Information Systems Group PhD positions openings 2026
📩 How to apply: applications will be submitted via the University of Tartu admissions system in the period of 1-15 May 2026. You can already review requirements and start preparing your documents.
PhD position #1: Governance and organisational capabilities for responsible and sustainable AI across the AI lifecycle
Supervisor: Anastasija Nikiforova (associate professor)
About the project: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming organisational practices and decision-making. Yet, while principles such as fairness, transparency, and accountability are widely promoted, they often remain difficult to implement in practice. At the same time, the sustainability impacts of AI, including energy use, carbon emissions, infrastructure dependencies, and hidden labour, are rarely governed proactively.
This doctoral project addresses these challenges by shifting the focus from AI systems as technical artefacts to AI governance and adoption as organisational capabilities.
The research takes the AI lifecycle as its central perspective, covering stages from data sourcing and model development to deployment, monitoring, and decommissioning. It further extends this view by considering the broader AI value chain, including upstream and downstream impacts such as infrastructure, resource use, and environmental footprint.
The main goal of the project is to develop and empirically validate a governance and capability framework for Responsible and Sustainable AI, integrating ethical, environmental, and organisational considerations into how AI is designed, deployed, and managed in practice.
The PhD candidate will:
- analyse governance challenges across the AI lifecycle
- design frameworks or models (e.g., capability maturity models, decision-support tools)
- conduct empirical research in organisational and/or public sector contexts
- contribute to both academic research and practical policy and organisational solutions
The project is grounded in Information Systems research, with connections to Responsible AI, Sustainable/Green AI, and digital governance.
The research will follow a Design Science Research approach, combining empirical studies with the development and evaluation of governance artefacts. The project will leverage real-world contexts, including Estonia’s digital ecosystem.
The project aims to:
- advance understanding of Responsible and Sustainable AI as a governance and organisational capability
- provide actionable frameworks for organisations and policymakers
- bridge the gap between AI ethics principles and real-world implementation
The ideal candidate has a background in Information Systems, Computer Science, or a related field, and is interested in AI governance, data governance, sustainability, and socio-technical systems. Experience with qualitative or design-oriented research is an advantage.
Contact person: Anastasija Nikiforova (anastasija.nikiforova@ut.ee)
PhD position #2: Data-driven Simulation of Interrelated Business Processes with External Actors
Supervisor: Orlenys López Pintado (research fellow)
About the project:
Most existing approaches to business process simulation focus on isolated processes. However, real-world processes are deeply interconnected and influenced by external actors, often introducing delays and variability that are not explicitly captured in traditional models. This PhD project aims to develop context-aware, data-driven simulation techniques to better reflect these real-world dynamics.
Research objectives include:
- Discovering simulation models of interrelated processes by inferring dependencies (e.g., causal relations, synchronization points, shared resources)
- Modeling interactions with external actors, including response variability and hidden delays in event data
- Enabling advanced what-if analysis to evaluate business process optimization strategies
Who we are looking for: Candidates with a background in computer science, information systems, data science, or related fields, and an interest in process mining, simulation, or applied machine learning.
Contact person: Orlenys López Pintado (orlenys.lopez.pintado@ut.ee)
PhD position #3: Institutional Governance of AI-Mediated Knowledge Production
Supervisor: Anastasija Nikiforova (associate professor)
About the project: The rapid diffusion of generative artificial intelligence (AI), particularly large language models, is transforming how academic knowledge is produced in universities. Students increasingly rely on AI systems as collaborators in research and writing, yet institutional governance structures have not evolved at the same pace. Current approaches to Responsible AI in education remain largely aspirational, offering limited guidance on accountability, transparency, and institutional responsibility.
This doctoral project investigates how generative AI becomes embedded in academic knowledge production and how universities can govern this transformation responsibly. Drawing on Information Systems, AI governance, and digital education research, the study examines student–AI co-production practices and their institutionalization within higher education.
The project employs digital ethnography, go-along studies, and model ethnography to observe AI-mediated writing practices, complemented by the development of a Provenance Scale that traces AI contribution across stages of academic work. The project follows a Design Science Research approach to develop and evaluate a governance framework for responsible AI use in universities. The expected outcomes include conceptual models, governance guidelines, and policy-relevant artefacts that support transparency, trust, and accountable AI adoption in knowledge institutions. By bridging theory and practice, the research offers actionable solutions for higher education governance.
Contact person: Anastasija Nikiforova (anastasija.nikiforova@ut.ee)