Applied Research Scientist

“This role offers a unique opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge AI research in Trust and Safety — driving innovation, building trust, and enabling adoption of AI. You’ll collaborate with leading researchers and practitioners to turn breakthroughs into real-world impact. There’s so much meaningful work ahead and we’re eager to build it together.”_
- Alyssa Lefaivre Škopac | Director, AI Trust and Safety

**About Amii**

One of Canada’s three main institutes for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, our world-renowned researchers drive fundamental and applied research at the University of Alberta (and other academic institutions), training some of the world’s top scientific talent. Our cross-functional teams work collaboratively with Alberta-based businesses and organizations to build AI capacity and translate scientific advancement into industry adoption and economic impact.

**About the Role**

Reporting to the Director of AI Trust and Safety, the Applied Research Scientist will lead innovative research focused on AI Trust and Safety (T&S), with a particular focus on advanced AI systems and their systemic and societal risks. They will contribute to a dynamic research agenda that builds on Amii’s strengths, addresses critical gaps in the T&S landscape, and is informed by emerging national and international research priorities. Amii’s strategy is grounded in advancing AI T&S to support innovation, responsible adoption, and the diffusion of AI technologies, transforming research outputs into practical tools, frameworks, and resources that have real-world impact.

The Applied Research Scientist will leverage their work through academic papers, whitepapers, conference presentations, and practical tools to position Amii as a leader in AI safety. Their research will advance the understanding of AI risks, drive the development of more trustworthy AI systems, and support the responsible adoption of AI technologies.

The position centers on three key areas:

- Trust & Safety AI Research Projects
- Strategy and Applied Expertise
- Project Execution

Research priorities include advancing rigorous methodologies for risk assessment and system evaluations, studying the real-world behavior of complex AI systems, and developing new approaches for designing safer AI models. Particular emphasis will be placed on safety challenges in reinforcement learning (RL) and continual learning (CL), where systems adapt over time or learn from ongoing experience in dynamic environments.

Focus areas span topics such as:

- Developing robust techniques for assessing capabilities, risks, and system robustness in adaptive systems, including Reinforcement Learning (RL), Safe RL, and continual Reinforcement Learning.
- Studying the real-world impacts of AI systems, including detecting and mitigating synthetic content and fraud, with the potential to leverage game-theoretic frameworks to model and analyze adversarial dynamics.
- Research into value misalignment, robustness, and interpretability in RL agents, as well as the integration of human feedback and constraints into RL systems.
- Other emerging areas of RL or continual RL research that align with T&S objectives and long-term research priorities.

**By joining our team, you’ll help advance the science of AI trust and safety in a way that accelerates innovation, builds public trust, and ensures AI has a positive, real-world impact in Canada and beyond.**

**Required Skills / Expertise**

**Key Responsibilities**:
**Trust & Safety Research Projects**
- Develop and propose Trust & Safety (T&S) research projects - defining objectives, scope, methodologies, and resource needs - and conduct original research to build models, tools, and approaches that address real-world challenges.
- Author and publish peer-reviewed papers, white papers, and other scientific outputs to advance the field and share findings with the broader community.
- Continuously refine research plans in response to emerging insights, technological advances, and shifts in industry needs.
- Design, develop, and execute large-scale AI experiments to advance research and inform applied solutions.
- Synthesize existing research to identify knowledge gaps and drive the development of new scientific projects.
- Support collaborations with Canadian and international research institutions to expand the scope and impact of T&S research.

**Strategy and Applied Expertise**
- Develop and communicate a clear vision and strategy for how projects contribute to the goals and objectives of the T&S program at Amii.
- Stay current with advancements in AI, ML, and T&S, offering cutting-edge insights and guidance.
- Contribute to multi-stakeholder discussions to collaborate on the technical and strategic direction for T&S projects.
- Represent the organization at conferences, workshops, and industry events, sharing knowledge and building a reputation as a thought leader in AI T&S.
- Support reporting requirements and generate i