7 March 2025
Do you want to contribute to a better understanding of our world as a complex system? Do you have experience in inter- and transdisciplinary scholarship? Are you an ethical and collaborative researcher who is looking for a values-based research community? Are you interested in gaining experience in collaborative leadership within the research, science and innovation system?
Applications are invited for three two-year postdoctoral fellowships with Te Pūnaha Matatini – Aotearoa New Zealand’s Centre of Research Excellence for complex systems. The three fellows will work as a team within the newly created Modelling for Impact Hub.
At its core, the Hub works towards provisioning and maintaining, for example, system dynamics models, complex networks, agent-based models and digital twins of significant national systems – tracking resource flows, population dynamics, infrastructure dependencies, and social networks, for example. These models will reveal emergent properties and potential intervention points that might otherwise remain invisible.
The Hub operates with three guiding principles:
- Accessibility with responsibility: If models are made public this happens through intuitive interfaces, but with careful consideration of how simplifications might be misinterpreted or misused. Public-facing tools include transparent documentation of assumptions, limitations, and appropriate use cases.
- Interdisciplinary integration: The Hub houses an interdisciplinary team – for example, economists alongside anthropologists and data scientists alongside ethicists – creating models that capture both quantitative metrics and qualitative human experiences.
- Reflexive practice: The Hub continuously examines its own influence, recognising that models shape perceptions and decisions. Regular ethical reviews evaluate how simulations might reinforce existing biases or power structures.
The Hub serves as both technical infrastructure and cultural platform – a space where policymakers, citizens, and researchers can develop collective intelligence about complex national challenges while critically reflecting on the act of modelling itself.
We have one fellowship available for each of the three pillars that will operate under the umbrella of the Hub:
- Guidelines and infrastructure for ethical use of data, models, and other research artifacts: This pillar aims to advance our understanding of ethical research practices beyond traditional open science approaches. The postdoctoral fellow will lead empirical investigations of open science and similar practices, examining how current initiatives can evolve to address deeper ethical considerations and responsible research practices. The work will involve empirical research through case studies of adversarial use of modelling to identify commonalities and patterns of such uses. This work will contribute to developing guidelines, infrastructure, and frameworks that enhance research integrity and ethical considerations in modern scientific practice.
- Reference models of a nation as a complex system: This pillar aims to develop a set of reference models to analyse Aotearoa New Zealand as a complex system, specifically focusing on its economic, social, and cultural trajectories. Nations are inherently complex entities, characterised by interactions between individuals, institutions, and the environment. The postdoctoral fellow will lead the development of large-scale models that allow analyses and simulations of synthetic populations that are representative of Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Approaches that empower people to engage with complex systems: In many complex systems the scale in terms of time and/or space can make it difficult to observe how a change in one part of a complex system affects the rest of the system (e.g., whether more frequent discharging in a general medicine ward will reduce overcrowding in an emergency department or not). This pillar will explore data visualisation and human-computer interaction to understand barriers to its adoption. It will also explore more recent technology for engaging with immersive interaction with computer models including digital twins, mixed reality, and serious games. The postdoctoral fellow will develop prototypes to allow people to interact with complex data and models and investigate the cognitive dimension of human understanding of complexity through these means.
The fellowships also include a component of work with other Te Pūnaha Matatini projects, and active involvement in the collaborative leadership of the Modelling for Impact Hub.
Eligibility
We are happy to consider applicants from a diverse range of fields including engineering, computer science, statistics, and social sciences. Familiarity with empirical and qualitative research methods is highly desirable. The applicant should have an interest in open science and research ethics.
The successful candidate will hold, or expect to complete before starting the position, a PhD in their disciplinary area. They must have a track record of peer-reviewed publications and the ability to work collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams.
Applicants from all countries and backgrounds are actively encouraged to apply, however you will need to be able to obtain a visa that allows you to live and work in Aotearoa New Zealand before beginning the position.
Members of underrepresented groups are very welcome, as are researchers with families. Our research group aims to achieve work-life balance within a productive scientific environment.
Location
You will be based at one of the partner organisations of Te Pūnaha Matatini, depending on the best fit for your circumstances. We are partnered with all of the major universities in Aotearoa New Zealand. You will work closely with Associate Professor Kelly Blincoe, Associate Professor Michael O’Sullivan, Professor Markus Luczak-Roesch, and other researchers at Te Pūnaha Matatini.
Te Pūnaha Matatini brings together ‘many faces’ – different disciplines, ways of thought, methods, and crucially, people – to define, and then solve, society’s thorny interconnected problems. Te Pūnaha Matatini has an active whānau group which supports early career researchers, committed to the Te Pūnaha Matatini values of manaakitanga and whakawhanaungatanga, offering supportive tuakana / teina learning environments.
Position details
This is a full-time (40 hours per week), fixed-term position for two years. Hybrid working arrangements are possible, but the role involves some travel to attend research meetings and engage with local communities.
Start date
The start date is flexible but would preferably be before the end of October 2025.
Salary
$80,000 – $95,000 depending on the track record of the applicant.
Due date
Applications will be considered until the position is filled.
Contact
If you have any questions, please contact Markus Luczak-Roesch at markus.luczak-roesch@vuw.ac.nz.
How to apply
Send an email expressing your interest, along with a CV, academic record, and list of three potential referees to tepunahamatatini@auckland.ac.nz.