Post-Doc Research Associate - AI for Credible Climate Mitigation
Inside Higher Ed, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Position Title
Post-Doc Research Associate - AI for Credible Climate Mitigation
Department
UNC Inst for the Environment - 635200
Posting Open Date
12/04/2025
Open Until Filled
Yes
Position Type
Postdoctoral Scholar
Vacancy ID
PDS004729
Full-time/Part-time
Full-Time Temporary
Hours Per Week
40
FTE
1
Work Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Position Location
North Carolina, US
Hiring Range
$68,000 - $72,000
Proposed Start Date
02/09/2026
Estimated Duration Of Appointment
12 Months
Overview
The Data-Driven EnviroLab (DDL) at UNC-Chapel Hill seeks a Postdoctoral Research Associate to join CLAIM: the Center for Climate Leadership and AI-driven Integrity in Mitigation. CLAIM advances the credible use of artificial intelligence, especially generative AI and large language models (LLMs), to accelerate climate mitigation while safeguarding integrity in climate commitments. The position sits within an interdisciplinary team spanning computer science, climate policy, law, and social science and focuses on researching how LLMs can be used for mitigation strategy and accountability, while examining biases, misinformation, or greenwashing in AI systems.
Responsibilities
Develop, adapt, and evaluate LLM/genAI systems for climate mitigation intelligence, especially for tracking and assessing commitments and actions by cities, regions, and non-state actors.
Design and validate benchmarks, metrics, and auditing pipelines that test the accuracy, credibility, fairness, and robustness of LLM outputs related to climate targets, disclosures, and policy claims.
Rigorously test genAI/ML models against misinformation, disinformation, and greenwashing, including stress-testing models under adversarial, low-resource, and multilingual settings.
Study how generative AI shapes real-world climate behavior, including impacts on corporate and subnational mitigation planning, transparency, and accountability.
Contribute to CLAIM’s broader mission: data collection, methodological innovation, open tools, papers, and policy-facing outputs that improve climate commitment integrity.
Minimum Education and Experience
PhD in Computer Science, Computing, Statistics or Data Science, or related disciplines
Required Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience
PhD in Computer Science, Computing, Statistics or Data Science, or related disciplines
Demonstrated hands-on experience training, fine-tuning, or adapting LLMs / generative AI models (e.g., instruction tuning, domain adaptation, RAG pipelines), with evidence in publications, open-source code, or deployed tools.
Strong experience in LLM/genAI evaluation and benchmarking, including methods for factuality/hallucination testing, robustness, calibration, bias/fairness, and/or adversarial stress-testing.
Solid programming and ML/NLP engineering skills in Python and modern deep-learning stacks (e.g., PyTorch/JAX, HuggingFace/Transformers, vector databases, agentic/RAG tooling), with ability to build reproducible research pipelines.
Working knowledge of climate change mitigation and environmental governance, including familiarity with climate commitments, emissions accounting, or policy/action tracking, and motivation to apply AI in this space.
Able to think critically, proactively and work both independently and in an interdisciplinary team environment.
Preferred Qualifications
Excellent organization and time management skills.
Special Instructions
For information on UNC Postdoctoral Benefits and Services, click here.
#J-18808-Ljbffr
Post-Doc Research Associate - AI for Credible Climate Mitigation
Department
UNC Inst for the Environment - 635200
Posting Open Date
12/04/2025
Open Until Filled
Yes
Position Type
Postdoctoral Scholar
Vacancy ID
PDS004729
Full-time/Part-time
Full-Time Temporary
Hours Per Week
40
FTE
1
Work Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Position Location
North Carolina, US
Hiring Range
$68,000 - $72,000
Proposed Start Date
02/09/2026
Estimated Duration Of Appointment
12 Months
Overview
The Data-Driven EnviroLab (DDL) at UNC-Chapel Hill seeks a Postdoctoral Research Associate to join CLAIM: the Center for Climate Leadership and AI-driven Integrity in Mitigation. CLAIM advances the credible use of artificial intelligence, especially generative AI and large language models (LLMs), to accelerate climate mitigation while safeguarding integrity in climate commitments. The position sits within an interdisciplinary team spanning computer science, climate policy, law, and social science and focuses on researching how LLMs can be used for mitigation strategy and accountability, while examining biases, misinformation, or greenwashing in AI systems.
Responsibilities
Develop, adapt, and evaluate LLM/genAI systems for climate mitigation intelligence, especially for tracking and assessing commitments and actions by cities, regions, and non-state actors.
Design and validate benchmarks, metrics, and auditing pipelines that test the accuracy, credibility, fairness, and robustness of LLM outputs related to climate targets, disclosures, and policy claims.
Rigorously test genAI/ML models against misinformation, disinformation, and greenwashing, including stress-testing models under adversarial, low-resource, and multilingual settings.
Study how generative AI shapes real-world climate behavior, including impacts on corporate and subnational mitigation planning, transparency, and accountability.
Contribute to CLAIM’s broader mission: data collection, methodological innovation, open tools, papers, and policy-facing outputs that improve climate commitment integrity.
Minimum Education and Experience
PhD in Computer Science, Computing, Statistics or Data Science, or related disciplines
Required Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience
PhD in Computer Science, Computing, Statistics or Data Science, or related disciplines
Demonstrated hands-on experience training, fine-tuning, or adapting LLMs / generative AI models (e.g., instruction tuning, domain adaptation, RAG pipelines), with evidence in publications, open-source code, or deployed tools.
Strong experience in LLM/genAI evaluation and benchmarking, including methods for factuality/hallucination testing, robustness, calibration, bias/fairness, and/or adversarial stress-testing.
Solid programming and ML/NLP engineering skills in Python and modern deep-learning stacks (e.g., PyTorch/JAX, HuggingFace/Transformers, vector databases, agentic/RAG tooling), with ability to build reproducible research pipelines.
Working knowledge of climate change mitigation and environmental governance, including familiarity with climate commitments, emissions accounting, or policy/action tracking, and motivation to apply AI in this space.
Able to think critically, proactively and work both independently and in an interdisciplinary team environment.
Preferred Qualifications
Excellent organization and time management skills.
Special Instructions
For information on UNC Postdoctoral Benefits and Services, click here.
#J-18808-Ljbffr