# Digit studentship on AI/human interaction.

**Source**: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/fees-funding/phd-funding/view/1947-AI-selecting-or-evaluating-humans-Professional-and-ethical-tensions-in-the-use-of-AI-in-organisations-ESRC-Centre-for-Digital-Futures-at-Work-PhD-Studentship
**Parent**: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/fees-funding/phd-funding/browse

## AI selecting or evaluating humans. Professional and ethical tensions in the use of AI in organisations. (ESRC Centre for Digital Futures at Work PhD Studentship) (2026)

Digit is offering a studentship, with a stipend and UK/International fees covered, starting in late September 2026 on AI/human interaction in organizational settings.
The ESRC Centre for Digital Futures at Work (Digit) aims to advance our understanding of how digital technologies are reshaping work. This studentship is part of the Management Integrated PhD programme at the University of Sussex Business School. The successful applicant will have access to the instruction and support of the Business School’s PhD training programme and to supervision by experts in the field.

### What you get

The successful candidate will recieve:

- Full UK tuition fees only for up to four years.
- A stipend equivalent to UKRI doctoral stipend,  £21,383 (2026/27) per annum for up to four years.

### Type of award

Postgraduate Research

### PhD project

AI selecting or evaluating humans. Professional and ethical tensions in the use of AI in organisations.

**Supervisors at Sussex**: Prof Dimitra Petrakaki and Dr Zahira Jaser.

Digital transformation has positioned artificial intelligence as a vehicle for organisational efficiency across sectors such as healthcare, recruitment, and talent management. Organizations worldwide are increasingly adopting AI systems to select and evaluate humans, with promises of objectivity, efficiency, and data-driven decision-making. These AI interventions aim to fundamentally alter how professionals (clinicians, nurses, hiring managers, HR practitioners, team leaders) within organisations make decisions and interact with workers, prospective employees, clients and even patients. There are different ways in which AI can support organisational processes, including automating selection decisions, substantially changing how professionals evaluate and assess humans at work, and introducing algorithmic evaluation systems that significantly alter their work. In addition, some of these AI solutions intend to intrude into professionals' work practices, through, for instance, algorithmic nudges or automated decision prompts, altering how professionals make decisions. Yet organisations are not always ready to adopt and use these AI solutions, given practical, ethical and governance questions. Work pressures amongst professionals, post-digital transformation fatigue, low morale and low enthusiasm, ethical uncertainty and poor governance create resistance to adopt AI technologies. AI implementation, such as algorithmic management, might even be perceived as a means of controlling their autonomy at work and their decision-making. Ideas that bias can lead to discriminatory selection and evaluation are also becoming more widespread and influencing perceptions of AI use. Conflictual situations whereby technological efficiency and ethics and governance collide are part of this new digital work terrain, but often not explored in depth.

This PhD project will focus on identifying and mapping the sociological and/or social-psychological challenges surrounding the adoption of AI for human selection and evaluation. It can explore, amongst others, professionals' perceptions of the AI, and capture the factors (e.g., lack of AI literacy, limited/lack of ethical understanding, impact of AI on wellbeing, inadequate governance, perception of AI bias etc.) that speed up, deter and delay technological adoption and use. The research is expected to adopt a series of methodologies, broadly aligned with an interpretivist, social constructionist perspective.

The research student will be part of the Digit Doctoral Network and will benefit from support from the Business School’s early-career researcher networks. They will receive research training as part of the first-year programme of the Management Integrated PhD degree and will be integrated into the Mid- and early-Career Researchers Forum of Digit.

### Eligibility

- Minimum of a 2.1 undergraduate honours degree.
- A Master’s degree ideally in a relevant subject area, with ideally at least a merit mark (60%), or equivalent professional experience.
- Proof of proficiency in English language to meet the university’s entry requirements.
- We require a 2.1 undergraduate honours degree, or equivalent, and a Master’s degree in a relevant subject area such as work and employee relations, value chains and economic geography, political economy or agri-food studies.

### Number of scholarships available

One.

### Deadline

15 May 2026 23:59

### How to apply

Please submit by email to Professor Dimitra Petrakaki and Dr Zahira Jaser at [d.petrakaki@sussex.ac.uk](mailto:d.petrakaki@sussex.ac.uk) and [z.jaser@sussex.ac.uk](mailto:z.jaser@sussex.ac.uk) as **one pdf file** an application including:

- A statement of interest that outlines why you would like to be considered for this studentship project and what you would like to research (maximum 1 page)
- A CV (2-3 pages)
- Degree transcripts and certificates
- A piece of written work (e.g. an essay or project from your undergraduate or master’s degree)
- Names and contact details for two academic referees

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to interview on a rolling basis. The successful candidate will then need to apply for the PhD programme at the University of Sussex.

### Sponsors

University of Sussex and ESRC

### Contact us

For any enquiries about the PhD studentship research proposal, please contact Professor Dimitra Petrakaki ([d.petrakaki@sussex.ac.uk](mailto:d.petrakaki@sussex.ac.uk)) or Dr Zahira Jaser (z.jaser@sussex.ac.uk )

For questions relating to the application process, contact [business-researchstudents@sussex.ac.uk](mailto:business-researchstudents@sussex.ac.uk).

### Timetable

Application Deadline: 15 May 2026

Interview and Decision: June 2026

Start: Late September 2026

    

#### Availability

**At level(s):**\
PG (research)

**Application deadline:**\
15 May 2026 23:59 (GMT)

#### Countries

The award is available to people from these specific countries:

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Andorra, Principality of
Angola
Anguilla
Antarctica
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Botswana
Bouvet Island
Brazil
British Indian Ocean Territory
British National (Overseas)
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia, Kingdom of
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic
Chad
Channel Islands not otherwise specified
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Curacao
Cyprus (European Union)
Cyprus (Non-European Union)
Cyprus not otherwise specified
Czech Republic
Czechoslovakia not otherwise specified
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
England
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Europe not otherwise specified
Falkland Islands
Faroe Islands
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Gibraltar
Greece
Greenland
Grenada
Guam (USA)
Guatemala
Guernsey
Guinea
Guinea Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Honduras
Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China) [Hong Kong]
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Isle of Man
Israel
Italy
Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire)
Jamaica
Japan
Jersey
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan)
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Montserrat
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Northern Ireland
Northern Mariana Islands
Norway
Not Known
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Palestine
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Pitcairn Island
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Rwanda
S. Georgia and S. Sandwich Isls.
Saint Barthelemy
Saint Helena
Saint Kitts and Nevis Anguilla
Saint Lucia
Saint Martin (French Part)
Saint Tome (Sao Tome) and Principe
Saint Vincent and Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Saudi Arabia
Scotland
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Sint Maarten (Dutch Part)
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Korea
South Sudan
Spain
Sri Lanka
Stateless
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland (Eswatini)
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics not otherwise specified
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United Kingdom, not otherwise specified
United States
United States Minor Outlying Islands
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Vatican City (Holy See)
Venezuela
Vietnam
Virgin Islands (British)
Wales
Western Sahara
Yemen
Yugoslavia not otherwise specified
Zambia
Zimbabwe