[emcai] PhD Position on Trust and AI Interaction – Ethnomethodological Orientation Welcome

[Jonas Ivarsson]

Dear colleagues,
I’m reaching out to share a fully funded PhD position in Informatics at the University of Gothenburg, embedded in the national WASP-HS research cluster AI, Power and Politics. The position focuses on trust and interactivity in AI-driven media formats and their role in public discourse.

While formally situated within the broader themes of AI and society, I would especially welcome candidates grounded in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. The successful applicant will join a research environment that takes seriously Garfinkel’s question of how social order is locally and interactionally produced—and what it means when machines begin to speak within that infrastructure.

Within our group, we are currently pursuing a set of inquiries into how generative AI systems reshape the fundamental conditions of social interaction. This includes questions of relationality, factuality, and the shifting intelligibility of technologically mediated action. These issues invite detailed ethnomethodological and conversation analytic engagement with topics such as:

•	How are social relationships produced with artificial companions?
•	How is knowledge negotiated in interaction with ‘competent’ machines?
•	And how do societies respond to these shifting conditions of intelligibility?

There is ample room for the PhD project to align with, extend, or reframe these themes—empirically, conceptually, or methodologically—based on the interests and background of the candidate.

The position is fully funded for four years and begins in January 2026.

• Full position details and application:  https://web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/1035/job?site=7&lang=UK&validator=9b89bead79bb7258ad55c8d75228e5b7&job_id=p37886
• Application deadline: 15 September 2025
• Contact: jonas.ivarsson at gu.se for informal questions.

Feel free to share widely, especially with advanced students and colleagues working in EM/CA and adjacent traditions.

Warm regards,
Jonas



--
JONAS IVARSSON, Professor
Department of Applied IT
UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG
phone: + 46 76 618 2473