Call for Visiting Faculty: AI & Society

In the 2027-2028 academic year (Fall 2027, Spring 2028), Sciences Po will open two visiting faculty positions on the transformative role of AI in society and its potential impacts on democracy for up to a semester-long stay.

Research proposals may focus on, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• The economic impact of AI technologies, including on productivity, markets, and the structure and history of technology companies;
• AI and society: the transformation of work in various industries (health, insurance, news, creation, entertainment, science and education, etc.) including the fairness and inequality issues machine learning-based technology may rise;
• Digital law and governance: including regulation of AI technologies, algorithms and their use in social media, digital surveillance, rule of law and constitutional freedoms, challenges and opportunities of AI decision-making in government, geopolitics and global governance of AI, legal issues of generative AI productions, digitalisation of public services and governance, etc;
• Algorithms and politics, including the impact of social media on political competition and partisanship; political communication and discourse; political participation, public consultations, and elections; democratic innovations;
• AI and the information ecosystem, including misinformation, narrative manipulation, micro-targeting, and media system transformation;
• Technology and public participation, including measurement of public opinion online, harmful online discourse (hate speech), online social mobilization, etc;
• Social sciences and AI: new methods and data sources for the humanities and social sciences including: machine learning for social sciences, in silico sociology, digital humanities, etc.

Detailed information about our research units, Undergraduate College and Graduate Schools can be found on our website.

Conditions

Visiting faculty will receive a gross monthly stipend of 5 160 euros (before mandatory social security contributions and income taxes are deducted).

Visiting faculty are expected to teach one full course (12 x 2 hour sessions) with a digital/technological focus over the semester. They are also expected to contribute actively to the research community they will join, and to deliver at least one academic lecture or seminar presentation during their stay in line with the activities organized by the Open Institute for Digital Transformations.

Visiting faculty will be given access to an office space on campus, in the heart of Paris, to the Sciences Po library and other university facilities and to the research activities and events programme driven by the research unit in which they will be hosted.

The stay is to be scheduled between September and December 2027 or January/February and April/May 2028.

Application

Applicants must be current full-time permanent faculty members of their home university or research institute, hold a doctorate (or equivalent university degree), and have teaching experience.

Application materials include the following and must be submitted in English or in French:

• A statement of interest for the position, including research project to be undertaken at Sciences Po and specificities (ex: semester for residence)
• A proposed course to be taught in English or French, including a two-page, session-by-session description of each session’s content, for Sciences Po’s Undergraduate College or one of the graduate schools;
• An up-to-date CV, including list of publications;
• An invitation letter from the Sciences Po research center that wishes to host the applicant;
• A letter of support from the relevant head of department or dean of the applicant’s home institution confirming their agreement for a one-semester residence at Sciences Po.

Applications should be submitted by email to Carly Hafner,  Secretary General of the Open Institute for Digital Transformations, carly.hafner@sciencespo.fr.  

Sciences Po is a bilingual university (English and French); French is therefore not required in order to apply for this position.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: November 15, 2026

Important: Please note that you should contact the relevant department/research centre at least 6 weeks prior to the deadline for applications to secure a letter of invitation in due time.

A selection committee composed of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Open Institute for Digital Transformations will meet after the submission deadline, and decisions will be communicated to applicants by Sciences Po shortly thereafter.

Questions?

• For the program conditions: Carly Hafner,  Secretary General of the Open Institute for Digital Transformations, carly.hafner@sciencespo.fr
• For information about the research interests of the Open Institute, Jean-Philippe Cointet, Director of the Open Institute for Digital Transformations: jeanphilippe.cointet@sciencespo.fr 
• For information about the research units: Vincent Morandi, Secretary General of the Research Division: vincent.morandi@sciencespo.fr

This project is funded by the French National Research Agency in the framework of France 2030 for the TIERED project under the reference "ANR-22-EXES-0014"