Psychological Safety by Design: Measuring and Experimentally Testing Psychological Risks in Human鈥揂I Interaction
Abstract
What makes an interaction with AI psychologically safe? This PhD investigates how AI design influences autonomy, trust and people's ability to question or disengage from an interaction. It connects psychological science with the engineering of interactive systems to understand how perceived safety relates to behaviour. Controlled experiments will test how design choices shape psychological experiences and human agency. The project suits a student who can combine psychological reasoning with programming and interactive prototyping, including building AI interfaces and instrumenting experiments. Findings will inform the design of AI environments that better support human wellbeing and agency.
How to Apply
Please contact Dr Nejra van Zalk if you are interested in applying for this project.
For more information on submitting a PhD application, please consult our application pages here. When you submit your application, please cite this project title in the 'how you are planning to fund your PhD' section.
The deadline for submitting your application is 11 January 2027.