The advertised position is part of the CHAT-Care project (Conversational Health Agent for Trustworthy Self-Care Recommendations). The PhD student will help develop and test a conversational system that provides evidence-based self-care support outside clinical settings, while incorporating relevant advances in the field of Large Language Models (LLMs) over the course of the project. The project aims to develop a non-commercial, open-source prototype that translates high-quality scientific evidence into clear, personalized, and trustworthy guidance for lay users. The position will be integrated into the PhD program in Applied Evidence Synthesis in Health Reserach.
The Department for Evidence-based Medicine and Evaluation hosts Cochrane Austria, the Austrian Centre for Evidence-Based Healthcare – a JBI Affiliated Group and is recognized as a WHO Collaborating Center for Evidence-based Medicine, and as a Center for Evidence Reviews of the American College of Physicians. Starting in July 2026, the Department will add a professorship focused on artificial intelligence (AI) in health services research.
The following position is available in cooperation with the Digital Innovation School (DIS) at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna. The DIS offers doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars a comprehensive training program in complexity science. The goal of the DIS is to increase global capacity in applying large-scale digital approaches to real-world questions and problems in order to aid governments, NGOs, corporations and other impact-oriented organizations to introduce impactful policies and practices to help mitigate critical threats to society and the planet. Based at the Complexity Science Hub, the DIS partners with eight universities across Austria to foster early-career scholars who are capable of changing the world with data and science across multiple sectors.
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The Department for Evidence-based Medicine and Evaluation hosts Cochrane Austria, the Austrian Centre for Evidence-Based Healthcare – a JBI Affiliated Group and is recognized as a WHO Collaborating Center for Evidence-based Medicine, and as a Center for Evidence Reviews of the American College of Physicians. Starting in July 2026, the Department will add a professorship focused on artificial intelligence (AI) in health services research.
The following position is available in cooperation with the Digital Innovation School (DIS) at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna. The DIS offers doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars a comprehensive training program in complexity science. The goal of the DIS is to increase global capacity in applying large-scale digital approaches to real-world questions and problems in order to aid governments, NGOs, corporations and other impact-oriented organizations to introduce impactful policies and practices to help mitigate critical threats to society and the planet. Based at the Complexity Science Hub, the DIS partners with eight universities across Austria to foster early-career scholars who are capable of changing the world with data and science across multiple sectors.
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Early-Stage Researcher – PhD Student (m/f/d)
Your tasks
- Conduct focused benchmarking of selected conversational approaches relevant to conversational self-care support
- Contribute to the design of a prototype conversational system for self-care guidance (that leverages existing large language models)
- Investigate how system-generated responses can be adapted to users with varying levels of health literacy
- Conduct scenario-based testing and adversarial testing to identify weaknesses and improve system robustness and safety
- Collaborate with interdisciplinary project partners in evidence-based medicine, health communication, and AI in healthcare
- Publish research findings in international, peer-reviewed scientific journals
- Participate actively in national and international conferences, presenting research findings and networking with peers in the scientific community
- Participation and Completion of PhD courses according to the curriculum Applied Evidence Synthesis in Health Reserach
- Complete and submit a cumulative PhD dissertation within the framework of the doctoral program in Applied Evidence Synthesis in Health Research within a three-year timeframe
Your profile
We require evidence of the following qualifications for the application:
In addition, the following criteria are desirable:
- Completion of a diploma or master’s degree in computer sciences, data sciences, artificial intelligence, or biomedical informatics or closely related fields by September 15, 2026.
- Strong interest in developing trustworthy AI applications in healthcare and self-care
- Programming skills, ideally in Python, and experience with modern AI/LLM workflows
- Experience with machine learning, natural language processing, information retrieval, or LLM-based systems
- Proficiency in scientific writing, demonstrated by a master’s thesis, scientific publications, or equivalent academic work
- Excellent command of spoken and written English, at least at a B2 level
In addition, the following criteria are desirable:
- Experience with RAG, conversational AI, agent-based systems, or multi-agent architectures
Knowledge of health communication, readability assessment, or plain-language adaptation
Experience working with biomedical literature databases or evidence synthesis resource
Academic achievements, such as publications, presentations, awards, or open-source contributions
Flexibility, resilience, and ability to collaborate effectively in an interdisciplinary team
Your perspective
- Part-time position (30 hours/week) initially limited until 30th September 2029
- Minimum salary of EUR 3,776.10 gross per month (14x) on a full-time basis
- Classification as a scientific project staff member according to § 49 VwGr. B1, Kollektivvertrag der Universitäten (collective agreement of universities) §49
- Opportunity to contribute to a high-impact, interdisciplinary research project at the intersection of AI, evidence-based medicine, and public health
- Innovative and modern working environment at the Campus Krems
- Possibility of home office and mobile working in accordance with university regulations
- Extensive benefits such as very good further training opportunities as part of our own study programs, a wide range of company health promotion programs and the University Sports Institute (USI)
- Integration into an international research environment with strong collaborations in healthcare AI, health communication, and evidence synthesis
The University for Continuing Education Krems sees high innovation potential in the diversity of its employees and is committed to diversity as a guiding principle. We therefore explicitly invite people with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses who meet the required profile criteria to apply for the position.
At the same time, the university aims to increase the proportion of women and explicitly invites qualified women to apply. Women will be given priority consideration if they have the same qualifications.
Your application should include:
We look forward to receiving your online application by 14 May 2026.
At the same time, the university aims to increase the proportion of women and explicitly invites qualified women to apply. Women will be given priority consideration if they have the same qualifications.
Your application should include:
- Letter of motivation (max. two pages)
- Curriculum Vitae
- Certificates of degrees and transcripts
- One or two letters of recommendation, including at least one from a person who has supervised you during a scientific project or the master thesis
- A short research exposé (max. two pages) outlining how you would approach the development and validation of a trustworthy agentic conversational system for self-care
We look forward to receiving your online application by 14 May 2026.