Job Description

Ko te whare Ptaiao | The Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland is the largest and most highly ranked science faculty in New Zealand. The Faculty of Science is ranked among the top 90 science faculties worldwide by the QS World University Rankings. The 10 departments and schools that form the Faculty of Science represent the breadth and diversity of science in our modern world.Our staff and students can connect with our flagship groups including Tukana, Rainbow, Women of Colour, Mori, Pacific, Muslim, and Disabled Staff network and our Waipapa Marae.Job DescriptionTe Whiwhinga mahi | The opportunityWe are seeking a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to help develop new computational and mathematical approaches to understanding autonomous agency — how living and artificial systems maintain themselves, regulate their own viability, adapt, and develop forms of intrinsic and emergent agency.You’ll work closely with Dr Matthew Egbert and an international network of collaborators from the University of Rochester, Santa Fe Institute, University of British Columbia, Dartmouth College, and the Basque Foundation for Science.You’ll join an exciting, interdisciplinary research project bringing together philosophers, systems biologists, physicists, computer scientists and complex systems researchers. Your work will focus on developing and analysing models of operational closure, viability, semantic information and emergent individuality, with the goal of developing rigorous formal frameworks for understanding how agency can arise and be organised in living and artificial systems.We’re looking for someone who is comfortable building and analysing computational models, using approaches such as agent-based modelling, dynamical systems simulation, network models, evolutionary models, artificial chemistries or related methods. Experience studying autonomy or agency before is preferred but not required. What’s important is a strong interest in using computational or formal approaches to explore fundamental questions about life, mind, individuality, adaptation and the organisation of complex systems.This is an opportunity to contribute to ambitious, interdisciplinary research, collaborate with leading researchers internationally, and develop your research profile in a highly collaborative environment.This is a full-time (40 hours per week), 32-month fixed-term position.The remuneration is $99,788 (RF1) per annumFor more detailed information on the role, accountabilities, and requirements, please review the Position Description