Postdoc Researcher Explainable Human Behavior and Affective Predictions

Join TU Delft as a postdoctoral researcher working on explainable human behavior and affective predictions.

Job description

Human behavior understanding is becoming an essential component across a range of application areas, including education and healthcare. As these systems are increasingly deployed in high-stakes environments, there is a growing need for machine learning models that are not only accurate but also transparent and explainable.

This project focuses on the automatic perception of situational interest and state epistemic curiosity, which are motivational factors that influence human learning. While multimodal systems are already being developed to monitor students’ physical and cognitive engagement, current approaches offer limited interpretability and often do not provide meaningful explanations of their predictions to downstream users.

A central aim of this project is to investigate how vision language models and/or multimodal large language models, among other technologies, can support explanation in situated conversational settings. We view explanation not as a static output, but as an interactive process that evolves through human-human and human-AI dialogue, where meaning emerges through grounding, clarification, and feedback.

A possible application domain for this work is augmented/mixed reality learning environments, which require real time perception and explanation within contexts.

Possible research directions include mechanistic interpretability of multimodal models, concept based explanations grounded in affect and behavior theory, and multimodal sensing from vision, audio, and physiological signals. The project will also focus on developing interactive systems that support real time dialogue and user questioning, with deployment in immersive environments.

Your work environment

The postdoctoral researcher will be embedded within the Interactive Intelligence (II) Group at the Intelligent Systems Department at the TU Delft Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science faculty. The environment is open and collaborative and participating in group activities is highly encouraged and appreciated.

The postdoc will participate in the Hybrid Intelligence Centre, a consortium within The Netherlands dedicated to develop and research Hybrid Intelligence. Consortium meetings and occasional work visits to collaboration partners are foreseen. We embrace an inclusive culture where you can benefit from tailored mentorship and training to promote your professional growth.

Job requirements

We are looking for applicants who have or expect to receive a PhD degree before joining the project. Applications should have a relevant track record in one or more of the following fields:

1. Generative AI/machine learning
2. Affective computing
3. Human-computer interaction, collaborative AI
4. Interaction design, experimental design, or evaluation of collaborative systems

Candidates are expected to have an interest in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of AI, human behavior understanding, and interactive intelligent systems, as well as excellent communication skills, a proactive attitude, and the ability to work effectively in a multidisciplinary team.

Conditions of employment

• Duration of contract is 3 years.
• Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.
• An excellent pension scheme via the ABP.
• The possibility to compile an individual employment package every year.
• Discount with health insurers on supplemental packages.
• Flexible working week.
• Every year, 232 leave hours (at 38 hours). You can also sell or buy additional leave hours via the individual choice budget.
• Plenty of opportunities for education, training and courses.
• Partially paid parental leave.
• Attention for working healthy and energetically with the vitality program.

Will you need to relocate to the Netherlands for this job? TU Delft is committed to making your move as smooth as possible and offers support for international employees as they prepare their relocation and settle in Delft. A Dual Career Programme is also available to support an accompanying partner with their job search in the Netherlands.