Post-Doc Research Associate - AI for Credible Climate Mitigation

Position Title Post-Doc Research Associate - AI for Credible Climate Mitigation Department UNC Inst for the Environment - 635200 Posting Open Date 12/04/2025 Open Until Filled Yes Position Type Postdoctoral Scholar Vacancy ID PDS004729 Full-time/Part-time Full-Time Temporary Hours Per Week 40

FTE 1

Work Location Chapel Hill, NC Position Location North Carolina, US Hiring Range $68,000 - $72,000 Proposed Start Date 02/09/2026 Estimated Duration Of Appointment 12 Months Overview The Data-Driven EnviroLab (DDL) at UNC-Chapel Hill seeks a Postdoctoral Research Associate to join CLAIM: the Center for Climate Leadership and AI-driven Integrity in Mitigation. CLAIM advances the credible use of artificial intelligence, especially generative AI and large language models (LLMs), to accelerate climate mitigation while safeguarding integrity in climate commitments. The position sits within an interdisciplinary team spanning computer science, climate policy, law, and social science and focuses on researching how LLMs can be used for mitigation strategy and accountability, while examining biases, misinformation, or greenwashing in AI systems. Responsibilities Develop, adapt, and evaluate LLM/genAI systems for climate mitigation intelligence, especially for tracking and assessing commitments and actions by cities, regions, and non-state actors. Design and validate benchmarks, metrics, and auditing pipelines that test the accuracy, credibility, fairness, and robustness of LLM outputs related to climate targets, disclosures, and policy claims. Rigorously test genAI/ML models against misinformation, disinformation, and greenwashing, including stress-testing models under adversarial, low-resource, and multilingual settings. Study how generative AI shapes real-world climate behavior, including impacts on corporate and subnational mitigation planning, transparency, and accountability. Contribute to CLAIM’s broader mission: data collection, methodological innovation, open tools, papers, and policy-facing outputs that improve climate commitment integrity. Minimum Education and Experience PhD in Computer Science, Computing, Statistics or Data Science, or related disciplines Required Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience PhD in Computer Science, Computing, Statistics or Data Science, or related disciplines Demonstrated hands-on experience training, fine-tuning, or adapting LLMs / generative AI models (e.g., instruction tuning, domain adaptation, RAG pipelines), with evidence in publications, open-source code, or deployed tools. Strong experience in LLM/genAI evaluation and benchmarking, including methods for factuality/hallucination testing, robustness, calibration, bias/fairness, and/or adversarial stress-testing. Solid programming and ML/NLP engineering skills in Python and modern deep-learning stacks (e.g., PyTorch/JAX, HuggingFace/Transformers, vector databases, agentic/RAG tooling), with ability to build reproducible research pipelines. Working knowledge of climate change mitigation and environmental governance, including familiarity with climate commitments, emissions accounting, or policy/action tracking, and motivation to apply AI in this space. Able to think critically, proactively and work both independently and in an interdisciplinary team environment. Preferred Qualifications Excellent organization and time management skills. Special Instructions For information on UNC Postdoctoral Benefits and Services, click here. #J-18808-Ljbffr Inside Higher Ed