provide pathways towards rebuilding AI’s epistemological foundations to transform these tools away from colonial practices of exclusion, extraction, manipulation, and eradication and into engines of abundance for increasing our care of one another and our world. Abundant Intelligences mobilizes an international and interdisciplinary team of experts, coalesced in locally-rooted ‘Pods’, to collaborate with Indigenous communities and learn from, and with, their knowledge holders to bring novel perspectives to transforming AI. It allows us to think about AI from across disciplinary and cultural boundaries and thus to expand the operational definition(s) of intelligence to include a wider spectrum of behaviours that humans and non-humans use to make sense of the world. Exploring epistemologies and methods beyond the Western approaches favoured by current AI research, we draw upon Indigenous epistemologies to develop imaginations, frameworks, and languages to enrich our understanding of what it means to be intelligent. In doing so, we are establishing new community-oriented methods for creating culturally-grounded AI systems better suited to Indigenous contexts, ways of knowing, and community flourishing. At the same time, our work will inform AI research beyond Indigenous contexts, contributing to the field generally so it can better support humane and abundant futures for all. Websites: www.abundant-intelligences.net *Overview of the position* Abundant Intelligences is establishing a detailed data sharing and intellectual property framework. This position will support this work through research on Indigenous data sovereignty, community protocols, and cultural & legal regimes for protecting cultural property within the context of AI research; developing protocols, methods, and tools for protecting and sharing Indigenous data to help in developing advanced technologies such as AI; and disseminating the knowledge acquired within the Partnership and in external publication and presentation venues. The Postdoctoral Fellow will work closely with program directors and working groups to ensure their research helps advance the partnership research priorities. Abundant Intelligences Postdoctoral Fellows are intended to support the career development of outstanding PhD recipients with great potential for contributing to the research program. We seek applicants whose professional preparedness, experience, and accomplishments are informed by experiences working with and within Indigenous groups. Where pools of qualified applicants are strong, priority will be given to applicants who demonstrate, through prior actions and achievements,intentional and actioned commitment to Indigenous epistemologies and methodologies, and research or creative activity focused on empowering Indigenous populations. The Postdoctoral Fellow selected will join a cohort of emerging scholars as part of the research program, will engage in scholarly research and creation, and may be asked to perform duties common to academic personnel, including grant proposal writing and teaching, as well as participate in partnership governance. -- Be good, Fen
participants (1)
-
Fenwick Mckelvey