Dr Isabel Sassoon is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Computer Science at Brunel University London, where she is also Director of Education in the Department of Computer Science. Her research examines reasoning in AI systems, including statistical modelling, automated reasoning, and large language models (LLMs), with a focus on how model outputs are justified, explained, and evaluated in real‑world contexts. A unifying theme of her work is the use of computational argumentation as a formal framework for understanding and supporting reasoning in data‑driven systems. Her research contributions are in the fields of open science, explainable AI and decision support systems. She holds a PhD in Informatics from King’s College London, where her doctoral research developed a computational argumentation‑based approach to support statistical model selection, helping formalise how analysts justify modelling decisions given data, assumptions, and research objectives. More recently, her work has focused on reasoning in large language models (LLMs). She investigates how computational argumentation can be used to evaluate, steer, and improve LLM reasoning, including how models respond to critical questioning, detect reasoning errors, and revise conclusions. Her applied research spans healthcare and public policy, including serving as Brunel Lead Investigator on the UKRI AHRC‑funded IMMUNE project, which examined the risks and unintended consequences of COVID‑19 immunity certification systems. She has extensive experience teaching quantitative data analysis at postgraduate level. Prior to academia, she spent over a decade working in industry as a data science consultant, including at SAS UK. Isabel is a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and Editorial Board Member of Real World Data Science,
We are recruiting new Doctoral Researchers to our EPSRC funded Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) PhD studentships starting 1 October 2023. Applications are invited for the project Validating, Monitoring and Explaining model decisions
Successful applicants will receive an annual stipend (bursary) of approximately £19,668, including inner London weighting, plus payment of their full-time home tuition fees for a period of 42 months (3.5 years).
You should be eligible for home (UK) tuition fees there are a very limited number (no more than three) of studentships available to overseas applicants, including EU nationals, who meet the academic entry criteria including English Language proficiency.
You will join the internationally recognised researchers in the Department of Computer Science
The Project
As Machine Learning (AI) models underpin many of the decision tools these need to be monitored, validated and explainable for decisions to be trusted.
The aim of this research is to explore, develop and evaluate methods and interfaces to robustly validate, monitor and explain model decisions over time; to identify reasons for model performance drift, devise and evaluate guidelines to promote trust in model decisions over time.
Possible areas: health benchmarking models, credit risk models.
Please contact Dr Isabel Sassoon at isabel.sassoon@brunel.ac.uk for an informal discussion about the studentships.
Eligibility
Applicants will have or be expected to receive a first or upper-second class honours degree in an Engineering, Computer Science, Design, Mathematics, Physics or a similar discipline. A Postgraduate Masters degree is not required but may be an advantage.
Skills and Experience
Applicants will be required to demonstrate their knowledge applying AI, Machine Learning, or related (e.g., Natural Language Processing) techniques . Desirable: Software development, UX development experience running user studies.
You should be highly motivated, able to work independently as well as in a team, collaborate with others and have good communication skills.
How to apply
There are two stages of the application:
1.Applicants must submit the pre-application form via the following link https://brunel.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/epsrc-dtp-23-24-pre-application-form-brunel-university-lon-3 by 16.00 on Friday 26th May 2023.
2.If you are shortlisted for the interview, you will be asked to email the following documentation in a single PDF file to cedps-studentships@brunel.ac.uk within 24hrs.
- Your up-to-date CV;
- Your Undergraduate degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) essential;
- Your Postgraduate Masters degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) if applicable;
- Your valid English Language qualification of IELTS 6.5 overall (minimum 6.0 in each section) or equivalent, if applicable;
- Contact details for TWO referees, one of which can be an academic member of staff in the College.
Applicants should therefore ensure that they have all of this information in case they are shortlisted.
Interviews will take place in June 2023.