Social Science PhD Opportunity on Home Helper Robots
Job No.: 678806
Location: Caulfield campus
Employment Type: Full-time
Duration: The scholarship may be held for up to 3.5 years (fulltime) for Research Doctorate (PhD) studies
Remuneration: The successful applicant will receive a Research Living Allowance, at a value of $36,063 AUD per annum (2025 rate, subject to annual indexation) for PhD, and 4-year tuition fee scholarship. If the successful candidate is an international student, the scholarship will cover Single Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) cover for 57 months (valid with a subclass 500 Student visa) and a one-off $2,000 AUD relocation allowance (if relocating from overseas or $1,000 AUD if relocating from interstates).
The Opportunity
This is an unprecedented opportunity for an outstanding social sciences PhD candidate interested in home helper robots and our future lives with human-like AI, supervised by Professor Yolande Strengers at Monash University. The successful candidate will join our world-leading team in the Emerging Technologies Lab (ETLab) and FUTURES Hub, one of Australia’s most innovative research facilities. The candidate will also be connected to the Faculty of Information Technology.
The Emerging Technologies Research Lab, directed by Laureate Professor Sarah Pink, is an interdisciplinary and international research and knowledge community. We investigate the futures, present and past of our social, experiential and political worlds. Our world-class academic and engaged scholarship innovates and delivers new techniques and knowledge carefully designed to deliver new, inclusive and effective understandings and impact in response to the urgent need to better plan for futures with and for people and other species, emerging technologies and climate. The Lab’s internationally leading researchers bring together academic scholarship with engagement with external stakeholders, and advocate for the design of better, responsible and ethical futures. Their work also advances new ethnographic and futures methodologies drawing from design, anthropology, sociology, science and technology studies and documentary filmmaking practice. FUTURES Hub is our response to this moment where we live with elevated future uncertainties in a changing climate, in our applications of emerging technologies, and for our communities and everyday life. There is simply insufficient knowledge about our possible futures, and a need for new qualitative techniques for investigating, understanding, communications and action in relation to possible futures.
To be considered for this opportunity you should hold a bachelor’s degree of at least four years in a relevant discipline, which includes a research thesis or project, with a minimum overall average grade of an honours degree equivalent to First Class Honours; or, a master's degree in a relevant discipline which includes a research thesis or project equivalent to at least 25% of one year of full-time study, with a minimum overall average grade of honours equivalent to the First Class Honours; or a qualification, or combination of qualifications and relevant professional experience deemed First Class Honours equivalent by Monash University. For this particular position you must also have an undergraduate or postgraduate qualification in qualitative social science in sociology, anthropology, media and cultural studies (or equivalent), which has ideally included training and experience in ethnographic research.
Monash University strongly advocates diversity, equality, fairness and openness. We fully support the gender equity principles of the Athena SWAN Charter.
The Project
We invite applications from outstanding PhD candidates with undergraduate or postgraduate qualification in qualitative social science – such as sociology, anthropology or media and cultural studies and which has included training in qualitative research.
This PhD project is part of Professor Yolande Strengers’ Australian Research Council Future Fellowship project on home helper robots and our future lives with human-like AI. The Future Fellowship aims to understand and plan for the social outcomes of embedding ‘cute’ home helper robots into people’s everyday lives, through four objectives:
- Identify how industry visions and assumptions shape the aesthetic design and use of home helper robots and inform the relationships people develop with them;
- Understand the current and potential roles and risks for home helper robots in people’s everyday lives;
- Provide the theoretical and methodological innovation needed to understand the growing importance of human-like AI and anthropomorphised robots in everyday life; and
- Generate a new resource of digital sociological knowledge to guide the development of home robots and AI.
The Future Fellowship project within which this PhD opportunity is embedded is expected to generate new knowledge and resources to understand and respond to the emerging opportunities and risks associated with home helper robots, including their ability to support household tasks, and to provide child and aged care and companionship. Expected outcomes include an improved understanding of anthropomorphised robots in everyday life and innovation in home helper robot theory and imaginaries. This should provide benefits such as informing robot design and policy to improve social outcomes, consumer protections and human-robot relationships.
The successful candidate is invited to submit an original short research proposal that responds to one or more of the broader project’s objectives, aligned with the candidate’s areas of interest and/or expertise.
We do not expect the successful candidate to have existing experience of researching robots or AI, but rather we are seeking a candidate who will be interested in applying social science skills to the above topic in a way that complements the Future Fellowship’s aims and objectives.
This position has a two-stage selection process:
Stage 1: Please submit an EOI using the Faculty of Information Technology Research Project Enquiry form here: supervisorconnect.it.monash.edu/enquire.
With the EOI please include the documents requested by the form - CV, academic transcripts and cover letter - and a draft research proposal of up to 5 pages, responding to one or more of the above research objectives.
The draft research proposal should demonstrate an enthusiasm for engaged, theoretical and empirical research using ethnographic and other innovative methods into robotic and AI relationships and futures. It should also outline your interest in being a PhD candidate within the Emerging Technologies Research Lab, summarise the theoretical, methodological and practical approaches you are interested in pursuing in a PhD and your interests in engaging with innovative digital, visual and/or design ethnographic methodologies.
Stage 2: Candidates who are shortlisted at this stage of the selection process will be invited to discuss their ideas with Professor Strengers before submitting a full application.
Enquiries: FIT Graduate Research Team, fit-graduate.research@monash.edu
Applications Close: Friday 9 May 2025, 11:55pm AEST
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