X2 Postdoctoral Researcher Positions Legal Compliance Analysis And Engineering

The ADAPT Centre in Trinity College Dublin seeks to appoint 2 Post-Doctoral Researchers on specific purpose contracts to work in the RECITALS Horizon project (https://recitals-project.eu/ GA no:101168490) involving analysis of legal requirements and the creation of a compliance manager. The goal of the project is to develop a compliance manager that assists in the automated checking of compliance with regulations and for domain-specific use-cases to produce documentation. The positions corresponding to the following:

Position 1: Legal Analysis

• The primary task undertaken by the hired postdoc will involve an analysis of EU regulations, including GDPR, AI Act, NIS2, to identify key obligations and documentation requirements and to develop methods to verify compliance based on information being documented.
• The hired postdoc will work with the postdoc hired in Position 2 to develop the compliance manager. See the description of Position 2 for relevant information.
• The hired postdoc will contribute actively to the W3C Data Privacy Vocabularies and Controls Community Group (DPVCG), where they will be involved in using the produced work to improve the Data Privacy Vocabulary (DPV) and its extensions such as EU-GDPR and EU-AIAct
• Mandatory requirements:
• The applicant MUST be familiar with one or more of the regulations mentioned above and its compliance requirements. The hired postdoc will be supported by the PI to understand and work with the other regulations.
• The applicant MUST have prior work (including publications) that demonstrates their expertise in the understanding of the specific law and its compliance requirements
• A PhD in Law or Computer Science or relevant discipline

Position 2: Compliance Engineering

• The primary task undertaken by the hired postdoc will involve the implementation of a compliance manager using semantic web technologies (namely RDFS, SKOS, SHACL, SPARQL) and its integration and management within the project platform (e.g. as an API)
• The hired postdoc will work with the postdoc hired in Position 1 for an understanding of the legal requirements and to codify and implement mechanisms that ensure required information is sufficient to demonstrate compliance and to produce required documentation
• The hired postdoc will participate within the W3C Data Privacy Vocabularies and Controls Community Group (DPVCG), where they will be involved in using the produced work to improve the Data Privacy Vocabulary (DPV) and its extensions such as EU-GDPR and EU-AIAct
• Mandatory requirements:

The applicant MUST be familiar with core semantic web technologies mentioned above (RDFS, SKOS, SHACL, SPARQL) and with ontology engineering fundamentals such as use of triple stores, querying and reasoning. The applicant MUST have experience with using semantic web technologies to assess or evaluate requirements (may or may not relate to law). The hired postdoc will be supported by the PI to develop the legal compliance management approaches.

• The applicant MUST have prior work (including publications and code/repo) that demonstrates their expertise in the use of semantic web technologies
• A PhD in Computer Science or relevant discipline (or equivalent)

• Good to have:
• Knowledge of DPV or other legal ontologies, including ODRL
• Knowledge of regulations (GDPR, AI Act, NIS2, etc.)
• Knowledge of audits, certifications, and conformity procedures
• Experience with Horizon projects regarding deliverables and reporting obligations
• Any other relevant research experience pertaining to the topic (e.g. membership of key groups, participation in standardisation, working within industrial settings)
• Interest or experience (preferred) with rights (e.g. privacy, GDPR rights)

Duties and Responsibilities

Salary Scale: Post-Doctoral Researcher – Point 1 €46,305 to Point 4 €50,168 (excluding pension and PRSI) as per the IUA pay scales. Appointment will be commensurate with qualifications and experience and in line with current Government pay policy.

Informal Enquiries in relation to this role should be directed to: Dr. Harshvardhan Pandit and MUST have the subject line “[RECITALS] Job Enquiry” Email: harshvardhan.pandit@adaptcentre.ie

Please Note: Applicants should address how they meet the mandatory requirements in their cover letter. If the cover letter does not have this information, the applicant will not be considered. The position is full-time and in-person where the hired postdoc MUST be in Ireland and will be expected to be present within the office. Remote work after this will be as per university policy.