PhD student on AI taxonomy of consciousness

The Department of Psychology invites applications for a PhD position within the international research project “Development of a Data-Driven Taxonomy of Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness through Artificial Intelligence.”

The project aims to develop and empirically validate a taxonomy of non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOS) using artificial intelligence and language technology methods. The focus is on analysing first-person descriptions of conscious experiences with the help of machine learning and large language models (LLMs) to identify, compare, and systematize different types of states of consciousness.

The doctoral student’s research will be conducted within the framework of the overall research project and contribute to its goals and sub-goals.

The project is led by Professor Etzel Cardeña in collaboration with Associate Professor Oscar Kjell. The project is funded by the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation.

Work duties
The doctoral programme in psychology comprises 240 credits, corresponding to four years of full-time study. The programme concludes with the public defence of the doctoral thesis. The primary duty of the doctoral student is to complete their doctoral education.

The education will take place in close collaboration with the project group, and the doctoral student is expected to participate in joint project activities, workshops, and seminars related to the research project.

The doctoral student is also expected to take an active part in the department’s research and educational environment in Lund. The position may include departmental duties such as teaching, research, or administration, up to a maximum of 20% of full-time employment.

Eligibility
The employment of doctoral students is regulated by the Swedish Code of Statues 1998: 80. Only those who are or have been admitted to PhD-studies may be appointed to doctoral studentships. When an appointment to a doctoral studentship is made, the ability of the student to benefit from PhD-studies shall primarily be taken into account. In addition to devoting themselves to their studies, those appointed to doctoral studentships may be required to work with educational tasks, research and administration, in accordance with specific regulations in the ordinance.

To be eligible for third-cycle studies, the applicant must have:

• completed a second-cycle degree,

• completed courses corresponding to at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits are from second-cycle courses, or

• acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in another way, in Sweden or abroad.

Specific eligibility for third-cycle studies in psychology is met by those who have completed at least 30 second-cycle credits in the main field of psychology, including a second-cycle degree project of 15 credits, or have acquired equivalent knowledge in Sweden or abroad.

A very good command of spoken and written English is required.

Assessment
In the selection process, special emphasis will be placed on:

• the ability to benefit from doctoral education,

• documented experience in data analysis, statistics, programming (e.g., R or Python), or language technology,

• scientific writing and analytical ability.

Experience with text analysis, machine learning, or linguistic data management will be considered advantageous.

Application
Applications are to be submitted via Lund University’s recruitment system and must include:

• a CV and personal statement,

• copies of degree and grade certificates,

• one academic work (e.g., master’s thesis or publication), and

• a project plan (maximum 3 pages excluding references).

The project plan is an important part of the assessment and should demonstrate your analytical and independent research ability within the project’s field. The plan should also show how you intend to integrate your research questions with the project’s thematic and methodological approach. Read https://behavior-of-organisms.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cardena-et-al-2025.pdf and develop a plan that should show how you intend to integrate your research questions with the project’s thematic and methodological approach, which includes doing LLM analyses to evaluate the taxonomy in the paper. It should include:

• purpose
• research questions
• method
• any theoretical framework
• timeline

The plan does not need to be extensive but should clearly demonstrate your ability to formulate and plan a research project within the framework of the advertised position.

Only complete applications will be considered.

In the selection process, the applicant’s project plan will be assessed based on both its scientific quality and its connection to the overall structure and aims of the research project.

Type of employment
Limit of tenure, four years according to HF 5 kap 7§.