Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Learning to Defer in Healthcare

We are seeking a creative and highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to join the Turing AI World-Leading Fellowship research programme led by Professor Alison Noble. This exciting and ambitious research aims to develop new AI for shared human-AI decision-making in healthcare imaging. This post focuses on bridging theory and applications of the Learning-to-Defer (L2D) framework, building on recent publications of the group. You will be part of the Noble research group at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, based at the Old Road Campus in Headington. The full-time post is funded by UKRI and is fixed-term for 12 months.

You will be working in a small highly motivated inter-disciplinary team working towards a shared goal. You will be responsible for the design and pilot testing of original learning-to-defer techniques that may be useful in clinical practice. This may involve work with an industrial partner. You will work with clinical domain experts to define use cases, and design and evaluate models in simulated and real clinical scenarios. Evaluation may involve quantitative studies (model performance) and qualitative studies (human factors assessment).

You should hold a relevant PhD/DPhil (or near completion) and have publications in rejection learning or learning-to-defer techniques. You should also have experience of original machine learning architecture design and ideally have prior experience of working with healthcare data.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Prof Alison Noble (email: alison.noble@eng.ox.ac.uk). For more information about working at the Department, see www.eng.ox.ac.uk/about/work-with-us/.

Only online applications received before midday on 22 May 2026 can be considered. You will be required to upload a cover letter/supporting statement, including a brief statement of research interests (describing how past experience and future plans fit with the advertised position), CV and the details of two referees as part of your online application.

The Department holds an Athena Swan Bronze award, highlighting its commitment to promoting women in Science, Engineering and Technology.

Location: Department of Engineering Science, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Old Road Campus Research Building, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7DQ

Pay Scale: RESEARCH GRADE 7

Salary: £39,424 - £47,779 per annum (Inclusive of Oxford University Weighting)

Contact Person: Professor Alison Noble

Vacancy ID: 186106

Closing Date & Time: 22-May-2026 12:00