We are seeking a highly motivated PhD student to join our team in developing advanced models for cooperative interactions. The project focuses on integrating automated negotiation techniques with human values such as fairness and equality.

The goal of this project is to develop negotiation mechanisms that model and integrate other agents’ values into decision-making when proposing offers. The novelty of this work lies in having a radical shift where negotiations are not only driven by static and personal utilities, but also consider the values of others. For instance, when dividing shares in a start-up, entrepreneurs may disagree on what is “fair”. To ensure future collaboration and growth, they must avoid selfish strategies and instead seek compromises that satisfy everyone. This requires a deep understanding of each participant’s perspective on fairness.

This PhD project will be funded by a project called Engineering Value Awareness in Social AI (EVASAI), which is a collaboration between the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute in Barcelona (IIIA-CSIC, where the PhD research will be conducted), the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, and the Unversitat Politècnica de València.

The PhD will be supervised by Dave de Jonge and Nardine Osman