PhD on worker-augmenting technology implementation

Are you eager to study how workers can shape the AI and robotic systems they use, so that technology helps them to improve their quality of working life and their performance? We are looking for a PhD candidate to become part of a multidisciplinary research programme on digital technology and work.

The project
AI and robotics can help workers handle demanding tasks, yet their actual benefits depend on how technologies are selected, introduced and adapted in everyday work. Workers may have too little say in those choices or face an overwhelming number of decisions without adequate support. The Design work package of the NWA-project AUGMENT therefore asks when, how and to what extent workers themselves should be able to decide how technology supports their work. Its goal is to develop evidence-based guidance for worker-augmenting technology implementation across small and large organizations and among workers with different educational backgrounds. Thus, your work will directly contribute to a future of work wherein technology augments rather than replaces human work.

Your research will connect work and organizational psychology, work design, human-technology interaction and participatory design. You will examine which forms of assistance workers need, which technologies can meet those needs, and which job decision opportunities allow workers to adjust technology while sustaining their job quality, well-being and performance. The precise research questions and studies will be refined with the supervisory team and consortium partners.

Your role in this project
Within this project, you will:

• Conduct fieldwork and collaborate with practical and knowledge workers in small and medium-sized and large organizations, by - among others - performing task and capacity analyses and interviews about their experience of work and desired support.
• Review relevant AI and robotic applications, interview technology integrators, and help assess their potential to support workers using an available human-machine synergy scoring approach.
• Develop and use a transportable laboratory setting at TU/e to study simulated work activities and decisions about AI and robotics
• Design a longitudinal field study of how workers use decision opportunities over time and their implications for labour productivity and meaningful work.
• Analyse qualitative and quantitative data, develop practical guidance for job redesign with partner organizations, and communicate findings to workers, organizations and other stakeholders.
• Publish scientific papers, present at international conferences, and complete a doctoral dissertation.

Your research will be embedded in the Human Performance Management (HPM) group of the School of Industrial Engineering at TU/e. HPM develops scientific knowledge and tests theories that uncover and explain (psychological) processes contributing to performance at the organizational, team, and individual level. By examining the ‘people factor’ in operational and innovation processes, HPM aims to ensure that employees can help in bringing organizational strategies to fruition in the most rewarding and efficient way possible. See: https://www.tue.nl/en/research/research-groups/industrial-engineering/human-performance-management for more information about HPM research.

Prof. Dr Pascale Le Blanc (TU/e) is the assigned promotor; your co-promotors are Dr. Anna-Sophie Ulfert-Blank (daily supervisor, TU/e) and Dr. Milan Wolffgramm (daily supervisor, Saxion). Dr. Paul Preenen (Saxion) will serve as scientific advisor. You will closely collaborate with partner organizations and theoretical and practical workers involved in the NWA-project AUGMENT.

The wider AUGMENT consortium connects research on changing work, worker agency, technology design and implementation. Thus, this PhD position offers ample opportunities to work across disciplines, collaborate actively with organizations and researchers from different institutes, and translate research into meaningful guidance and tools for practice.