A PhD position on agent concepts in public administration at the Leibniz Center for Law, University of Amsterdam

The PhD student will work on the design methodology for multi-agent simulations, and address the interesting theoretical questions we have about agent role descriptions as design components in multi-agent simulation. The PhD student will also give input to a methodology for acquisition of legal knowledge from the text of the law.

Agent roles in general are identied with a set of abilities, and a set of susceptibilities to actions of others, and with goals, plans, and beliefs typical of that role. Law-based agent roles are a natural approach to knowledge acquisition from the sources of law. Law-based agent roles can be characterized by a set of powers and liabilities, duties and rights found in legal rules in thetext of the law.

The agent role description includes a subjective theory about the social system or organizational structure in which an agent is embedded. Of specic interest in the legal domain is the fact that there are clear costs and limits tothe collection of evidence, given the limited access of the agent to its domain, and that the application of legal rules is therefore often bound to a context of use.

The agent role descriptions will be used as design components in multi-agent system simulation. These simulations may represent current situations, proposed design alternatives, theories of noncompliance, etc.

Job requirements

The candidate is supposed to write a PhD-thesis on the subject outlined below. He or she will be contracted as a PhD-student (AiO) conform the regulations of the University of Amsterdam.

The candidate for this position should have a master’s degree or equivalent. The candidate should be interested in the legal domain & in multi-agent systems. We are looking for someone with programming skills and a background in multi-agent systems, knowledge representation, and/or semantic web technology.

Preferably the candidate should have Dutch reading skills at the level required for understanding legal documents, but very suitable non-Dutch applicants will be considered. Students that have not yet finished their master’s thesis, but are about to do so within 3 months are also invited to apply for this position.

Contact: prof. Tom M. van Engers, vanEngers@uva.nl

For more information, please visit the Leibniz Center for Law website