Postdoctoral Fellow - Computational Affective and Social Cognition Lab

Job Details

Job Posting

Title:

Postdoctoral Fellow - Computational Affective and Social Cognition Lab

Hiring Department: Department of Psychology

Position Open To: All Applicants

Weekly Scheduled

Hours:

40

FLSA Status: Exempt from FLSA

Earliest

Start Date:

Immediately

Position Duration: Expected to Continue Until May 31, 2030

Location: UT MAIN CAMPUS

The CASCog Lab, an interdisciplinary lab at the intersection of Psychology and Artificial Intelligence, is housed in the Department of Psychology, in the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas  our lab, we study how people and machines understand emotions. Current projects include: how generative AI may provide empathy, how people perceive such artificial empathy, and how this relates to AI sycophancy and mental health.

For more information about the lab, visit the lab website at (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). or Prof. Ong's website at  This position is for a fixed term of one year.

Purpose:

The Computational Affective and Social Cognition Lab (CASCogLab) in the Department of Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin, directed by Professor Desmond Ong, is hiring a full-time Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the academic year 2026-27.

• Lead research projects and handle all aspects of the research process, including: ethics review and compliance; recruiting participants for empirical studies; designing and implementing simulation studies involving AI models; managing and analyzing data; managing code bases; and supervising undergraduate research assistants.

• Write up research into manuscripts and present research at conferences.

• Grantsmanship, including applying for training fellowships or assisting with larger grant applications.

• Other duties as assigned.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will work primarily on an NSF-funded project related to studying how well AI models understand human emotions. The role includes examining how machines reason about human emotions in context, over time, and how they reason over interventions (e.g., emotion regulation). The fellow may contribute to other ongoing projects in the lab related to artificial empathy, mental health, development (e.g., adolescents), mitigating harmful AI behaviors (e.g., AI sycophancy), and safety/research benchmarks.

• Ph.D. in Psychology, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, or a related field, obtained no more than three years prior to the start date. Substantial research experience and relevant skills are required.

• Experience conducting psychological experiments: designing and constructing experiments, recruiting and consenting participants, and collecting data.

• Statistical skills, including data analysis and visualization.

• Familiarity with programming, including Python and/or R.

• Experience with or willingness to learn using LLMs for psychological research.

• Experience with or willingness to adopt open science practices in psychology (e.g., version control on Github, reproducible analysis reports in RMarkdown, pre-registration).

• Demonstrated self-motivation, accountability, detail-oriented, excellent time management skills.

• Clear communication skills and ability to work in a team.

• Positive and enthusiastic attitude towards learning.

$70,000

• A Cover Letter (not more than 3 pages) stating your research interests and long-term goals. Please discuss how your research interests, prior experience, and statistical/computational skills align with the lab.

• A Curriculum Vitae

• Up to 2 representative publications

• The names, affiliations, and contact information of three individuals who will provide recommendation letters describing your research experience and character.

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Employment Eligibility: Please meet all required qualifications and be able to perform all essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation.

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Retirement Plan Eligibility: The retirement plan is the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. The position has the option to elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) instead of TRS, subject to the position being 40 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

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Background Checks: A criminal history background check is required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

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Equal Opportunity

Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and complies with all applicable laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, education, programs and activities, and admissions.

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Pay Transparency: UT Austin will not discriminate against employees or applicants for discussing pay. However, employees with access to compensation…