Hiring: Researcher for CEREBRA-AI EU Project (up to 3 years)

We are seeking a highly motivated Researcher (m/f/d) to join CEREBRA-AI, a research project funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.

CEREBRA-AI aims to develop AI systems that combine neural learning with symbolic knowledge and reasoning, adapt continuously, and learn through interaction with physical and digital environments. The project embeds explainability, provenance and fairness into a common framework and will validate its methods in sectoral pilots. By coupling reasoning, lifelong adaptation, embodiment, and built-in compliance in a single EU-aligned stack, CEREBRA-AI will advance the state of the art and strengthen Europe’s digital autonomy with a practical, auditable path to trustworthy General-Purpose AI.

At the University of Mannheim, the research will focus on dynamic neural-symbolic knowledge bases, verifiable prompting, and evaluating reasoning capabilities, along with explainable AI and fairness. Mannheim leads the development of the project’s bias monitoring and fairness assurance toolkit.

Your Responsibilities:

Develop methods that combine knowledge graphs and neural representations for general-purpose AI.
Investigate explainable AI, including counterfactual explanations and the faithfulness and stability of explanations.
Develop and experimentally validate reasoning benchmarks and reproducible software, and collaborate with consortium partners on integration and pilot evaluation.
Publish results in leading international conferences and journals.
Contribute to research proposals and the strategic development of the group's research agenda.
Supervise student researchers and contribute to teaching activities where appropriate.

Your Profile

We are looking for candidates who have:

A completed degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or related discipline. A PhD and more extensive relevant experience are preferred, but applicants with a master’ degree in these fields are also encouraged to apply.
A strong publication record in relevant venues.
Research experience in machine learning or AI, with expertise in knowledge graphs, neuro-symbolic AI, explainable AI and AI evaluation.
Excellent programming skills, preferably in Python and modern AI frameworks.
Strong analytical and scientific writing skills.
The ability to work independently while contributing to a collaborative research environment.
Excellent English communication skills.

Additional experience in any of the following would be an advantage:

Experience integrating knowledge graphs or symbolic reasoning with large language models.
Experience with bias detection, fairness metrics and mitigation, counterfactual explanations, or reasoning benchmarks.
Experience developing reproducible research software, collaborating in research consortia, or supervising students.

What We Offer

The opportunity to help shape a novel and rapidly emerging field of research in neuro-symbolic and trustworthy AI.
Participation in a European research consortium, with academic and industrial partners across Europe, linking foundational AI research with practical applications.
A stimulating international research environment in the Data and Web Science Group at the University of Mannheim.
Excellent opportunities for scientific publishing and networking.
Competitive salary according to the German public service pay scale (TV-L, depending on qualifications).

How to Apply

Please submit the following documents as a single PDF file to applications.dwsuni-mannheim.de:

Cover letter describing research interests and motivation.
Curriculum vitae.
List of publications.
Contact information for two academic references.
Copies of relevant certificates.

The first review of applications will take place on 20 November 2026. Initial interviews are expected to take place on 25–26 November 2026. If the position remains unfilled after the first round, we will continue accepting and reviewing applications until we select a suitable candidate.