Postdoctoral Researcher Opportunity: Cognition and Culture in Human-AI Interaction

Application Period: Sept. 8, 2026 - Sept. 22, 2026

Contact: huili.chen@utoronto.ca

Postdoctoral Research in Cognition and Culture in Human-AI Interaction

University of Toronto, Canada

The position

I am seeking postdoctoral researchers with a Quebec connection to host in my lab at the University of Toronto under an FRQ Postdoctoral Scholarship. The FRQ funds the fellow directly; my role is to supervise, provide the letter of acceptance, and work with each candidate on the research project and the host-environment justification. I can support more than one applicant.

Research program

My group studies the cognitive consequences of human-AI interaction. We treat the human-AI partnership as a division of cognitive labor and ask what generative AI does to the human capacities it draws on, so that AI can be designed and governed for human flourishing. The postdoc may contribute to any of three levels (more at huilichen.com/research):

  • The individual mind: how people learn by thinking a problem through versus by taking an AI's answer, and how to design AI that keeps people reasoning rather than doing it for them; when it makes sense for a person to hand a task to AI, and what skills or habits they may lose by doing so; and whether an AI tool someone uses all the time becomes part of how they think, and how we could tell.
  • Coordination between minds: how nonverbal channels carry part of the work of conversation, and how embodied agents might coordinate with people more naturally.
  • Knowledge communities: how experts and the public decide what an AI understands and when to rely on it, in domains such as healthcare, education, and law. We also ask what happens to a community's shared knowledge, and to the variety of ideas within it, when many of its members draw on the same AI.

Who Should Apply

PhD (completed or near completion) in cognitive science, psychology, computer science, human-computer interaction, engineering, philosophy of mind or science, information, education, or a related field. Strong computational or experimental skills are welcome, and so is strong conceptual and theoretical work. Interdisciplinary profiles are especially encouraged.

  • Who may apply: Canadian citizens or permanent residents holding a valid RAMQ card at the deadline (or proof of application or renewal). Without both, the scholarship must be held in Quebec
  • Degree window: Doctorate obtained within the two years before October 8, 2026, or thesis to be submitted by March 1, 2028; extensions for parental, family, health or non-research career interruptions
  • Host rules: The host institution must differ from the PhD-granting institution, and the supervisor may not be the PhD supervisor or affiliated with the PhD institution. A PhD from any Quebec university with a Toronto host satisfies both
  • Restrictions: Not eligible if you have held or hold a postdoctoral award from FRQ, CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC, or a regular professorial position; one FRQ training-award application per year
  • Sector and committee: You choose the FRQ sector (Nature et technologies, Sante, or Societe et culture) and review committee; cognitive science, HCI and information science projects fit Societe et culture or Nature et technologies
  • Evaluation: Academic record and achievements 35 points; research project 50 points; host environment 15 points (justification, integration plan, added value for your career)
  • What you write: FRQ CV (5 pages in English), previous research (1 p.), honours (1 p.), research project (4 p.), bibliography (2 p.), host-environment justification (1 p.)

How to express interest

Send a CV, a one-page statement of research interests, and one representative paper to huili.chen@utoronto.ca by Tuesday, September 22, 2026, and mention that you are applying to the FRQ B3 competition. I will confirm fit quickly, create my FRQnet account, and prepare the letter of acceptance so that you can submit by October 8.