Postdoctoral scholarship (2 years) in Computational Creativity applied to Spatial Problem Solving

The Department of Computing Science is offering a postdoctoral scholarship within the project “Developing systems to solve spatial problems creatively and train users’ skills”, funded by Kempestiftelserna and directed by Assoc. Prof. Zoe Falomir.  The scholarship is full-time for two years with access in January, 2026 or by agreement.

The Department of Computing Science has been growing rapidly in recent years with a focus on creating an inclusive and bottom-up driven research environment.  Our workplace consists of a diverse set of people from different nationalities, backgrounds and fields. More information about the department is available at: Department of Computing Science

You will research in collaboration with Associate Professor Zoe Falomir at the Department of Computing Science at Umeå University.

Is this interesting for you? Welcome with your application before 31 August 2025.

Project description
Computational problem solving and computational creativity have made some advances in the last years which main focus has been to create smarter systems. This project proposes to explore how to use the existing models (or develop new ones) to train user skills, such as their abilities in spatial problem solving and also their creativity. Spatial reasoning has been correlated with success in STEM and creativity has been directly related to innovation. Both are key to evolve in science and in society.

The KEMPE Foundations (Stiftelserna J.C. Kempes och Seth M. Kempes minne) are funding this project with a 2-year Postdoctoral scholarship.  The scholarship amounts to 375 000 SEK per year and is not subject to tax. 

Qualifications
To qualify as a postdoctoral scholarship holder, the postdoctoral fellow is required to have completed a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a doctoral degree. This qualification requirement must be fulfilled no later than at the time of the decision about scholarship recipient.

Priority should be given to candidates who completed their doctoral degree, according to what is stipulated in the paragraph above, no later than three years prior. If there are special reasons, candidates who completed their doctoral degree before that may also be eligible. Special reasons include absence due to illness, parental leave, appointments of trust in trade union organizations, military service, or similar circumstances, or other forms of appointment/assignment relevant to the subject area.

- Doctoral degree should be within Computing Science

- Additional requirements are state knowledge in cognitive science, human-computer-interaction, and programming paradigms involving logics (e.g. Prolog, Lisp, Clingo, Python, etc.)

Meritorious is:

- PhD dissertation topic on Computational Creativity or Human-Computer-Interaction
- Knowledge in Neurosymbolic-AI (i.e. neural symbolic reasoning and learning)

We are looking for you who like hands-on programming work, thinks out of the box, enjoys user-studies and statistical analysis, is passionate about creativity and creative problem solving.

Application
The application should be written in English or Swedish, and attached documents should be in Word or PDF format. The application should be registered via Umeå University’s e-recruitment system Varbi and submitted by the deadline 31 Aug 2025.

A full application should include:
- Cover letter in which you explain how you will develop a computational system that solves spatial problems creatively (explain which ones) and that train users’ creativity (also describe an example of a user study to test their improvement) (3 pages max).

- Curriculum vitae (CV) with publication list,

- Verified copy of doctoral degree certificate or documentation that clarifies when the doctoral degree is expected to be obtained,

- Verified copies of other diplomas, list of completed academic courses and grades,

- Copy of doctoral thesis and possibly 5 number of relevant articles,

- Other documents that the applicant wishes to claim.

- Contact information to two persons willing to act as references.

Further information
For further information, please contact Associate Professor Zoe Falomir, zoe.falomir@umu.se.

We look forward to receiving your application!